Egypt has always been an agricultural country.

Husbandry has been the foundation of its economy, the

welfare and prosperity being at all times depending on the produce of the soil. The peasants were the
backbone of the nation, yet they left us hardly any record of their own lives. This is not surprising since
they were non-literate. They left no written accounts of the essential aspects of their lives, aspirations,
hopes and what they thought of their lot compared to the wealthier classes around them.
The evidence that we do have that allows a picture of the life of the farmer comes to us from the paintings
on the tomb walls of wealthier landowners and bureaucrats, depicting life in their households and estates,
texts and records, especially those from the Ptolemaic period written in Demotic script, and
archaeological evidence such as seed baskets, hoes, plows, sickles and winnowing scoops, related
household utensils such as ropes, baskets, and sieves, as well as small-scale wooden models of houses and
gardens and even people working.
It was believed that the god Osiris was the first farmer, the king who taught the people farming techniques
and the domestication of animals. His wife the goddess Isis taught the people how to make beer and
bread. With Osiris for their role-model and deity, the people offered back the products of the land to the
gods.
The first farmers combined the exploitation of pockets of wild grains, with the hunting and domestication
of native species of sheep, goats and cattle. The wadis, fertile areas, throughout Egypt, provided grazing
as well as cover for game such as antelope, gazelle, ostrich and hare. Fish filled the Nile River and ducks,
geese and other birds thronged the marshes and reeds.
Not only was grain vital to feed the people, but, since the Egyptians at that time had no form of currency,
grain was part of a barter economy. That is, prices of basic commodities were expressed in terms of
measures of grain.
Bread and beer were the chief components of the Egyptians daily diet, eventually even being depicted as
the first offering in the funerary offering formula, or hetep di nisu. Though there are several words in the
ancient Egyptian language for grain, one term in particular graphically describes the significance of grain
in the life of the people. This word was ankhet, describing corn as "that which gives life."
Other names of important grains which were cultivated are found on a stele listing offerings. There are
two varieties of barley, called it shema and it mehi, emmer, called bedet, wheat, called sut, and another
grain called in Egyptian besha.
The earliest evidence for the cultivation of grain crops in the Nile Valley comes from the Predynastic
period, in the region known as the Faiyum. This oasis north-west of modern Cairo is fed by a branch of
the Nile river. Its lake was known as Mer Wer or Great Lake, hence its Hellenized name of Moeris.
During the 12th Dynasty, kings built pyramids and summer palaces in this region. Later on during the
Ptolemaic period, the greatest increases in both available agricultural land and population occurred in the
region, and in the Roman period, the Faiyum was one of the principal grain producing areas of its Empire.
Emmer wheat, barley and flax, from whence linen was made and linseed oil was derived, were the first
grains cultivated, and continued to be the most important crops through dynastic history. Both emmer and
barley were used for bread as well as for beer. Early evidence for spinning and weaving of linen comes
from the Faiyum in the form of a scrap of woven fabric c 5000 BCE. The oil was used for lighting and
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