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10 historical facts about ancient Egyptians
The ancient Egyptians were a fascinating race, with mysterious mummies to worship cats.
After all these years, we are still uncovering the hidden secrets of this culture today.
Here we make Ancient Egypt less mysterious with top ten interesting facts about Ancient Egypt.
The ancient Egyptians were very crazy about cats.
Yes, they were!
The most respected of them all is the cat.
The ancient Egyptians believed that animals were incarnations of the gods, so it was very popular to keep animals as pets.
The most common are cats but also dogs, hawks, lions and baboons are kept at home.
If you were caught killing or injuring a cat in Ancient Egypt, the penalty was high, often fatal.
However, the only time this will be an exception is if the cat population is overcrowded and needs to be reduced.
Cats will be sacrificed to the gods and this will reduce the population.
There's a goddess just for cats.
Goddess Bastet, is the representative of love for cats and she is described as half cat, half woman.
It is believed that Bastet protects the house from evil spirits and diseases and protects women and children in the house.
The Egyptians were some of the first to mummify their dead.
In ancient Egypt, they believed that there was an afterlife and the only way to get there safely was to follow a rigorous set of procedures for preparing a corpse.
This process takes about 70 days.
When a body is prepared for embalming, the organs will first have to be removed and placed in Canopic jars.
The next stage is to remove all moisture from the body.
To do this, they cover the body in a powdered salt and let it rest for about 35-40 days, or until moisture is gone.
After cleaning up the remaining salt, the body will be stuffed with linen to fill it up again, and then it's ready to pack.
The wrapping process could take up to two weeks to complete and the family of the deceased is expected to collect approximately 372 square meters of linen to wrap the body.
Once completed, the mummy was placed in the coffin and then taken to the mausoleum where it would rest.
Canopic flasks were used to hold the organs of the dead.
Canopic flasks are used to place the organs of a mummified body.
Each organ was placed within each organ as a sign of homage to Horus, the God of the Sky.
The ancient Egyptians believed that it would ensure that the dead would safely reach the afterlife.
There are 4 jars;
The first vial is called "Imesty", and has an engraved head of it on its lid.
The second vial, called "Qebehsenuf", has the head of a falcon and it carries the intestines of the deceased.
The third vial "Hapy", depicts the head of a baboon and is used to hold the lungs.
The fourth bottle "Duamatef" has the head of a jackal and is used to carry the stomach.
The most famous ancient Egyptians in the world was the Tutankhamun.
The most famous Ancient Egyptians were the mummies of King Tutankhamun.
Howard Carter, along with a team of British explorers and archaeologists, discovered Tutankhamun's mummy.
Believed to be around 3,000 years old, they found his tomb on February 16, 1923.
Tutankhamun's sheath was made entirely of gold and he was buried in the tomb along with more than 5,000 artifacts.
These will be items given to the deceased King, to take him to the afterlife.
The Rosetta Stone is the key to understanding Hieroglyphs.
The Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799 and is the key to understanding hieroglyphs and is on display at the British Museum in London.
It was created in 196 BC and it is a fragment of an edict issued in Memphis, Egypt engraved on stone and written in 3 different languages.
Top and middle segments are written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and bottom segments in ancient Greek.
By having a Greek translation, it allows researchers to crack down on hieroglyphs, allowing us to understand more about the ancient Egyptians.
The ancient Egyptians invented the toothpaste!
The Egyptians invested in their dental care and they were the creators of the first toothpaste production recipe.
It is believed that their food contains a lot of grit and sand, which latch on to their enamel, so experiments have been carried out to improve their oral care.
Record notes were found throughout ancient Egypt showing toothpaste recipes.
They use ingredients like ash, pumice stone, burnt eggshell and cow's nail powder to create toothpaste.
It wasn't until the Roman Empire came along that items like mint were added for a better taste!
The Egyptians love to play board games.
Everyone loves a good board game, but not as much as the ancient Egyptians.
There were two very popular games played in ancient Egypt, Senet and Mehen.
The Senet board game is said to be around 5,000 years old and the title of the game in Egyptian means "game of pass".
Mehen is another popular board game, but it has a round board.
People often bury one or both games with pharaohs in their mausoleums, so they have something to play with in the afterlife.
Both men and women wear make-up.
In ancient Egypt, both men and women wore makeup because they believed it brought them the protection of the gods Horus and Ra.
To make makeup, they will crush ore elements such as malachite into a paste and then use tools made of bone or wood, they will apply it around the eyes, just like we use pens.
They believe that makeup will give them strength.
Years later, research has shown that since eyeliner pens are made of lead, this reduces the risk of eye infections.
Women have the same rights as men.
In ancient Egypt, women had the same rights as men, making them stand out from other communities around the world at that time.
Women are allowed to own property and in court, women are legally the same as men.
Women in power will be served only by other women and sometimes communities of these powerful women will form.
However, some rules and exceptions apply.
Women are not allowed to play an important role in society unless they marry the position through husbands or involve powerful families.
There are jobs that are considered only suitable for women, such as weaving, dancing, singing and becoming a professional mourning worker.
The ancient Egyptians will always be a mystical race as we continue to explore more about their culture and worship of gods.
So now that you have more opportunities in the life of ancient Egyptians, why not find a few friends and challenge them to play the Mehen or Senet game and see how they play the game.
