life in Egypt 3,000 years ago.
Ancient Egypt thrived in an arid and desolate part of Africa.
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FAMILY LIFE
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Most ancient Egyptians worked for the state, which sometimes provided housing. Pay was in the form of food, clothes and so on which could be swapped for other things.
It was a patriarchal with the father heading the family and his
oldest son succeeding him
Women had almost the same
rights as men. They could own and inherit property, buy and sell
stuff, and make a will. A wife could get a divorce. Not that much different than today.
Children had dolls, spinning tops, filled leather balls.
They also had pets: cats, dogs, monkeys, baboons, and birds.
There was a popular board games with moves determined by dice.
- EDUCATION
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Few boys and girls went to school and most from upper-class families. The
main schools were for scribes. Their version of the pen even than was more
powerful than the sword They used papyrus, wrote with reed brushes and
made ink from soot.
Scribes made written records for the government, temples, and were
considered very knowledgeable since most Egyptians could not read and write.
Scribal schools. the king's palace, temples or government departments.
This prepared the students for other careers. Main subjects were reading,
literature, geography, mathematics, and writing.
After finishing their basic schooling. they could with a doctor to learn
the trade
Ancient Egypt had many libraries.
A library in Alexandria had over 4000,000 papyrus scrolls, which dealt
with astronomy, geography, and many other subjects.
There were some trade schools such as carpentry, pottery making, or other
skills.
Girls were trained in roles of wife, mother, cooking, sewing, and so on by
their mother.
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HOUSING, FOOD, CLOTHES
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HOUSING
Houses were made from mud brick. The flat roofs were used as storage and
work space. On hot nights, they may sleep on the roof, where it was
cooler. Most were small and built close together, goats and geese were
kept in the middle of towns. A domed clay ovens in kitchen-yards was how
they cooked. Furniture was minimal and functional, made of wood.
FOODS
The diet was made up of Bread, beer, vegetables and a little fresh or
dried fish, some times dates, pomegranates and figs, beef and goose, and
drank date or grape wine.
CLOTHES
Egyptians generally dressed in white linen. Women wore robes or tight
dresses with shoulder straps. Men wore skirts or robes, and usually went
barefoot. Young children rarely wore any clothes.
Egyptians used cosmetics and jewelry. Women used red lip powder, dyed
hair, paint on fingernails. And outlined their eyes and colored their
eyebrows with gray, black and green paint.
Men also outlined their eyes and often wore as much makeup as women. Both
sexes used perfume and wore necklaces, rings, and bracelets and ornaments.
Hairstyles were elaborate, and important people owned wigs.
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