When we hear about ancient Egypt, what comes to mind? Pyramids, pharaohs and sometimes cats, but all this is superficial compared to what the ancient Egyptian civilization represents.
In fact, the information provided by television screens is far from the truth. Here I will present some facts about ancient Egyptian civilization that will surprise you
On the banks of the river Nile, about 5,000 years ago, one of the most important civilizations in history, the ancient Egyptian civilization, which gave this land, emerged about 30 centuries of artistic and architectural prosperity until it ended with the invasion of Alexander the Great in 332 BC.
Amazing facts you may not know about Ancient Egypt
The civilization of Pharaonic Egypt is filled with many surprises and oddities that are not without exciting facts in the lives of the pharaohs who founded a civilization of the greatest civilizations of the ancient world
1- Egyptian males wore makeup and cosmetic
Cosmetics and make-up were old civilization, and the ancient Egyptians were not an exception. It was known that men and women were putting a lot of make-up because they believed that it gave them the protection of Horus pious gods.
These cosmetics were made by grinding materials such as malachite and Galina into a substance called kohl. It was then applied freely around the eyes with tools made of wood, bone, and ivory. The women will also dye their fetuses in red and use henna to color their hands and nails. Both sexes wore oil, bitter and cinnamon perfumes. Egyptians thought their makeup had magic healing powers, and they were not completely wrong: research has shown that lead-based cosmetics along the Nile have already helped to prevent eye infections.
Both women and men wore make-up, the other color (copper) or black (lead), as they believed that makeup had healing properties. Although the Egyptians used makeup as a counter against the rays of the sun.
2- The pyramids were not built by slaves
The construction of the pyramids was certainly not easy. The great structures of the workers were signs of arthritis and some other diseases, but evidence suggests that the builders of these giant graves were not slaves but paid laborers.
The idea that the slaves built the pyramids under the whip of the Greek historian Herodotus, but most of those who came after him later denied this myth. However, history states that the early Egyptians kept slaves as servants in their homes.
3- Cleopatra was not Egyptian origin
Perhaps there is no symbol of ancient Egypt. A famous name from queens such as Queen Cleopatra VII. You may be surprised that Cleopatra is not Egyptian since she was born in Alexandria but descended from the Greek Macedonians, specifically Ptolemy I, Alexander the Great.
Although the Ptolemaic dynasty ruled Egypt from 323 to 30 BC, and its leaders remained influenced by Greek culture, they continued to speak Greek, but Cleopatra was the only member of the Ptolemaic family to learn and speak the Egyptian language.
4- ancient Egyptians love board games
After a long day of working on the banks of the Nile River, the Egyptians spent their time with board games, enjoying many kinds of games, including Dogs and Jackals, but the game of chance it was called ( senet) it was the most popular game
The game dates back to the year 3500 BC and was played on a 30-square-point board. Each player had a number of pieces and moved them on the board according to the number on which the dice rested (just like our games). Historians still argue about the rules of the game but almost no one denies their popularity.
It is interesting to know that the pharaohs like Tutankhamun were buried with some of the board games in their graves
5- Egyptian workers were organizing strikes
Although they consider the pharaoh as a kind of god, they did not fear to pretend to improve their working conditions. The most famous example was in the twelfth century BC during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses III, when the workers were building the royal city of the monastery, Their usual grain payments, they organized one of the first strikes recorded in history.
The demonstration was more like a sit-in. The workers entered the funerary temples and refused to leave until their grievances were met, and their adventure was successful.
6- ancient Egyptian were overweight
Ancient Egyptian Art The pharaohs usually show that their bodies are elegant and perfect, but this was not true. Tests conducted on Egyptian mummies confirmed that Egyptian pharaohs were obese and unhealthy, and also suffered from diabetes.
A notable example is a legendary queen Hatshepsut, who lived in the 15th century. While her (her sarcophagus) appears as a slender and athletic body, scientists assert that she was fat and had baldness
7- shaved their eyebrows at the death of the cats
The ancient Egyptians shaved their eyebrows at the death of the cats, referring to grief over the death of the pet.
8- Ancient Egyptians invented toothpaste
The Egyptians were suffering from a difficult time with their teeth. It was common for their bread to retain grains of sand and even inside them, and although they did not have dentists at the time, they made a good effort to keep their teeth clean. Toothpicks were alongside many mummy excavations, as well as toothbrushes made of wooden twigs.
9- Ancient Egyptians recorded the first peace treaty in the world
The ancient Egyptians fought a two-century war with the Hittite empire for control of Syria's territory. This long conflict led to many bloody wars and battles such as the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC. Despite these long wars, neither of them ended. The treaty ended the conflict between the two parties and agreed to cooperate with each other when any party was invaded by a third party. The Egyptian treaty was known as the oldest treaty of peace in the world.
10- Egyptian women enjoyed many rights and freedoms
While women were socially inferior to men in most ancient civilizations, however, Egyptian women had legal and financial autonomy. They could buy and sell, write a will, even enter into legal contracts. Egyptian women did not work outside the home, but if they did, they were paid equal to men.
Unlike Greek women who were property to their husbands, Egyptian women had the right to divorce and marry someone else.
11- slaves fly-catcher
So that the pharaoh would be rid of the flies around him as he walked, he would paint the bodies of the slaves with honey, and walk with him naked, so that the flies would go to them and depart from the king.
To remove the flies from them, some Pharaohs were painting their slaves with honey, and sat them close to them, to attract the flies to the honey and away from the rulers
12- The ancient Egyptians used to sleep on stone pillows
Can you believe it? It is very difficult and just causes pain in the neck, but it has been confirmed in papyri, painted on the walls of the temples
Facts about ancient Egypt: Secrets of the Pharaohs
- Egyptians are specialized in medical fields
You may think that our time is the time of specialization, but the evidence suggests that Egyptian doctors are focusing heavily on treating a specific part of the body. The first type of specialty in medical fields was observed in 450 BC by travelers and historian Herodotus,
Where doctors described the Egyptians as follows: "Every doctor is a therapist for one disease no more. Some eye specialist, some of the teeth, and some of them related to the belly"
- Egyptians have loved animals as pets
Ancient Egyptians loved animals as incarnations of the gods. Ancient Egyptian civilization was the first civilization to keep domestic pets. The Egyptians were especially fond of cats, who were associated with the goddess Bastet, but they also respected hawks, dogs, blacks, and monkeys. Many of these animals occupied a special place in the Egyptian home and were often mummified and buried with their owners after their death. Other creatures were specially trained to act as auxiliary animals. For example, Egyptian police officers used dogs and trained monkeys to help them out of their patrols.
- Children did not wear clothes until they were teenagers
- The pharaohs never showed their hair as they were wearing a cover called nimsh (head cover). While the rich men of Egypt wore the wig, but the poor were singled out their hair or tied in the form of a tail.
- Ancient Egyptian women used crocodile caterpillars as a form of birth control. Documents dated back to 1850 BC refer to this unusual method of contraception. Crocodile feces are actually a little alkaline, similar to those of today's sperm so it could have been considered successful.
- There are many indications that ancient Egyptians were geniuses in astronomy and mathematics. For example, the location of the pyramids of Giza is perfectly aligned with the Orion belt (Orion constellations).
- When embalming the human body, all organs are removed from the body except the heart. Egyptians believed that the heart is the source of human wisdom, emotions, memory, and personality.
- Although the discovery of antibiotics has been fairly recent, the ancient Egyptians used to treat the infection using molded bread, and the molded bread grows on Penicillium, extracted from penicillin, one of the most common antibiotics
finally, They invented the Egyptian hieroglyphic language
The ancient Egyptians wrote hieroglyphics, which are small images, as opposed to letters. It took months to write at times, but it was incredibly complex and beautiful. Unlike the general rules, the Egyptians did not use punctuation, and they did not have any spaces between their words. There are over 700 hieroglyphics in existence, all of which mean something different.