15 حقائق مثيرة حول مصر القديمة 15 Fascinating Facts About Ancient Egypt

Ever since my childhood I have been fascinated with all things
relating to Ancient Egypt. I have tried for a long time to come up with
a good idea for a list relating to it and this is the first (of what I
hope will be many!) These facts should serve as a good introduction to
Ancient Egyptian culture and society – and hopefully many will be things
you did not know.1Facts 1 – 5





1. A Pharaoh never let his hair be seen – he would always wear a
crown or a headdress called a nemes (the striped cloth headdress made
famous by Tutankhamen’s golden mask (pictured above).
2. In order to deter flies from landing on him, Pepi II of Egypt
always kept several naked slaves nearby whose bodies were smeared with
honey.
3. Both Egyptian men and women wore
makeup – eyepaint was usually green (made from copper) or black (made
from lead). The Egyptians believed that the makeup had healing power.
Originally the makeup was used as a protection from the sun – rather
than for adornment.
4. While the use of antibiotics did not begin in the 20th century,
early folk medicine included the use of mouldy foods or soil for
infections. In ancient Egypt, for example, infections were treated with
mouldy bread.
5. Egyptian children wore no clothing at all until they were in their
teens. The temperature in Egypt made it unnecessary. Adult men wore
skirts while women wore dresses.2Facts 6 – 10





6. Rich Egyptians wore wigs while the other classes would wear their
hair long or in pig tails. Until 12, Egyptian boys had their heads
shaved except for one plaited lock – this was as a protection against
lice and fleas.
7. It is not known who destroyed the nose of the Sphinx (pictured
above). There are sketches of the Sphinx without a nose in 1737, over 60
years before Napoleon reached Egypt and hundreds of years before the
British and German armies of the two World Wars. The only person known
to have damaged it was an Islamic cleric, Sa’im al-dahr, who was lynched
in 1378 for vandalism.




8. Egyptian’s believed that the earth was flat and round (like a
pancake) and that the Nile flowed through the center of it.
9. Egyptian soldiers were used as an internal police force.
Additionally, they collected taxes for the Pharaoh.
10. In every temple in ancient Egypt the pharaoh was supposed to
carry out the duties of the high priests, but his place was usually
taken by the chief priest.3Facts 11 – 15





11. The first pyramid (The Step Pyramid of Djoser built around 2600
BC – seen above) was originally surrounded by a 34 ft tall wall which
had 15 doors in it. Only one of the doors opened.
12. The women in ancient Egypt enjoyed legal and economical equality
with men. Nevertheless, they never enjoyed social equality with men.
13. Contrary to popular belief, excavated skeletons show that the
pyramid builders were actually Egyptians who were most likely in the
permanent employ of the pharaoh. Graffiti indicates that at least some
of these workers took pride in their work, calling their teams “Friends
of Khufu,” “Drunkards of Menkaure,” and so on—names indicating
allegiances to pharaohs.
14. When a body was mummified, its brain was removed through one of
its nostrils and its intestines were also removed and placed in jars
called canopic jars. Each organ was placed in its own jar. The only
internal organ that was not removed was the heart, because Egyptians
considered it to be the seat of the soul.
15. Ramses the Great had 8 official wives and nearly 100 concubines.
He was over 90 years old when he died in 1212 BC.