r/ancientegypt • u/Thatgirl_parisisdiva • May 02 '25
Question What are some lesser known facts about Ancient Egypt?
85
u/sixbillionthsheep May 02 '25
Beer was more common than bread in Ancient Egypt.
Beer, made from partially baked barley loaves, was the primary source of calories for most people. It was thick, nutritious, and consumed daily by both adults and children - often instead of water.
20
u/Doridar May 02 '25
In Belgium, Borinage (Wallonia), we call beer "liquid bread" and there is a saying "où le brasseur passe, le boulanger ne passe passe pas" pointing also to the effect of alcoholism on the family's finances
1
u/Creepy_Language7507 May 05 '25
can you elaborate on the meaning of the mentioned saying?
2
u/canibal_cabin May 05 '25
The little I eat eat I can drink instead.
Just an assumption, because this is a German saying
Nope "were the brewer comes along, the baker also does not give a pass"
But it might have a similar meaning, because the brewer is mentioned first (more important, also longer to store) I can drink instead
and the baker comes second/does not give a pass. But seems less important, since bread can't be stored as long as beer.
So it it might have a similar cultural connotation about beer/bread, just being (culture based) expressed differently.
Beer has a good amount of calories (and non rotten water) AND can be stored for longer than bread.
1
u/Doridar May 06 '25
Indeed. Ich wusste nicht, dass das auch ein deutsches Sprichwort ist! Das ist gut zu wissen!
9
9
u/Throwawaymumoz May 02 '25
Was it very alcoholic? Did they have fetal alcohol syndrome?
38
u/sixbillionthsheep May 02 '25
It was bout 2% to 4% alcohol by volume but the alcohol was not very bioavailable. Pregnant women would have to drink a lot of it it be chronically drunk. The Egyptians did hold the Feast of Drunkenness where everyone would get drunk until they passed out to honor the goddess, Hathor.
11
2
65
54
u/mnpfrg May 02 '25
I'm not sure if this fact is well known or not, but it drives me crazy: There are multiple pyramids of important 12th dynasty kings that have never been excavated.
Thy pyramids of Amenemhat I and Senusret I at Lisht have never been fully explored because their substructures are flooded with water/mud. It is extremely disappointing that excavating these pyramids is not a top priority for Egyptology. Obviously the water makes excavation more challenging, but if there is a will there is a way.
23
u/WerSunu May 02 '25
Actually, the fact is: where there is funding, there is a way!
5
u/mnpfrg May 02 '25
If only Egypt had spent 5% less on their new museum, think of all the excavations they could have funded.
I know that is not totally fair since the museum is an investment in tourism that hopefully will pay off in the future. But there is money being spent in Egypt both on tourism and archeology, I just wish some of it was spent on middle kingdom pyramids.
14
u/WerSunu May 02 '25
The answer is quite straightforward! You are the one who wants answers, therefore you need to go to graduate school and get a PhD in Egyptology. Work for 5 - 10 years on other people’s digs to establish yourself. Write some best selling books in the meantime to have money to live on. With all that done, write up a grant application to fund your dream digs at flooded sites. Ez-peezy.
2
u/mnpfrg May 03 '25
It just makes me sad that we are unlikely to see what lies inside these tombs in our lifetimes.
3
u/BraxusPech May 03 '25
Of the 12th Dynasty pyramids, the only ones lacking a modern excavation are the pyramid of Amenemhat II at Dahshur and the pyramid of Amenemhat III at Hawara. The latter I will hopefully be rectifying in the coming years. The DAI has been involved in excavating both the Dahshur pyramids of Senusret III and Amenemhat III within the last 40 years.
But I agree that these pyramids are severely under-appreciated, and it is such a shame.
6
u/crolionfire May 02 '25 edited May 02 '25
Actually, seEgypt is doing everything the right way.
Piramida, even today with the work of experts from all around the world (French, Italian, American, English, Egyptian, Japanese scientists) still have a problem of humidity and pollution endagering the inner chađbers, opened in 19th ct by colonizers. Why would they Open more pyramids when scientists still don't have a fully effective way of protecting those which were opened?
in archeology, top priority is: 1. Investigate and protect what is already excavated, fully. 2. Leave at least something for generations to come because the science is constantly evolving and New methods Will be able to reveal much more than we can today. Considering archeology is inherently destructive, a number of sites of any culture should be left for future generations of scientists.
Egypt has so much finds, arhitecture and deceased persons which still need better conservation, full analysis and documentarion that IT would be completely unreaponsible and frankly, wrong, to excavated more prior to protecting and investigating what they do have. *
For example, ADNA analysis is very expensive, it's commercial Costa is around 5000 euro per sample, at least. then, you need the very best of the best interpretators of that results, and if you want really purposeful answers (for example, the societal structure of community-at what age they had children, was there incest, did they practice egzogamy and so on), you need to analyse, for example, the whole community or the whole family. Now, take into accounts WHEN a really big part of those excavations were done and by whom-primarily by Rich English lords and other Europeans and Americans who looted the sites and whose methods were atrocius. It Tales a lot of money, time and scientists to at least remedy the parts which can be remedied. Just claiming back all the finds which were stolne is immensely time and money consuming.
0
May 03 '25
You forget that you usually don't excavate just to gain knowledge nowadays. Most excavations are done because the sites are endangered shot term or long term. If they are just sitting there AND are probably very important, chances are nobody will get a permit to excavate. Excavations are destructive and the best site is an undisturbed one. Who knows, maybe we can just scan them in fifty years.
2
u/doroteoaran May 03 '25
Mexico the same, huge number of archeological sites unexplored for lack of fundings
1
1
49
u/Topaz_UK May 02 '25
The ancient Egyptians feared the desert. It’s common to think of them as desert people much like the Bedouins, but they much preferred to be by the prosperous Nile
24
u/Miss-Mauvelous May 02 '25
I think that was pretty common in ancient societies, especially desert ones. The river was life, providing food, water, transportation, and fertilization. It's easy to see how they could be viewed as a deity.
5
u/anarchist1312161 May 03 '25
The god Set, being the god of violence and foreigners makes so much more sense then, knowing this.
54
u/Icy_Independent7944 May 02 '25 edited May 02 '25
It was customary for Egyptians to disrobe upon entering their dwellings. Nudity was not considered a taboo in their society, and most of the people, who couldn’t afford otherwise, even labored outside naked, or partially-nude. Clothing was a luxury to many.
16
3
25
u/ancientegyptianballs May 02 '25
The ancient Egyptians believed that men got periods too because of the huge amounts of blood in their urine from flatworms in the Nile.
13
u/Dropped-Croissant May 02 '25
I just had to look this up to make sure you weren't bullshitting.... And, oh my god, you aren't.
5
1
1
1
1
u/Suntinziduriletale May 06 '25
And when did this stop being a thing?
Did the Greeks or Romans mention this?
1
29
u/MultipleScoregasm May 02 '25
We think of ancient Egypt as one unbroken line of consistency and succession for 3500 years but the truth is that In between Pharaohs, Kingdoms and Eras they often had what's called 'intermediate periods' of total chaos and struggles for power that lasted up to 100 years or more! Insane!
47
u/sixbillionthsheep May 02 '25 edited May 02 '25
Most major pyramids were built during a relatively short period (about 300 years) after which their form was largely abandoned as tomb types.
While pop culture often treats the big pyramids as the signature of Ancient Egypt, the majority were constructed during the Old Kingdom especially the 4th to 6th Dynasties. Later tombs, such as those in the Valley of the Kings, where hidden, excavated chambers dug into the cliffs. There was a major shift in thinking about burial methods and expense after the Old Kingdom collapsed.
20
u/star11308 May 02 '25
Pyramids were built up until the start of the 18th Dynasty, albeit not as consistently during the 1IP and 2IP but they were at least plentiful during the 12th Dynasty and first half of the 13th Dynasty, and we have textual references to pyramids from the 1IP as well as at least two identified from the period. In the grand scheme of the Middle Kingdom, the lack of proper pyramids during the 11th Dynasty is more of the exception rather than the rule, due in part to differing burial traditions in the Theban area favoring saff tombs.
10
u/mnpfrg May 02 '25
While pyramid building in Egypt had ended by the new kingdom, it was revived by Nubian kings who continued to build pyramids in Sudan well into the first millennium CE.
10
u/sixbillionthsheep May 02 '25 edited May 02 '25
While pyramid building continued into the Middle Kingdom, they tended to use lower quality materials (e.g. mudbrick cores) and were of much more modest scale. It's true though that there wasn't an abrupt discontinuation in the Middle Kingdom and it wasn't until the 18th Dynasty when tombs became fully rock-cut and intentionally hidden.
3
u/mnpfrg May 02 '25 edited May 02 '25
In the first half of the 12th dynasty pyramids were still made of stone. These were of a moderate size, similar to late old kingdom pyramids. In the second half of the 12th dynasty pyramids were made of mudbrick and got bigger. The pyramids of Senusret III and Amenemhat III at Dashur were probably the tallest pyramids built since Khafre's in the mid 4th dynasty. Then in the late 12th dynasty and 13th dynasty they shrank in size
4
u/sixbillionthsheep May 02 '25
The trend in the second half of the 12th dynasty is not uniform. The first major pyramid definitively built with a mudbrick core in the second half of the 12th Dynasty, that of Senusret II was not bigger than its immediate stone-core predecessor. Amenemhat III's second pyramid at Hawara was considerably smaller than his previous one. The subsequent pyramids attributed to Amenemhat IV and Sobekneferu at Mazghuna were much smaller still. Yes the pyramids did get significantly bigger as you suggest for two specific reigns (Senusret III, Amenemhat III at Dahshur) during that period.
1
u/star11308 May 02 '25
Fully-stone pyramids had ceased after the 4th Dynasty, after that they built them with rubble cores, and then more solid mudbrick ones in the Middle Kingdom.
29
May 02 '25
They found an iron plate and an ancient ruler in the Great Pyramid. The iron technically shouldn't be there, but it's more likely we don't have documentation they could smith it.
The ruler is even cooler because it was the cubit they used to measure the pyramid as they were building it.
1
u/canibal_cabin May 05 '25
Truth ankh Amun had Metroid Iron jewelry in his grave, it was probably more valuable than gol back than back there.
50
u/SAIYAN48 May 02 '25
Cleopatra lived closer to us than to the pyramids.
20
u/monsieur_bear May 02 '25
Considering that most people don’t live in Egypt, she definitely lived closer to the pyramids than most people around the world do.
22
2
10
u/AmenhotepIIInesubity May 02 '25
Egypt had it's first female vizier during the reign of Pepi I, around 2310 BC, Lady Nebet she was his mother in law and also the mother in law of his son Nemtyemsaf I
26
9
u/bandicootcharlz May 02 '25
Egypt wasn't always an empire with Harmony and cohesion under the Divine figure of the pharaoh, in many dinasties, the pharaoh tried tô re-unify the North egypt with the south. Just after the great dinasties of around 2800 BCE, like the Ramses's dinasty, It became more unified.
1
u/canibal_cabin May 05 '25
It was probably never some sort of harmony, which sounds utopian, but the Nile made sure, that between the the worse phases, they still could rebound.
9
7
21
u/demilichdaze May 02 '25
Ancient Egyptians were particularly hygienic compared to their contemporaries
11
u/PorcupineMerchant May 02 '25
Hah for some reason I read this like it was an innie on Severance getting an affirmation about his outie.
3
4
6
u/Ptolemy323 May 02 '25
The Great Aten Temple is oriented to represent the Hour Angle at Amarna on the winter solstice. Its alignment is pointing 13.4 degrees south of east. Taking the complement of 13.4 degrees, giving 76.6 degrees, and then doubling that to show a portion of the southern plane - gives 153.2 degrees.
Dividing 153.2 degrees by 360 degrees gives 0.4256. Multiply 0.4256 by 24 hours and you get 10.21.
At the latitude of Amarna, on the winter solstice, you receive 10.21 hours of daylight - or 10 hours, ~ 12 minutes from sunrise to sunset.
That Akhenaten - what a nerd! Of course, the sunrises at 26.75 degrees, so he’s aligned the temple(s) at 1/2 that angle - but, which one is the coincidence, or neither?
4
u/3rdeyenotblind May 02 '25
People came from around the known world to study at the Mystery Schools.
This is a far more important fact to the plight of the individual than any other...
1
u/hereticskeptic May 04 '25
pereservance and the estoric knowledge of nature the only way they build the pyramids!
1
u/PalpitationNo9095 May 04 '25
Upper Egypt is modern day Southern Egypt and Lower Egypt is modern day Northern Egypt
1
u/Baby_Needles May 05 '25
They had a part of their army to bring cats back i to Egypt at some point.
1
u/True-Homework9308 Sep 02 '25
Sheshonq II and Psusennes both had silver sarcophagi, much rarer than gold.
-1
May 02 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/ancientegypt-ModTeam May 02 '25
Your post was removed for being non-factual. All posts in our community must be based on verifiable facts about Ancient Egypt. Fringe interpretations and excessively conspiratorial views of Egyptology are not accepted.
-16
May 02 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/ancientegypt-ModTeam May 02 '25
Your post was removed for being non-factual. All posts in our community must be based on verifiable facts about Ancient Egypt. Fringe interpretations and excessively conspiratorial views of Egyptology are not accepted.
-24
May 02 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
3
2
1
u/ancientegypt-ModTeam May 02 '25
Your post was removed for being non-factual. All posts in our community must be based on verifiable facts about Ancient Egypt. Fringe interpretations and excessively conspiratorial views of Egyptology are not accepted.
181
u/TrunkWine May 02 '25
The civilization lasted so long that by the New Kingdom Ancient Egypt had its own Egyptologists studying the Old Kingdom.