The World's Progress, Vol. 01 (of 10): With Illustrative texts from Masterpieces of Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Modern European and American LiteratureDelphian Society
History
The World's Progress, Vol. 01 (of 10): With Illustrative texts from Masterpieces of Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Modern European and American Literature
Delphian Society
Civilization -- History; World history
The Egyptian seems no longer far away and mummy-like when we learn that
he was fond of good things to eat. Roast goose was a favorite dish;
bread and beer were constantly in demand, quite as they are in Germany
today. In naming over the dishes he hoped to supply his departed, in a
tomb we may read: five kinds of birds, sixteen kinds of bread and cake,
six varieties of wine, and eleven different fruits. The bread, molded
into fancy shapes, was made of barley and wheat. Grapes were generally
grown, and fig trees too. Tame monkeys were trained to go into the high
branches of the fig trees and throw down the fruit.
Many specimens of ancient household furniture have been found in
Egyptian tombs, such as chairs, couches, tables and bedsteads. In the
sleeping apartments, high couches were reached by steps. Wooden
headrests took the place of pillows. These were used in order that the
wigs and elaborate head dresses might not be disturbed while the wearers
slept.
The student who would make an exhaustive study of the Egyptian house and
its contents must go to the museums where discovered articles have been
preserved, or at least to the detailed descriptions of these given by
Maspero and other Egyptologists. We could not well leave a consideration
of the subject however, without giving brief attention to the dwellings
of the poor, who in every age and country have made up a large part of
the population.
The fellah of today lives much as did the peasant of antiquity. His
dwelling was a hut built of mud and roofed with palm leaves. While the
poorest had but one room, those who were more industrious, perhaps,
might have two or three. Once or twice in a century, rain would fall.
Then these huts would dissolve and flow away. When the storm ceased, all
the family would set to work, level off the spot and construct a new
dwelling from sun-dried mud, which after being exposed to the heat of a
few days, would be as good as ever. This leveling of huts, whether
caused by storms, or because it was easier to build a new house than
cleanse the old one, has elevated the land in many parts of Egypt.
Frequently it is the case that peasants have dwelt so long on the sites
of buried cities, that the explorer who today would reach the original
settlement must tunnel down through many layers of sun-dried mud, once
the dwellings of the poor.
FAMILY LIFE.
It is frequently said that the test of a nation's civilization is the
position accorded to woman. Applying this test to Egypt, her
civilization would rank well with nations of modern times as well as
with those contemporaneous with her. From the earliest times of which we
have record, Egyptian women were the companions and trusted counsellors
of their husbands. During the New Empire it was the boast of one of the
Ramessides that any woman might go alone and unveiled as far in any
direction as she wished, confident that she would not be accosted nor
disturbed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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