10 strange things that would be waiting for you in ancient Egypt
Miscellaneous / / February 01, 2022
Hippo fights, salt and pepper instead of toothpaste, wax hats and human cat litter boxes.
1. Beer with lumps
The Egyptians had their own cuisine. Most of their diet consisted of bread and beer. And the latter, as you know, is also bread, only liquid. However, the Egyptian version of this drinkS. LaBorde. Following the Sun: A Practical Guide to Egyptian Religion, Revised Edition could only be called a liquid with a stretch.
It was made from crumbled wheat or barley underbaked bread and date juice, and the mixture was left to ferment in gypsum-sealed jugs. The resulting “beer” was not only sucked out through a straw, but also eaten up, scooping out the slurry from the bottom. They drank it every day - at home, while working in the field, and just for food.
The builders of the pyramids for the pharaohs officially received part of the fee in beer. And in some historical periods, it was generally considered a currency.
Children, by the way, were also not forbidden to try it. Eat porridge and grow big.
2. Eat for breakfast
The Egyptians ate less meat than of breadS. LaBorde. Following the Sun: A Practical Guide to Egyptian Religion, Revised Edition, since it was not a trivial task to raise livestock without large grazing lands. Studies of the remains of the subjects of Pharaoh Akhenaten, conducted by anthropologists at the University of Arkansas, showStudy shows life was tough for ancient Egyptians / Reutersthat most of the inhabitants of ancient Egypt suffered from a clinical lack of protein.
Only wealthy guys could indulge in beef, and it was impossible to eat pigs at all.
This is because they were sacred animals belonging to the god Set. So no bacon, Seth will punish.
But crocodile, although it is also sacred, it was possible to eat. And hippos. And also ostriches. All this is very tasty and nutritious.
But the main delicacy among the Egyptians were consideredM. Van de Mieroop. The Eastern Mediterranean in the Age of Ramesses II hedgehogs. They were rolled into clay and then baked in the oven. Then they removed the top layer along with the thorns and ate with dates and beer.
3. Brushing your teeth with pepper and salt
The inhabitants of ancient Egypt always had ProblemsJ. F. Nunn. Ancient Egyptian Medicine with teeth, because they lived on a land surrounded by deserts. There were a lot of abrasives in their food: sand from the millstones was mixed with flour during grinding, particles of stone from the dishes fell into the dough. Therefore, the bread creaked on the teeth.
Naturally, chewing sand was not very good for oral health.
The situation was even worse for rich Egyptians because they ate very sweet food. Everything that was possible was mixed with honey, eaten with dates and washed down with pomegranate juice. It was believed that food that knits the mouth is a delicacy for wealthy citizens. Therefore, rotten teeth were the norm.
Of course, the Egyptians did not want to put up with this, therefore cleaned them as best they could. They even invented toothpaste, or rather powder. It consisted of ground rock salt, pepper, dried iris flower and mint. All this was soaked with saliva and rubbed directly into the native caries. Brush your teeth with your fingers or a chewed branch.
An Austrian dentist, Dr. Heinz Neumann, once cookedThe Oldest Known Recipe For A Toothpaste Comes From Ancient Egypt / Realm of History of academic interest Egyptian recipe powder. And after the application, he stated that "the gums were very sore and the mouth was bleeding, but the breath clearly became fresher and cleaner."
If you don't like the combination of pepper and salt, don't worry. Try another version that has come down to us - a mixture of powdered bull hooves, ashes, burnt eggshells and pumice. And then put in your mouth a candy made of frankincense, myrrh and cinnamon boiled in honey - this freshens breath.
4. Laxative three times a month
In general, in ancient Egypt there was a very strange medicine. Many original recipes for various diseases have been preserved in papyrusH. Selin. Medicine Across Culturesfound by Egyptologist Edwin Smith.
So, according to doctors of that time, the root cause of most health problems was associated with the intestines. The Egyptians were constantly worried about two diseases of this most important organ in the human body.
Constipation and diarrhea. Both of these ailments were to be treated with laxatives.
Means madeH. Selin. Medicine Across Cultures from castor oil. Doctors recommended that patients take it three times a month. Why so often? Prevention. To cleanse the body.
If everything is clear with constipation, then why was a laxative used for diarrhea? Apparently, the Egyptians adhered to the principle of like to treat like. The sooner everything comes out of the intestines, the sooner the diarrhea will end - obviously!
5. Pumpkin enema
In addition to castor oil, enemas were also used. According to Pliny the Elder, the Egyptians came up withH. Selin. Medicine Across Cultures them, watching how the sacred bird ibis collected water in its beak, and then inserted it into its anus to wash the intestines.
It's not clear if ibis actually do this, but the Egyptians thought it was a good idea to regularly squirt water into their insides. According to their mythology, enemas - the favorite instrument of the god Thoth.
It was not only a medical, but also just a hygienic procedure. It's like brushing your teeth.
The use of an enema is described in the Ebers Medical Papyrus. Clysters were madeL. N. Magner. A History of Medicine from the bladder of an ox, to which a wooden tube was connected, or from a gourd. A special type of plant was also used, which was used specifically for these purposes - bottle gourd, or common lagenaria. Take a look at the form and you will understand everything.
Naturally, the abuse of laxatives, infatuation with enemas and drinking beer on a daily basis led to multiple problems with the intestines, but the Egyptians believed that this was the norm.
6. Beating witnesses during interrogations
Ancient Egypt had a fairly developed law enforcement system. This can be judged from the surviving minutes of court hearings of those times. But then the investigators did not really bother themselves with the observance of all sorts of human rights.
in papyri mentionedR. Steeg. Law in Ancient Egyptthat interrogations of suspects were conducted as follows: the subject was tied to a pole and beaten on the hands and feet with sticks until he told everything that honest executors should know pharaonic will. The scribe present at the same time made a note in the protocol: "was beaten with a double stick" or "was beaten with rods." Everything was strictly fixed, you won’t dig in.
But the strangest thing is that the laws allowed not only the criminal to be punished in this way, but also witnesses - just in case.
There are records of how the sons, slaves and wives of suspects, and even those who just walked by, could be beaten to make sure they were not lying.
7. strange laws
The Egyptians did not like to delay the investigation and interrogated witnesses right in the court, and not in front of it. Before the performance was given oathJ. A. wilson. The Oath in Ancient Egypt / Journal of Near Eastern Studies, which could vary depending on the time or the wishes of the judge.
For example, one female witness swore: "If there is evidence against me, I will be punished with a hundred blows." Another man declared, "If I lie, all my servants and possessions will be taken from me." The poor laborers, who had nothing to confiscate, were forced to tell the truth "under pain of injury."
If the suspect declared that he was innocent, even after being hit with a stick, he was released. In one court record describedR. Steeg. Law in Ancient Egypt a man named Amenhow, who was questioned at the trial.
Despite the rods, he continued to insist: “I didn’t see anything! Everything that I have seen, you have already heard from my lips!”
Amenhowe was released, but despite this, next to his name in the papyrus, they left a note "great criminal." Presumption of innocence? No, we haven't heard.
8. Human cat litter
Everyone knows that in ancient Egypt they loved cats. The goddess Bast patronized the furry ones, and she couldn’t stand jokes. It will stop protecting from evil spirits and, most importantly, from mice, they will eat the crop - and what will you do? Therefore, the cats were taken care of so much that they even arranged mourning after their death. AND shaved off eyebrows as a sign of grief.
However, the Egyptians, apparently, did not think of toilets for their beloved pets. At least, archaeologists have not yet found anything of the kind.
But the Egyptians themselves used hygienic devices that we would now consider a cat tray.
Boxes with sandW. H. Peck. The Material World of Ancient Egypt and other, less pleasant contents were emptied daily, and the filler in them changed to clean. Wealthy people installed wooden or even stone ones over the tank. seatsA. Lucas, J. Harris. Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industriesthe poor had to do without them.
But before the sewerage with water, which would carry away the waste, the Egyptians never thought of it. The primacy in this invention belongs to the Romans.
9. Weird wax wigs and hats
Many Egyptians, including women, shavedW. H. Peck. The Material World of Ancient Egypt naked. The reason is simple: not to be lice. For priests and priestesses, the procedure was generally mandatory, because the gods require not only moral, but also physical purity.
But walking with a bald head in the heat was not very pleasant - and not far from a sunstroke. Therefore, the Egyptians wore a wide variety of wigsH. Kandil. Role of the Hair in Ancient Egypt / lnternational Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management. Who is poorer - from sheepskin and vegetable fibers, and the rich allowed themselves luxurious overhead hair from natural hair.
Making wigs was quite a lucrative profession, and traditionally it was done by women.
Nevertheless, the fashion for them periodically disappeared, and then people grew their hair and created intricate hairstyles. For example, they wound curls on a stick, smeared with silt and waited for it to dry. Then they took it off, shook off the mud and got a chic (perhaps) perm.
Baldness and gray hair were considered a tragedy. But against hair loss in the Ebers Papyrus citedW. H. Peck. The Material World of Ancient Egypt the right remedy: it was necessary to grind the rotten donkey's liver, rub it into the head - and everything should pass. From gray hair, paint from the blood of a black calf with oil helped perfectly. It smells, really, but the perfume from the lotus was supposed to save.
But the strangest inventionAncient Egyptian head cone mystery solved by archaeologists / National Geographic The Egyptians had aromatic cones. These are original headdresses made from a mixture of oil, resin, fat or wax with fragrant myrrh. They melted in the heat and exuded a strong aroma. Apparently, the Egyptians put them on to demonstrate their status: they were worn by close pharaohs and priests.
Women were especially fond of such things, but men could also fasten a wax cone on occasion. After all, it is so pleasant and beautiful when wax and oil flow over the head.
10. Fights with hippos
These animals were a serious problem for the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt: they ruined crops on the banks of the Nile, turned overI. Stunkel. Hippopotami in Ancient Egypt / Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History fishing boats and killed people who tried to drive them away.
A raging hippopotamus is a monster, next to which all sorts of crocodiles are just a trifle. And such an animal could wander into your site at any moment, because they swam where they wanted and you can’t build any fences against them.
Not surprisingly, the Egyptians considered hippos to be a symbol of chaos and one of the worst incarnations of the evil god Seth.
So huntingW. decker. Sports and Games of Ancient Egypt on these animals and their extermination were revered as purely useful deeds, and rich Egyptians often did this. Especially the pharaohs, because the god-like king, who personally destroyed the symbol of evil, deserved the adoration of his people.
The Egyptians did not have a weapon that could kill a hippopotamus at a distance: the skin is thick, the bow is unlikely to pierce, and not everyone has enough accuracy to get into the eye. Therefore they used spearsW. decker. Sports and Games of Ancient Egypt.
The hippopotamus had to be bred for aggression, shouting into his face all sorts of ancient Egyptian curses and wishes for trouble in the afterlife. And when he opens his mouth and roars in response - throw the weapon right there.
As you understand, the task was not an easy one, because the bite of a hippo brought truly catastrophic consequences for the human body. And the hunt did not always end well. So, PharaohG. Verbrugghe, J. Wickersham. Native Traditions in Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt Menes died from wounds inflicted by this beast.
But if the giant still managed to fill up, the feast turned out to be noble: these creatures have a lot of meat and fat. The pharaohs, who didn't want to hunt the hippos, went for the ostrich. But it was far from honorable.
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