Lost Voices of the Nile: Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt

by Charlotte Booth

  Other, less boisterous pets included the dorcas gazelle. One was found in the Deir el Bahri royal cache (DB320) in a coffin shaped like its body, and another was found curled up at the feet of her mistress in her twenty-third-dynasty pit burial.

  Other docile pets are birds and both boys and girls can be seen, particularly in fishing and fowling scenes, clutching a hoopoo, lapwing, turtle dove or duck by the wings, such as in an image in the fifth-dynasty tomb of Nefer and Kahay at Saqqara, which shows a little girl clutching a lapwing.44 Young girls can often be seen holding a small chick in their hand, although some scholars believe these images are more about eroticism than pets. However, if anyone has seen a young girl confronted with a little, yellow Easter chick, there is little doubt that they were more than likely kept as pets by the young girls.

  As children behaved like children, so teenagers behaved like teenagers, and in one New Kingdom text a teacher tries to encourage his students to be more restrained:

  When I was of your age, I spent my life in the stocks. It was they that tamed my limbs. They stayed with me three months, I was imprisoned in the temple, whilst my parents were in the fields, and my brothers and sisters as well.45

  The stocks he refers to were wooden blocks placed around the ankles, generally used to hold criminals while they were in prison. They were thought to be an effective way of curbing unruly teenage behaviour. Such reckless behaviour was expected to stop once the boy became a ‘man’ with responsibilities.

  A boy became a man in his early teens, and this transition appears to have been marked by a ritual circumcision. There are three images of a circumcision from ancient Egypt, although only one of them is thought to be of a real event. This appears in the sixth dynasty Saqqara tomb of Ankhmahor. The boy is held firmly from behind by a servant as a kneeling priest puts ointment on his penis to numb it, saying, ‘Hold him firmly. Don’t let him swoon.’ There has been some debate as to why Ankhmahor depicted this scene in his tomb and Macy Roth has suggested an alternative interpretation of the scene. She interpreted the hieroglyphs in front of the kneeling man as meaning ‘circumcising the ka priest’ rather than the ‘ka priest is circumcising’, indicating this could be a ritual scene showing the initiation of the priest.

  As a rule the priesthood all had to be circumcised as part of their cleansing rituals before performing their duties in the temple, and it was considered an honour to sponsor such an event. Such sponsorship could explain why this was included in Ankhmahor’s tomb. A stela from Denderah, for example, states, ‘I buried its old people, I circumcised its young people,’46 indicating that this ceremony was considered an honour. The scene in Ankhmahor’s tomb is depicted on a door thickness as you enter the chapel of the tomb, which is not a place where religiously significant scenes are normally depicted and could represent a personal, family event. The boys being circumcised may be Ankhmahor’s two sons, as they were initiated into the priesthood and Ankhmahor was proud to have sponsored such an event.

  The scene on the left could then be interpreted as the pubic hair being shaved as part of the purification ritual. Macy Roth suggests the use of a flint knife rather than a razor for this task was an indication of the ritual aspects of this ceremony. If this scene depicts shaving then the phrase above it that says, ‘I will make it comfortable [well/pleasant/sweet],’ makes more sense.47 Circumcision may have been carried out in order to prevent a number of infectious diseases48 rather than simply being a socio-religious endeavour.

  The other two images are from divine-birth scenes in the temple of Mut at Karnak and that of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahri. The king is shown being circumcised alongside his ka, which could show preparation for his coronation when he effectively becomes the high priest of all temples.

  In order to further investigate the ritual behind circumcision we must turn to the texts. In a First Intermediate Period text a man from Naga ed-Dier says, ‘When I was circumcised together with 120 men.’ This suggests an entire age group was circumcised at the same time, clearly as a public ritual, which supports the theory that it was an initiation into the priesthood. Circumcision can be difficult to identify on mummies and therefore it is hard to ascertain how widespread the practice was. The evidence that has been collected from mummies suggests that circumcision was only ritual for people of status (for example, Amenhotep II, Thutmosis IV, Ramses IV and V) and for certain ethnic or social groups.49 Despite the lack of concrete proof, however, it is still widely believed most boys were circumcised in the pharaonic period, although it became less common as time went on.

  There is no proof that female circumcision (clitoridectomy) was carried out in ancient Egypt, although one text on the twelfth dynasty sarcophagus of Sit-Hedj-Hotep, in the Cairo Museum, states, ‘But if a man wants to live, he should recite it [the spell] every day after his flesh had been rubbed with the Balephd [unknown] of an uncircumcised girl and the flakes of skin of an uncircumcised bald man.’50 There is some debate whether the word ‘uncircumcised’ is translated correctly, and could be translated as ‘smear’. It is therefore assumed the general rite of passage of girls from childhood to adulthood was when they started their menstrual cycle, or their ‘time of purification’. Obviously, this age varied from girl to girl, and whether this was publically acknowledged is unknown.

  Once childhood was over for both boys and girls they stepped into adulthood and needed to take on the responsibilities that this life-stage brings, which included marriage and starting a family, as well as the more laborious task of finding work and earning a living.

  6.

  WORKING FOR A LIVING

  ‘Man comes forth from his mother’s womb and runs to his master.’1

  From a very young age, perhaps as young as nine years old, boys had to make a decision about their future career. To a modern western child this would be an impossible task, as there are so many potential career paths open to them. However, in ancient Egypt the options were somewhat limited. Generally a boy followed in his father’s footsteps, taking on his role upon death or retirement. A lone text from Deir el-Medina, however, suggests that some workmen left their jobs in order to enable their sons to take over the role, with the understanding that the son would contribute some of his rations to the upkeep of his father.2

  Such hereditary roles included the priesthood, administration, the military, farming and craftsmanship. Such crafts were varied and included carpentry, stone masonry, bricklaying, basketry, pottery, flint knapping, faience making and metalwork. All of these industries could have been carried out in the home on a small scale or in larger workshops if working for the state. One of the more unusual workshops at El-Lahun was that of the doll maker, which was discovered with unfinished dolls and locks of hair that were still to be attached. The dolls themselves appear to have been a combination of fertility dolls, with their pubic areas highlighted, and jointed dolls, which may have been foreigners used in execration rituals, rather than dolls used as childhood playthings. However, regardless of their purpose this workman was an expert doll-maker, a role he probably hoped to pass on to his son.

  Uneducated boys of the lower classes had even less choices than their middle-class counterparts and likely followed their fathers into farming or other unskilled manual labour. Their lives were hard and they relied heavily on the environment for a successful harvest year on year. Farmers were paid a percentage of the crop that was not required for taxes and land rent.

  At the end of the sixth dynasty there was a change in status and farmers were exempt from some taxes, although they were still monitored carefully by state scribes. Farmers were able to sell and rent out their own land, but the owners were still ultimately responsible for the payment of taxes on the yield of the land. Farmers were reliant on a quick harvest and they often hired cattle from breeders to help with harvesting the crop, which they needed to pay for out of their income. ‘You have satisfied my heart with the compensation for my red female ploughing ox, which is called by the name of Ta … That I gave
you to ploughing with from regnal year 14 to regnal year 15. My heart is satisfied with its compensation.’3 To prevent any problems with the identification of the cows when it was time to return them, each cow was branded with an image unique to the cattle farmer. Many farmers, in addition to owning cattle who could pull the plough and speed up agricultural activities, owned a donkey, a classic beast of burden often depicted carrying an ‘ass-load’ upon his back. They were also loaned out to the peasants at harvest time to help with the back-breaking work. While some donkeys may have helped with pulling the plough across the fields, they were mostly used to carry the grain to the threshing floor and then participate in the threshing activity. Donkeys lived and worked for as long as forty years and were closely associated with hard work, as demonstrated by the proverb, ‘When there is work to do, get the donkey, when there is fodder, get an ox.’4

  A useful but probably not a very well-paid or desirable job was that of fisherman, who were responsible for catching, cleaning and preserving the fish. They were either independent fishermen, who fished as they needed for their families, or full-time fisherman, who caught more than they needed and were able to make a business out of it. Fishermen worked as a team and were paid a percentage of the catch, meaning it was difficult for an individual to climb the career ladder.5 While fish were essential for the daily diet of the Egyptians there was no ritual element to the role of fisherman, as fish were never offered in temples. It was therefore almost impossible to hold a state position in this role.

  Fishermen worked in close proximity to fowlers – groups of men who were responsible for catching ducks, geese and other small birds. Commercial fowlers used dragnets. They worked in a team with a lookout who signalled the time for the hunters to pull the net together, capturing the birds. However, the weight of the nets and the necessity for speed meant this was a difficult job and required stealth and excellent team work.6 If the timing of the net-pullers and the communication with the lookout were not perfect, the birds were able to escape.

  All jobs, even those of the fisherman and farmer, were liable for tax, which was paid in kind. Tax collectors were prone to violence and beating the payee was a recognised form of collection. They were armed with sticks and visited each farm, calculating, measuring and collecting the amount due. If someone failed to pay then 100 blows was administered with the stick. The first recorded tax-evader was Mery, from the eighteenth dynasty, who was given 100 blows for defaulting on his tax payment.7 Anyone interfering with or hindering tax collection could be punished by having their nose or ears amputated.

  Although collecting tax was a violent role there were controls in place in the New Kingdom to curb some of their enthusiasm. Furthermore, there are records of them using false measures, taking more than was required and keeping the excess for themselves, a crime the state tried to prevent.

  The physicality of working outside in the hot Egyptian sun was wearying and both farmers and fishermen were plagued in their role by mosquitoes, which carried numerous diseases including malaria and even Elephantiasis.8 The Ebers papyrus suggests, ‘To prevent mosquitoes from biting; fresh moringa oil. Smear oneself with it.”9 How effective this would be is questionable.

  In tomb scenes where glimpses of lower levels of society are depicted, such as farmers, fishermen and boatmen, we are offered a fascinating insight into this anonymous class. It is rare to know the names of these labourers and their depiction in non-royal tombs is in order to provide the tomb owner with food for eternity, rather than providing for his own mortuary cult. However, some of the captions above such images provide glimpses into lost moments. For example, in the fifth-dynasty tomb of Ti at Saqqara two boatmen are arguing and one yells at the other, ‘Come on! You fornicator.’ It seems this type of language was not considered inappropriate to be recorded in a tomb for eternity.10

  Other unskilled but necessary work included that of laundrymen. Some household laundry was done by the women of the house but the professional launderers were always men,11 who collected the clothes from the houses to wash down by the Nile. The clothes were rubbed vigorously against stones or trodden against the pebbles in the shallows. It is suggested the role was carried out by men because cloth when wet is heavy and therefore best suited to the strength of a man, although many female household tasks included such heavy lifting.12 The laundrymen, who were more than likely illiterate, kept a record of the clothes they collected from each household on ostraca, marked with an image of the item (a tunic or loincloth, for example) with dots marking how many of each had been collected. It can be presumed that not everyone was able to afford to pay someone to wash their clothes for them, so this was a job carried out by the poor for the middle classes.

  Although unskilled roles had little opportunity for advancement, the skilled roles were the opposite, with strict hierarchies encouraging new recruits to aspire for promotion. So, for example, if you worked as a scribe you aspired to hold a royal title such as seal bearer of the king, sole companion of the king or even vizier, the highest administrative post available. These roles, like most others, were passed on from father to son, but in the New Kingdom if someone caught the eye of the king they could bypass this hereditary system, as he would simply place them in the role he felt they were most suited for.

  An excellent career, especially in the New Kingdom, was in the military, and it appealed to athletic boys as well as scribes looking for adventure. A military scribe followed the army into battle and recorded campaigns, manoeuvres, captives and booty. A military scribe never had to engage in combat, so therefore was not trained in military manoeuvres, but still found himself in a certain amount of danger.

  Military training was rigorous and there were harsh penalties for poor effort. A new recruit was trained in chariotry and horsemanship, as well as handling weapons like spears and bows while travelling at speed. This required extensive target practice, such as shooting arrows or thrusting spears at a wooden or copper target while on the move. Stick fighting, target practice, sword fighting and wrestling prepared the recruit for hand-to-hand combat, providing a full range of skills for all military scenarios.

  One of the earliest depictions of wrestling can be found on the pre-dynastic Cities Palette (3200–3000 BCE) although the majority of depictions can be found in the Middle Kingdom tombs at Beni Hasan. In the tomb of Baqt III (2134–1991 BCE) the figures are distinguished from each other by colour, with one light and one dark making it clearer to make out the different holds. The accompanying text in the nearby tomb of Khety includes phrases like, ‘I grab you on the leg,’ and ‘I cause your heart to weep and to fill with fear.’13 Although it was primarily for military training and hand-to-hand combat in a battle situation, it is likely that the soldiers also participated in wrestling competitions just for fun.

  Stick fighting is often depicted in close proximity to wrestling, showing this was also included in military training. Stick fighting seems to be similar to fencing and the combatants wore wristguards and a leather band over the forehead and chin to protect themselves from being hurt. An image in the nineteenth-dynasty tomb of Khons (TT31) shows two stick fighters standing within a marked ring on a boat, hinting at some form of competition.14 Whether there was some significance to the competition being carried out on a boat is unknown, although the unstable surface may have provided an extra element to their fight as they tried to maintain their balance.

  Personal guards of the king and foot soldiers needed to be able to run for long distances, so stamina was also an element of military training. The Running Stela of Taharqa (690–664 BCE) tells of a race the king organised for the soldiers, enabling him to see who excelled at running. In order to motivate them, the king joined them in the race;

  The king himself was in his chariot to inspire the running of his army. He ran with them at the back of the desert of Memphis in the hour ‘She has given satisfaction’. They reached the Fayum in the hour ‘sunrise’. They returned to the palace in the hour ‘She defends her master
’. He distinguished the first among them to arrive and arranged for him to eat and drink with his bodyguard.15

  The race was from the capital city of Memphis to the Fayum, via the desert route – a distance of approximately 50 kilometres in each direction – so the 100 kilometres was completed in approximately 9 hours.16 The first half of the race was completed at night, and after a two hour break the runners started the return run to Memphis.

  The measurement of time was not a simple procedure in ancient Egypt, and there were three available methods. To tell the time during the day, shadow clocks were used; although this did not consider that the earth spins faster in the winter it gave a rough means of measuring the twelve hours of the day. At night, star clocks were used, albeit generally in a religious context, where the rising in the east of eight particular stars enabled the viewer to identify the hour. For telling the time inside the house, when it was not possible to see the sun or the stars, water clocks were used. A large bowl with a scale measured the passing of time by the speed of the water flowing out through a hole in the side.17 All of these methods were rough estimations and involved too many variants to be as accurate as timekeeping in the modern world. Moreover, hours were not the same length and varied from season to season.

  The winner of this race was rewarded by King Taharqa. This race was not for public viewing and was solely for the king to gage the talent of his soldiers, as well as being an important element of their stamina training. Training was extremely difficult in the New Kingdom military and was not suited to all boys. Papyrus Anastasi III, copied from an earlier document during the reign of Sety II, describes the hardships of the army to a potential recruit, Inena;

  What is it that you say they relate, that the soldier’s is more pleasant than the scribe’s profession? Come let me tell you the condition of the soldier; that much exerted one. He is brought while a child to be confined in the camp. A searing beating is given to his body, a wound inflicted on his eye and a splitting blow to his brow. He is laid down and beaten like papyrus. He is struck with torments.