wealthiest people, and occasionally repasts have

been found in the tombs set out on individual

dishes. It was customary for the relatives of the
deceased to supply food offerings at the tomb to
nourish his spirit. This duty was frequently delegated to a special priest, and to avoid starvation
if this task were ever neglected, a menu
inscribed in the tomb could be magically activated by the deceased. These funerary lists
include ten sorts of meat, five kinds of fowl, sixteen kinds of bread and cake, six kinds of wine,
four different beers, and eleven varieties of fruit.
There is sufficient evidence to show that
fashions in dishes and food preparation changed
over the centuries and that foreign recipes supplemented Egyptian cooking. In the New Kingdom delicacies were introduced from Syria and
Asia Minor. The Egyptians enjoyed unusual
breads and imported wine and beer, but sometimes foreigners resident in Egypt produced
these new products locally.
The staple diet of the poor consisted of
bread, beer, and onions. They lived and ate frugally, eking out their rations with any extra
fruit and vegetables they could grow. Conversely, the nobles and landowners ate well
from the produce of their estates, and the
priests received payment for their temple
duties in the form of the food and drink that
reverted from the temple gods altar at the conclusion of the thrice-daily ritual.
The staple food of all classes was bread, and
bread making was an important task of all
households. Beer, produced from ground barley, was the Egyptians favorite drink and was
prepared in a brewery or special area of the
kitchen devoted to this purpose. Wine was
another favorite beverage, and even as early as
the Old Kingdom there were six distinct types
of wine grown in different parts of Egypt.
From the New Kingdom onward various wines
were mixed together in large vessels to provide
a potent drink for the celebration of feasts and
special occasions.

Meat and fowl appeared among the dishes

enjoyed by the wealthy and included beef, goat,
mutton, pork (although for some social and
religious groups, this was forbidden), goose,
and pigeon. Butchery is shown in tomb and
temple scenes and was obviously well organized, but meat had to be consumed immediately after slaughter and was a food for feast
days rather than part of the daily diet. Animal
husbandry provided most of the meat and fowl
since by the historic period, hunting had
become a sport rather than a means of supplying food, except perhaps occasionally for the
royal family or the temples. Fish were caught
by many people and provided an important
additional element to their diet.
Egypt produced a rich harvest of vegetables
and fruit. These included figs, dates, pomegranates, grapes, onions, garlic, leeks, romaine lettuce, radishes, chicory, cucumbers, and melons.
Others found in Egypt today (oranges, bananas,
lemons, mangoes, peaches, almonds, tomatoes,
and sugarcane) were only introduced in the
Greco-Roman Period or later times. Popular
herbs were coriander, dill, and mint. In harvesting their crops the ancient Egyptians sometimes employed the assistance of animals, such
as the tame monkeys who are shown in the
tomb scenes climbing the stout branches of the
fig trees to help the gardeners gather figs. Milk
was provided by farm animals, and in the
absence of sugar, honey was used as a sweetener.

Food Preparation
Very little is known of how the food was prepared or cooked, as no Egyptian cookery book
has yet been discovered. The contents of the
tomb of Kha, a senior workman at Deir elMedina, were found intact and are now housed
in the Turin Museum, Italy. Food placed in his
tomb included shredded vegetables, bunches

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365

suggested as a cure for hair loss. To augment

the natural hair on mummies, false plaits were
woven into the real tresses. The dead were also
equipped with wigs that were stored in boxes
and kept in the tombs for use in the next world.
During the Old Kingdom men and women
wore simple, short hairstyles, but there were
many variations, and by the New Kingdom
both sexes had longer hair, and flowers and ribbons were used as accessories. Priests, however,
were required to remove all bodily hair in order
to be ritually pure when they came into contact with the gods statue and his possessions.
Childrens heads were also shaved, although the
sidelock of youth (one strand left at the side
of the head) was worn until the age of puberty.

of garlic and onions, bowls of dates, raisins,

and persea fruits, and spices including juniper
berries and cumin seeds.
Spit-roasting over live embers was the usual
method of cooking a goose or fish. They also
had stone hearths or metal braziers on which
smaller pots were placed; larger pots were
propped on two supports over the open fire,
and in the late New Kingdom cooks used great
metal cooking pots, presumably to prepare
dishes where the vegetables, fish, herbs, spices,
and occasionally fragments of meat and fowl
were mixed together and braised slowly.

PERSONAL
APPEARANCE

Cosmetics and Perfumes

Cosmetics were used by both sexes, initially to
protect the skin against the harshness of Egypts
sunny, dry climate. Recipes have been found for
removing spots and wrinkles and for improving
the appearance of the skin. Toilet boxes and
equipment have survived containing bronze or
copper mirrors (highly effective when polished), combs, tweezers, ointment spoons (for
pouring oils over the body), and pots and boxes
for cosmetics.
Plant products were used for cosmetics and
perfumes. The Egyptians were famous for their
perfumes. One such perfume, The Egyptian,
was made in the city of Mendes and exported to
Rome. It had a long shelf life, and one perfumier
in Greece kept a supply in his shop for eight
years. It was also reputed to last well on the skin.
To produce another famous perfumed ointment
called Oil of Lilies, a thousand Madonna lilies
were used for each batch; a constant supply was
grown in special enclosed gardens.
People also wore wax cones, scented with
herbs and spices, on their wigs when they

Hair
The Egyptians were very concerned with their
personal appearance, and their hair proved no
exception. Evidence of hair care and hairstyles
is provided by wigs, inscriptions, tomb scenes,
and statuary. As part of their routine to ensure
cleanliness, many men and women used copper
or bronze razors to shave their heads. The
upper and middle classes wore wigs when they
went outdoors to provide protection against
the sun, and also when they attended social
functions. Some were made entirely of real hair
and others had hair mixed with vegetable
fibers. Sometimes, they were worn even if the
owner retained his own hair. According to the
medical papyri, there were prescriptions to
prevent baldness and to remedy grayness, but
these were ineffectual. One ointment made of
juniper berries and other berries was recommended as an antidote to graying hair, and
chopped lettuce, placed on a bald patch, was

HANDBOOK TO LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT

366

attended parties; the cones would melt in the

course of the evening and give forth a pleasant
odor. Air fragrances were produced, including
the famous Kyphi, which was an oil free and
fat free scent based on wine, raisins, and aromatic herbs. The recipe for this temple purifier
was found engraved on the temple walls at Edfu
and Philae and was repeated later in works of
Classical writers. Fumigation pellets were also
used to improve or at least mask household and
clothing odors, as well as to freshen the breath,
following the daily example of the gods. Unfortunately, the smells of these perfumes and ointments have not survived in the residues found

in the tombs because of chemical changes that

have occurred in the fatty substances.
The Egyptians were greatly concerned with
personal hygiene. Body and facial hair was
removed with razors, tweezers, or depilatory
creams. It was customary to apply a deodorant
by rubbing ground carob into the skin. Facial
cleansing creams were used such as the oil and
lime mixture found in two jars among the
tomb contents belonging to three queens of
Tuthmosis III. A recommended antiwrinkle
cream consisted of a mixture of frankincense,
moringa oil, grass, and fermented fruit juice
and was to be applied daily.

Small wooden boxes for storing cosmetics, jewelry, and trinkets. One held powdered hematite and juniper
berries (center front) for coloring the face, and a bulbous-ended kohl stick (center front) for outlining the
eyes. From Kahun, c.1890 BC. (Courtesy The Manchester Museum, University of Manchester)

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The Egyptians used two kinds of eye paint:

Malachite (green ore of copper) and galena
(dark gray ore of lead) were ground on palettes,
mixed with ointment, and applied to the eyes.
Eye makeup equipment was found in the earliest
burials of the Predynastic Period and was obviously considered an essential accessory for the
afterlife. Eye paint was probably originally
regarded as a protection against the glare of the
sun and the dust. Kohl was kept in small stone
jars or in faience, stone, or wooden tubes and
applied with a kohl stick (bulbous at one end) to
outline the shape of the eye. Red ocher was used
both as rouge and, mixed with oil or fat, as a lip
gloss. Henna was applied to hair, feet, hands,
and nails. From the evidence of the mummies,
the feet and hands of the upper classes were
carefully pedicured and manicured.

in tomb paintings and statuary in elaborate, fulllength costumes. These have fine pleating and
often incorporate one almost transparent tunic
over another garment. The most common
footwear was a pair of sandals, made of rush or
papyrus, but there were also leather shoes, and
an example of a fur-lined boot was discovered at
the pyramid workmens town of Kahun.
Peasants wore simple linen clothesmen
working in the fields are shown in loincloths
while women were barely clad in simple linen
dresses. Children went naked until puberty.
Some professions and trades had official robes or
distinctive garments associated with their work.
By the Greco-Roman Period styles changed and
were strongly influenced by Hellenistic and
Roman fashion. At first these new styles were
worn only by the foreign upper classes, but eventually some Egyptians also adopted them.

Clothing
Jewelry

The Egyptians generally used linen for their

garments and mummy bandages. Wool was
also worn but has been found less frequently
because it was forbidden to include clothing
made from animal products among the tomb
goods. Linen was produced in several regions
of the ancient world, but the finest quality was
found in Egypt. Although it was traditional to
wear white linen, dyes such as safflower, madder, and acacia were used to provide yellow,
red, and blue cloth. Men are frequently shown
with a short kilt that reached the knee; made
from fine, stiffened linen, this was generally a
luxury item worn only by the wealthiest classes.
Women often wore a sheath dress of almost
transparent linen, but occasionally model statues of servant girls show them wearing dresses
of geometric patterned, multicolored textiles.
In the Old Kingdom the garments worn by
men and women are simple, and there is no
great variation between the classes, but in the
New Kingdom the upper classes are represented

From earliest times the Egyptians adorned

themselves with jewelry. The gods received
clothing and jewelry every day when the priests
performed the rituals for the divine statue in
the temple sanctuary, and humans also felt the
need to protect and decorate themselves with
jewelry. It was worn by both the living and the
dead and was believed to fulfill a number of
functions. Magical charms (amulets) were used
to protect the wearer (when alive or after
death, on the mummy) against mysterious hostile forces such as wild animals, disease, accidents, and natural disasters. Sometimes, the
charm was made in the shape of a limb so that
if the owner had suffered an accident or injury
to this part of the body, the substitute would
attract good spirits who could cure this affliction. The forms of the amulets, representing
sacred symbols such scarabs, the Eye of Horus,
or the ankh (sign of life), were believed to

HANDBOOK TO LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT

368

provide magical protection, but also the materials from which the jewelry was made conveyed their own hidden powers. These
materials included metals and gem stones and
also shells, seeds, bone, and flowers.
Apart from the most important purpose of
protecting the wearer, jewelry was also an indication of status and wealth or represented royal
honors given to mark service or valor. Archaeological discoveries of royal jewelry, such as the
treasure of the Middle Kingdom queens and
princesses at Dahshur and Lahun, the contents
of Tutankhamuns tomb at Thebes, and the
wealth of objects found at Tanis, indicate the
quality of the jewelers craftmanship; in some
instances, it cannot be equaled today. Wealthy
Egyptians enjoyed a sophisticated lifestyle that

was reflected in the care and effort they devoted

to their personal appearance, and even the
poorer classes wore simple jewelry to adorn and
protect themselves.

ENTERTAINMENT
Childrens Toys and Games
There is some difficulty in distinguishing true
toys and games (intended to amuse and entertain their owners) from dolls or other figurines used for magical or religious purposes.

Clay figurines, possibly modeled by children as toys. They include an ape (top left), a pig (top right), an
unidentified animal (bottom left), a crocodile (center bottom), and a model boat (bottom right). From
Kahun, c.1890 BC. (Courtesy The Manchester Museum, University of Manchester)
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