Inundation
The following chapters will provide an outline of some everyday activities experienced by different social classes throughout the course of one year. In order to explore this theme as fully as possible, but also to place it within a defined historical setting and context, these events will be described as if they were part of the life of an imaginary ancient Egyptian family who lived in the New Kingdom, one of the greatest periods of Egyptian civilization.
For this purpose, it has been assumed that the head of this household, a government official named Khary, lived at Thebes in Dynasty 18. As members of the upper classes, he and his family enjoyed an affluent lifestyle. In addition to his townhouse in the city on the east bank of the river, Khary possessed a fine country estate, where we shall follow his everyday activities and those of his family and servants throughout the course of a year. This imaginary family also included Khary’s wife, Perenbast, who owned property in her own right and carried a title, ‘Chantress of Amun’, which reflected her high social standing; and the couple’s two elder sons, Nakht, a lawyer who also held a priesthood and was married to Merenmut, and Amenemhet who fought as an army officer in the military expeditions which the king led to Nubia and Syria/Palestine. In addition, there was a daughter, Meryamun, who was married to a doctor, Amenmose, and Khary’s youngest son, Ipy, who was still at school. Perenbast’s elderly mother, Nefert, also lived with the family. Wealth and social position enabled these people to provide themselves with relatively elaborate burials at Thebes, and their preparations for the afterlife will also be described.