Tne Land and its People
Structure of the Society
During the New Kingdom, Egypt became a great military power, and possessed an empire which stretched from Nubia to Asia; however, the main structure of the society still reflected the pattern which had been established in the Old Kingdom.1 At the top, and central to the whole scheme, was the god-king. Chosen by the gods, the king was himself regarded as a god represented in human form. However, he was not the gods’ equal, and although he acted as their agent on earth, he retained many human characteristics and was subject to the laws of Egypt. Each king was believed to be the physical offspring of the leading god of the dynasty, born to the chief wife of the previous ruler, a unique status which enabled him to mediate between the gods and mankind, and which also placed an impassable chasm between the king and his subjects. By c.3100 BCE, a line of kings who ruled a united Egypt had emerged from the most powerful tribal chieftains of the Predynastic Period, but as their royal duties in religion, law and justice, politics and warfare increased, they delegated certain aspects of these roles to royal officials.
In the Old Kingdom, the king was already surrounded by a powerful Court, which included the royal wives and adult royal children. It was probably customary for the king to marry the chief royal heiress (the eldest daughter of the previous king and queen, frequently the ruling king’s own sister) to ensure his succession to the throne, but there were many siblings by secondary wives who sometimes disputed an heir’s claim. These royal relatives comprised the nobility during the Old Kingdom, and in a futile attempt to secure their unconditional support, the king gave them the most powerful and influential positions in government.
Pottery jar decorated with the scene of a religious festival. A river-boat with banks of oars is shown transporting two divine shrines along the Nile. From Naqada. Predynastic Period. Manchester Museum.
At first, they only held these posts for life, but by the end of the Old Kingdom, the king had appointed men from outside his own family circle to senior positions, and increasingly he began to make these appointments hereditary, to try to ensure these governors’ loyalty. His divine authority, however, was ever more challenged and undermined by political, economic and religious developments, and these men eventually usurped power and ruled almost independently in their own districts.
An alabaster offering-tray from a tomb. These were part of the funerary cult of presenting food to the deceased tomb-owner to ensure that he had eternal nourishment. From Median. Dynasty 3. Manchester Museum.
In the later Old Kingdom, the First Intermediate Period, and even the earlier part of the Middle Kingdom when the status of royalty had been re-established, the king continued to encounter the nobles’ rivalry. This situation was not rectified until Dynasty 12, when one king took steps to curtail their powers, and by the New Kingdom these great landowners had been replaced by a hierarchy of officials who were responsible to the king. Our imaginary official, Khary, held one of these posts. However, there were two other groups of officials who played a significant role in the balance of power – senior officers in the army and the priests; over the centuries, various rulers used different ploys to attempt to control their influence.
In the Old Kingdom, the king and his great administrators and governors were supported by an extensive bureaucracy of minor officials and clerks who made up the middle layer of society. In the New Kingdom, a similar structure of minor bureaucrats managed the government and all matters relating to Egypt’s empire. Some supervised the artisans and craftsmen who produced the funerary monuments and equipment for funerary and domestic use. By the New Kingdom, there would have been flourishing communities of craftsmen at Thebes and other major cities, as well as in the town (known today as Deir el-Medina), specially built to house the workmen engaged in building and equipping the royal tombs.
However, despite the establishment of some major urban centres in Egypt, the agricultural workforce (perhaps eighty percent of the total population), which grew the food for the whole society, was the mainstay of the country throughout all historical periods.2 These people were peasants rather than ‘slaves’, since they were not owned by one master, although their lives and opportunities were very limited.
Although all land officially belonged to the king, in practice it was distributed between various owners. By the New Kingdom, these owners included temples, government officials, and army officers who had replaced the provincial governors and great officials of earlier times. Sometimes, the land was administered by a royal agent who, in turn, rented out small areas to the peasants in return for payment. When the estate was owned by an official, he usually employed a steward to supervise the land and the peasants who cultivated it.
In earlier times, the provincial governors had been obliged to raise taxes and to make provision against famine by building up reserve food supplies after a good harvest. In the New Kingdom, landowners were still expected to pay their dues to the State, and these were exacted from the peasants who worked the land. Therefore, in addition to meeting the needs of their own families, the peasants were constantly required to pay their taxes to the estate owner in the form of surplus food produce. These taxes paid to the Crown ultimately fed the rest of society and provided the offerings that were presented in the temples and tombs; they were also used as exchange commodities in foreign commerce. Some people acquired their land through inheritance, while others received it as a gift from the king, and from the New Kingdom onwards land was also given to professional soldiers as a reward for their service to the country. This land would remain in the ownership of the soldier’s family for as long as its members continued to serve in the army.
The peasants were unable to cultivate the land for three months each year because the fields became waterlogged as a result of the inundation. During this time they undertook other duties, which may have included work at royal building sites: during the Old Kingdom, this probably included pyramid construction, while in the New Kingdom they may have built new towns. As a means of payment, the State provided food rations for these men and their families. Such schemes may have been initiated to support the peasants during the inundation, and also to ensure that a large, unemployed workforce never had the time and opportunity to foster insurrection.
The peasants were also liable to undertake corvée duty. They could be requested to work in the mines, the quarries, and on building sites, and before a professional army was established in the New Kingdom, they were obliged to fight as soldiers. Corvée-duty was an obligation which all the king’s subjects were expected to fulfil, but the wealthy circumvented the problem by employing substitutes to work on their behalf.
The landowners had the freedom to choose which crops they would grow, provided they met their tax obligations, and when there was a surplus at the harvest, they probably sold this to the State. However, only the government could sell or export superfluous national produce to other countries. An extensive government bureaucracy exacted heavy taxes which almost everyone was expected to pay. From the Old Kingdom onwards, a regular census of the fields, herds, and gold supplies was undertaken, so that the obligations of each district could be established. Some taxes were paid to the Crown in gold, which was used to provide subsidies for conducting foreign diplomacy and to pay the salaries of senior government officials. The State’s most important commitments, which involved the payment of its large bureaucratic staff and the provision of a food reserve for times of famine, were met through the taxes collected in the form of agricultural produce.
Central government had the responsibility for assessing and fixing taxes. In order to predict the potential harvest (and the taxes which would be paid on this produce) in any one year, officials carried out an agricultural census, measuring the arable land and recording the names of the institutions (such as temples) and private individuals who owned it; they also had to ascertain the height of the Nile flood in order to calculate the year’s crop and the probable tax yield. Details of the water level were obtained from Nilometers situated along the river banks.
Each Nilometer consisted of a stone staircase, encased between two walls, which descended to the Nile. On one wall of the Nilometer, a succession of graduated scales was inscribed; this was accompanied by a record of the heights to which the river had risen at different times. The information enabled the officials to calculate the gradual rise and fall of the river and thus assess the potential harvest and the optimum time for opening the canals and allowing the water to flow into the irrigation system. In this way, the inundation was a vital component of the government’s taxation and revenue policy; it directly indicated and influenced the level of annual profits that could be expected, which would result from the export of grain and other commodities.
Another inspection was carried out when the crops began to grow, in order to fix a final tax assessment, and agents sometimes employed harsh measures to exact these taxes, particularly from the peasants who worked on the estates. During the New Kingdom, the peasants continued to pay their dues in agricultural produce, while the State collected taxes from artisans and craftsmen in the form of a proportion of their manufactured goods. All taxes were stored in government depots and treasuries, and then redistributed to meet State expenses.
The Start of the Agricultural Year
The story of Khary and his family centres around their imaginary estate situated in the countryside near Thebes. In ancient times, wealthy families enjoyed spending their leisure time on such estates, which included a well-appointed house and surrounding lands; the owner would supervise the management of the land, its herds, and agricultural and horticultural produce, although the day-to-day organization and oversight of the property was left in the capable hands of a Steward.
The inundation marked the start of the agricultural year. The rising waters of the Nile were experienced successively from the south of Egypt (in June) to the north (September), and had a profound effect upon the autumn season (Akhet) of the Egyptian calendar. In early August, when the water began to rise along the length of the river, the canals were opened to facilitate the flow of water into the fields. In the Nile Valley, where Khary’s estate was situated, the area nearest the desert was inundated first because it lay at the lowest level, while the riverbanks – which had been gradually built up to a greater height by the annual deposit of silt – were the last stretch of land to be submerged. In the Delta, where the land levels were more equal, there was a more uniform pattern of inundation.
The Nile at Aswan, once the southernmost boundary of Egypt. On the west bank (facing), the hill is crowned with a sheikhs tomb (Qubbet el-Hawa); below are rock-cut tombs of local dignitaries of the Old and Middle Kingdoms.
During an excessively high Nile, the effect of the inundation was to create isolated areas of high land which stood above the water level. Before the floodwater from the south reached Thebes, Khary’s estate-workers always ensured that the flocks and herds were removed from the low-lying areas to higher ground where, during the inundation period, they were kept in stalls and fed with dried food. Every care was taken to manage the inundation system effectively, and to ensure that the dykes, embankments and canals were kept in good repair. Since the height of the land varied from one district to another, and different crops were planned for each area, Khary’s workers used different approaches from farmers living elsewhere. Everyone, however, attempted to ensure that the floodwaters passed smoothly through the irrigation system, and there was a universal concern to avoid any sudden influx that might cause severe damage to the dams.
Although a deficiency or abundance of flood-water could usually be successfully managed, sometimes there were unavoidable tragedies. The older members of Khary’s family could recall exceptionally high Niles which had destroyed many villages, and a low inundation that resulted in famine. Each brought its share of human suffering and death. Also, because silt was brought down by the river every year and deposited on the land, there was a gradual but continual increase in the level of the river-bed so that, periodically, labourers had to raise the ground levels of towns and villages to ensure that they stood above the floodwaters. Once the water had been directed through the canals to cover the fields, the peasants were unable to cultivate their crops. Thus, apart from feeding the animals on the high ground with the food produced earlier in the year, or possibly taking part in State building projects, Khary’s workers enjoyed a brief respite before they started sowing and reaping their crops.
Once the flood-waters had receded, the highest ground, which had remained above the water level, and the low-lying basins, which received the flood, became available once again for cultivation. The very lowest areas, however, remained inundated until November. In dynastic times (after 3100 BCE), only one annual crop was produced. Harvested as a winter crop, this consisted of flax, cereal grains (wheat and barley) and vegetables, including beans and chickpeas. If sufficient irrigation was still available after this harvest, a second crop was planted in the flood-basins in the summer, which produced more vegetables (onions and lentils) and animal fodder (fenugreek).
The Development of Agriculture
The methods of crop production employed on Khary’s estate were the result of a long process of trial and development. In predynastic times, the Nile Valley did not consist entirely of dense jungles and papyrus thickets. Although there were some papyrus swamps and pools filled with reeds and lotus plants, inhabited by hippopotami, crocodiles, and aquatic fowl, the Nile Valley also accommodated seasonally flooded basins, and higher areas which supported trees such as acacia, tamarisk, sycamore and willow, where human settlements could be established. Therefore, although in later times the thickets and marshlands were substantially decreased, the main components of the landscape had already been established by this earliest period.
The early inhabitants who made their homes on the higher areas of land or the desert spurs had the opportunity, once the inundation had receded, to grow crops in the alluvial basins, where they also grazed their herds on grass and bush. These activities could be pursued for eight or nine months each year, and the people could also hunt big game in the Nile thickets and the desert. Thus, their lifestyle combined hunting and agricultural pursuits, and relied on the natural irrigation of the land resulting from the annual inundation.
Perhaps because there was such an efficient ‘food-gathering’ and pastoral system, and because there was probably a relatively small population, these earliest communities saw little need to utilize the land for extensive food production. They collected wild plants, hunted big game, fished, caught wild fowl, and cultivated small plantations with emmer, barley, flax and vegetables. There may also have been some domestication of animals such as cattle and goats.
However, sometime after 5200 BCE, a marked change occurred: the economy moved from limited crop cultivation and pastoralism to the production of larger quantities of food. This was probably triggered by a rapid increase in the population, prompting the need for an increased food supply. To meet this demand, it was necessary to introduce a more intensive irrigation agriculture which, according to archaeological evidence, was already functioning successfully by the time Egypt became a unified country in c.3100 BCE.
Artificial irrigation allowed the people not only to increase the land area where crops could be grown, but also to hold water in low-lying basins even when there was a deficient inundation. With this system, they could also extend their planting beyond the edges of the flood-plain, and even grow a second or third annual crop in their garden plots. Artificial irrigation greatly improved productivity by enhancing the natural irrigation features, and to some extent it could also control the catastrophes associated with natural irrigation, thus lessening the threat of political and economic disintegration.
The system of using basins and low dykes (seen here in the Delta) is still used in Egypt to retain river water which can then be diverted to irrigate the surrounding land for agricultural purposes.
A key feature of artificial irrigation was the ability to raise water manually from natural channels or remaining basins, to cultivate adjacent fields or gardens. Scenes in Old and Middle Kingdom tombs indicate that the earliest method involved the manual lifting of buckets, which the workers then carried by hand or on a shoulder-yoke to their destinations. By the New Kingdom, the shaduf (a pole and bucket lever) had been introduced; this device enabled estate-workers to raise water containers to a greater height. However, the shaduf could only be used for small-scale cultivation of horticultural crops, but not across extensive field systems.
In fact, it was the lack of suitable lifting devices that always limited the development of a major irrigation programme in pharaonic times. The situation changed when the saqqiya (animal-drawn water-wheel) was introduced in the Persian or Ptolemaic Periods, for the first time making it possible to almost continuously elevate quite substantial quantities of water to greater heights. This system enabled Egyptian farmers to produce an annual two-fold harvest. They could grow additional crops in the summer, and cultivate high-lying areas of land. This was a considerable improvement on the dynastic system which, although based on artificial irrigation, only enabled a single crop of wheat, barley and flax to be harvested in the winter. However, the second crop required even more intensive and strenuous labour than the first because the water level of the Nile had decreased by this time. Within a short period immediately or soon after the first harvest had been gathered, the land had to be ploughed, sown and artificially irrigated so that this second crop could be properly cultivated. This irrigation system was probably organized and operated on a local level, since it is unlikely that there was any centralized development of a canal network during this period.
A ‘good Nile’ produced an abundant harvest, with resultant social, political and economic stability, whereas a series of deficient inundations might result in famine and even political collapse. If poor floods and crop failures occurred at a time when there was also weak leadership, then civil unrest could easily follow. Conditions described in the Pessimistic Literature may reflect the historical events of the First Intermediate Period; they spell out the tragic results of political and social collapse, and one text, known as the ‘Prophecy of Neferti’, states:
‘The land is completely perished, nothing remains. Not even the black of a nail [dirt under the fingernail] survives.’ (Author’s translation).
However, because of the basic predictability of the equatorial rains, the Nile flood was generally more reliable than that of any other river. Intensive artificial irrigation and improved agricultural technology and tools gave the Egyptians the opportunity to produce a food surplus, which in turn led to the establishment of urban communities. The earliest small farming groups were primarily concerned with food production, but early in Egypt’s history some of these communities were gradually replaced by towns.
Instead of universal, full-time farming, there was now some differentiation of labour, with the emergence of a new class of part-time or full-time artisans and industrial workers. Some worked in the mines, while others manufactured products, and a third group took on the responsibility for distributing these goods. These people lived mainly in the towns where their work was centred. However, there was still the need for food production which was carried out by agricultural labourers. The food surplus that resulted from the new artificial irrigation system also created a product which the Egyptian government could export to other lands, in exchange for raw materials such as metals and semi-precious stones.
The new urban communities became centres for the storage and distribution of surplus food and the raw materials brought from the quarries and mines. Specialist craftsmen – potters, metalsmiths, carpenters and artists – began to live in towns where they had the advantages of a readily available supply of stored raw materials and a marketplace and distribution centre for their products. As the towns expanded, builders’ skills were needed to construct houses and other urban requirements. Also, official departments and personnel were established there, to manage the granaries, food centres, raw material depots, and commercial exchanges. Eventually, an urban population emerged in which the majority were no longer engaged in agricultural pursuits.
From early times, Egypt was divided into a number of geographical and political units for which Egyptologists use the Greek term nome; each had a capital city which became the leading centre of the district. The local governor and his attendant bureaucrats resided in the nome capital, and supervised local concerns including irrigation, planting, harvesting, road and town construction, and the judiciary. Temples, with their priesthoods and secular personnel, were also located in the towns. Many of these urban developments, which formed the basis of the political system of Egypt, continued to flourish for over 3,000 years and played a significant role in the development of the civilization. Unfortunately, we still do not fully understand how the Egyptian administrative and economic systems worked, either in relation to the central government or regarding management of the surrounding agricultural land.
Life on Khary’s Estate
We can imagine that life on Khary’s estate involved the usual range of activities illustrated in wall-scenes or represented by tomb-models found in the burials of New Kingdom officials and landowners. The tomb-owner believed that it was possible to magically activate these representations of a wealthy estate and its ample food production, so that he would be able to continue to possess these assets and to enjoy an abundant food supply in the next life.3
Cereals were the main crop grown on the estate. Since these grain crops did not require constant and intensive irrigation, they could be grown in the fields; once planted, the wheat could be cut after a period of about five months, while the barley was harvested after four months. Cereal production in Egypt became so great that grain as well as linen became a major export.
Khary’s workforce also assiduously cultivated vegetables, trees and plants; these were used for food, dyes, oils and medicines. Unlike the grain crops, which grew in the fields and only needed to be watered intensively once a year by the inundation, these plants had to be grown in orchards and gardens near to the cultivated basins or compartments, because they required constant irrigation. The gardeners planted them in square beds, enclosed by raised earth borders to retain the water which they brought regularly from the river and canals. This was heavy and laborious work: the workers either used the shaduf to raise the water to the required height, or carried it in two large pots which were suspended on a shoulder-yoke.
Nevertheless, whenever the gardeners paused to glance around, at the mud dykes, or the gardens attached to Khary’s fine villa or their own humble dwellings, they were rewarded with a view of the rich variety of plants that could be grown. The different seasons produced beans, chickpeas, lentils, fenugreek, radishes, onions, cucumbers, lettuces, lupins, clover, safflower, hemp, cumin, coriander, poppies, pomegranates and watermelons. In addition to providing foodstuffs, some of these plants could be put to other uses. The estate-workers also cultivated flowers including chrysanthemums, cornflowers, and the lotus which grew in garden ponds. These plants created beautiful gardens where the owner and his family could sit out, and they were also used to make the garlands and bouquets for decorating the house or presentation to guests. Floral tributes were also offered at the family tombs.
Cultivated trees were another source of useful products. For example, oil was obtained from the olive tree, as well as from the castor oil plant. Varieties of native trees, although relatively scarce, included date- and dom-palms, sycamore, acacia, thorn, and willow. However, there was a continuous demand for large pieces of timber, to construct doors, coffins, boats, furniture and statuary. This requirement was partly met from local supplies of timber, but from c.2700 BCE, cedarwood was imported from the region now called Lebanon and used to construct temple doors, flagpoles and the finest ships and coffins. A relatively wealthy man like Khary was able to purchase fine furniture for his house and tomb. Some items were made of ebony, inlaid with intricate designs in ivory; both these materials were imported into Egypt from the south, via Nubia.
The higher back-slopes of the estate’s cultivated land were devoted to growing palms. In the south of Egypt, around Thebes, the dom-palm flourished while the date-palm predominated in the north. Both trees were important natural resources which had a variety of uses. The date-palm produced fruit that could be eaten fresh in August when it was gathered from the tree, or preserved either as a desiccated delicacy or as a conserve; it was also used in cooking, and produced both vinegar and a sweetening agent. Palm-wine was made from the juice which was tapped from the heart of the tree, through an incision made directly below the base of the upper branches. In addition, other parts of the tree were made into wooden beams, ropes, mats, brooms and baskets. The trunk of the dom-palm produced wood that was more solid than that of the date-palm, and was made into rafts, ceiling beams and rafters; the fruit (a large nut) was turned into beads or drillbits, and the leaves were woven into baskets, mats, brushes, fans and sandals.
The Egyptians enjoyed drinking wine as well as beer. Some wines were made from figs and pomegranates, but vines were probably introduced into Egypt from Western Asia before 3000 BCE and the country produced wines which became famous in the ancient world. There were many different kinds of wine. Some were made for domestic consumption and, according to Classical writers, were imbibed in large quantities by men and women in wealthy families. As well as the wine produced in Egypt, records show that in later historical times it was also imported from Greece and Phoenicia for domestic consumption. Other kinds of wine were made for temple and funerary presentations, or were used as ingredients in medicinal treatments. No details of production procedures have survived, but the Egyptians probably experimented by adding different substances to the wine. The nature of the local soil in particular districts of the country may have facilitated the production of some especially fine wines, which are known to have received international acclaim.
Basketwork coffin: in predynastic and early dynastic times bodies were buried in skins, matting or these fragile coffins. Later, elite burials included rectangular wooden coffins which represented a house for the dead; by the Middle Kingdom, wealthy people included an anthropoid (body-shaped) coffin in their funerary assemblages. From Tarkhan. Dynasty 2. Manchester Museum.
The best vineyards were located in the north of Egypt but wall-scenes in tombs situated at Thebes also show wine production on local estates in the south. These representations were probably fictional, but were intended to ensure that, through magical reactivation, an eternal supply of wine was available for the tomb-owner in his afterlife. Vines were cultivated on the edges of the desert because they required only light soil, composed of a mixture of sand and clay. Grapes could be picked throughout the year to provide table grapes and grape juice; there were also heavy vintages when the ripened grapes were picked and processed, and the wine was then poured into amphorae (large pottery jars with pointed bases) and left to age.
Many country estates undoubtedly included a vineyard, with a trelliswork supported by wooden forks or pillars over which the grapevines were trained, or alternatively the vines were cultivated and trimmed into small bushes which did not require any support. A mudbrick wall enclosed the vineyard, a building containing a winepress, and a reservoir of water. The estate-workers had a constant struggle to prevent birds eating the grapes, and during harvesting the young sons of the estate-workers used slings and small stones to drive them away. Once the grapes had been picked and placed in deep baskets the men carried them, either on their heads or suspended on a shoulder yoke, to the winepress.
First, they pressed out the wine using a foot-press; this consisted of a low box or trough above which there was a wooden framework. The grapes were placed in the trough, and half a dozen men trampled the fruit, supporting themselves by holding on to the framework. As the wine was pressed out, it ran through a series of openings into large vats. The sweet juice left behind in the grapes was then squeezed out by a hand-press: the grapes were placed inside a matting sack closed at either end by loops; four men twisted sticks inserted through the loops so that the juice was wrung out of the sack and accumulated in a vase placed beneath the press.
After fermentation had taken place, the wine was transferred to amphorae; each jar was fastened with a clay lid which carried the owner’s stamped seal. Scribes recorded the number of jars that had been filled, and the jars were taken to a storage building on the estate where they were placed upright in rows; their pointed bases were either placed directly into the sandy ground, or they were supported inside stone rings or wooden stands.
Other important crops, flax and papyrus, were grown especially in the northern regions of Egypt. Flax (Linum usitatissimum) had been cultivated since neolithic times to produce linen, which was used to manufacture clothing, mummy bandages, domestic textiles and rope. Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus L.), a member of the sedge family, was a notable feature of Egypt’s earliest landscape: it was originally found in huge thickets in the marshland, particularly in the Delta. In historical times, it was cultivated in the fields to provide the basic material to manufacture paper, ropes, sails, baskets, mats and sandals.
Hunting and Animal Husbandry
Hunting wild game was a major part of Egypt’s earliest food economy, but even when it was largely replaced by agriculture and the once-extensive wildlife had been greatly reduced, people of all classes still enjoyed the sport. Wall-scenes in the tombs of wealthy officials show the owner, accompanied by many attendants, in pursuit of game. Khary and his sons spent some of their leisure time in this way, riding out into the desert on horseback or in chariots, while the accompanying huntsmen, beaters and dog-handlers gave chase on foot. Khary kept some dogs at home as family pets, but special hounds were also bred on his estate to accompany the hunt.
During the hunt, dogs were used to drive the wild animals into nets; there, the great official and his sons used bows and metal-tipped arrows to shoot the prey, and the carcasses were ultimately retrieved and taken home by his attendants. However, sometimes, especially if the hunting party wished to capture the animal alive, nooses or lassoes were used. In early times, the extensive natural reserves of wild animals included gazelle, ibex, oryx, wild ox, stag, wild sheep, hare and porcupine, but even in the Predynastic Period there was probably some attempt to domesticate the gazelle, oryx and ibex, as well as geese and ducks. In later times, when natural stocks gradually became depleted, some animals were captured and kept in reserved areas of the desert.
The Egyptians also created game parks on the great officials’ estates, where animals, including lions, leopards, oryx, ibex, gazelle, baboons and even crocodiles, were bred and tamed for a variety of purposes. The gamekeepers and huntsmen who supervised these areas had to ensure that there was sufficient game for the hunt as well as some delicacies for the great official’s table.
However, it was not only the upper classes who hunted these animals. It is recorded that Tuthmosis III, the king whom Khary served, enjoyed pursuing elephants and lions during his military expeditions to Nubia and Syria. At the other end of the social scale, there were more basic reasons for chasing animals than amusement or acquiring their skins. Some farmers and shepherds set out to destroy marauders such as the hyena because they attacked and ate their domesticated flocks and herds, while other men hunted to provide meat either as an increasingly rare addition to their family diet, or to sell at market. Other expeditions, regarded as essentially commercial exercises, included ostrich hunts that went in search of eggs and feathers that could be sold on to wealthy clients.
Ivory throwsticks from a New Kingdom tomb. Although they replicate the sticks employed for hunting, these delicate pieces, decorated with finely carved jackal heads, were used for playing games. From Thebes. Dynasty 18. Manchester Museum.
Tomb-scenes of the dynastic period continued to depict the hunting and killing of some animals that featured prominently in the predynastic landscape. The hippopotamus and crocodile were simultaneously feared and revered, and pursued not as a food source but because they represented a danger that had to be overcome. The hippopotamus caused damage in the fields at night, and sometimes, Khary’s estate workers had to struggle with the creature, chasing it into the river where they trapped it in a noose, and then struck it with a spear. As the animal became increasingly fatigued through frantic attempts to escape, the workers were able to drag it to their boat and then deliver a final blow with a spear.
Farmers also hunted and killed crocodiles. However, in some parts of Egypt where the local population worshipped the crocodile, the animal was treated very differently. Regarded as an earthly manifestation of the crocodile god, special animals were selected and kept in lakes attached to temples dedicated to the crocodile-god; they were adorned with gold earrings, bracelets and necklets, fed on fish, geese and meat, and after death they were mummified and given elaborate burials.
In addition to hunting, the Egyptians also had considerable expertise in animal husbandry. Even before 5000 BCE, they probably bred and reared some indigenous strains of animals such as cattle, pigs, donkeys, dogs and cats, and they may even have attempted to domesticate some wild animals. However, during the Predynastic Period, different animals and plants (which may have come from Western Asia) appeared in Egypt. These more successful strains of winter crops and herd animals (which included sheep, goats, pigs, and perhaps cattle) now became part of the existing economy, with the result that the pattern of food production underwent a profound change.
Pottery bowl from a tomb, decorated with geometric designs and hippopotamus figures around the rim. The hippopotamus was feared as a dangerous animal, but it was also a symbol of fecundity, and is often represented in funerary goods as a symbol of rebirth. From Mahasna. Predynastic Period. Manchester Museum.
By the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians were already successful in their experiments with grain cultivation and animal husbandry. Sheep reared mainly for their wool were first introduced to Egypt in the Middle Kingdom and largely replaced the indigenous strain, while in the New Kingdom, the great estates supported not only agriculture but also game reserves, and had programmes to breed and rear goats, sheep, some pigs, and cattle. New breeds of cattle were introduced in Dynasty 18, and Khary’s herds included short-horned, long-horned and humpback varieties; because these animals sometimes mixed with neighbouring herds, they were branded with their owner’s name. Khary’s Steward undertook a regular inventory of his master’s cattle, counting the animals as they were herded into the estate courtyard. Other staff – oxherds, goatherds, shepherds and swineherds – were employed to work on the estate where they lived in reed huts; they supervised the animals, ensuring that they were placed in the yards and fields to feed or, at the inundation period, removed to the safety of high ground. The estate-workers also undertook sheep-shearing twice a year.
Khary’s estate produced the usual variety of food that was found in Egypt in Dynasty 18. Later, in Ptolemaic and Roman times, new cereals and vegetables were introduced, when a more advanced irrigation system was put in place. These additions were probably brought in to meet the different culinary tastes and requirements of the new settlers and colonizers from various Mediterranean countries who came to live in Egypt.
Fowling and Poultry
The earliest inhabitants of Egypt caught and trapped a variety of birds in the thickets and marshlands. This wildlife continued to flourish in dynastic times, since migratory birds such as geese, ducks and ibis still wintered annually on the water and in the marshes. The birds were most abundant at the inundation period, and it was a time-honoured custom for a family or group of friends to take part in fowling expeditions in the Delta marshlands. The upper classes who lived at Thebes in the New Kingdom wanted to continue to enjoy this activity in the afterlife, so although they lived hundreds of miles away from the northern marshlands where fowling had originated, and the environment around Thebes would have offered no opportunity for this pastime, they still had these expeditions symbolically depicted on the walls of their tombs. Khary and his contemporaries believed that this tomb representation could be magically activated so that they could continue to enjoy this activity in the next world.
The scenes show the tomb-owner and his family using a papyrus punt to sail among the reeds, propelling themselves forward with a pole, paddles or a tow-rope. The birds were brought down with throwsticks, and then retrieved either by attendants or possibly by a specially trained cat, which is sometimes shown in the tomb-scenes. As well as amateur sportsmen, there were professional fowlers who pursued partridge, bustard and quail in the desert, and water-fowl in the marshlands. They sometimes used arrows or throwsticks, although more often large clap-nets or traps were employed. These consisted of frames over which networks were stretched; bait was placed in the trap, and when the bird touched it, the flaps of the trap snapped together, capturing the bird in the net.
Although Khary and his family lived many miles from the marshlands, his estate included poultry-yards and ponds where geese, duck, teal and quail were fed for the table. The eggs, collected from the birds reared on the estate as well as from wild birds, were then hatched in special ovens. At markets and in the shops of towns and villages, poulterers sold birds which had either been caught by fowlers or reared and fattened in captivity by farmers (whose stock of birds was supplied by the fowlers). The birds were either sold as fresh poultry, or salted and kept in earthenware jars. In addition to domestic requirements, poultry was also reared to be offered in the tombs and temples, and to provide food for some of the sacred animals kept in temple enclosures.
As elite members of the royal circle, Khary and his family were aware of a new and exciting poultry delicacy – cocks and hens had recently been introduced into Egypt, brought back by the king’s military expeditions to Western Asia. This was the subject of excited comment at Court, and these birds soon provided a novel addition to the diet of the upper classes. Generally, Khary was very proud of the standards of animal husbandry and poultry-rearing on his estate, and if any of the domestic animals or captive wild animals became ill, he was punctilious in summoning a veterinary specialist who provided treatment and gave advice to his Steward about the best diet for the livestock.
Fishing
Fish had been part of Egypt’s staple diet from earliest times. They continued to be abundant in the Nile and canals during the historic period, and were also kept in pools and ponds on the great estates, where stocks were regularly renewed when the waters rose during the inundation period. Khary and his peers greatly enjoyed fishing as a leisure pastime; he and his attendants would sail out in a papyrus skiff, and skilfully spear the fish or catch them in a net let down from the boat.
Net bag. Netting was a well-established industry which produced a variety of goods including containers and hunting and fishing equipment. From Kahun. Dynasty 12. Manchester Museum.
Another method of catching fish involved two men, who stood on opposite banks of the river, dragging a net across the surface of the water. Some of the catch was sent directly to market but, to provide a reserve source of food, other fish were split open, salted and then dried in the sun. All Egyptians augmented their basic diet with fish; large quantities were consumed and it provided some variety for even the poorest peasants, who often fished with a rod and line. In some parts of Egypt, however, where particular types of fish were regarded as sacred, people were prohibited from catching or eating them; elsewhere, fish were not only regarded as suitable for human consumption but were also kept in temple lakes and fed to the sacred cult-animals (cats, ibises and crocodiles) at these centres.
Farming Implements
The tombs usually contained everyday items such as high-quality clothing, jewellery and furniture, but more mundane objects of common use were rarely placed with the burial. Therefore, although tomb-scenes frequently show the implements and equipment used in farming and agriculture, the tools themselves have not usually survived. However, archaeologists had the good fortune to discover many of these objects at two town-sites, Gurob and Kahun, which will be discussed in a later chapter.4 These rare finds are particularly significant because they enable us to understand how communities functioned and performed mundane tasks.
These towns were surrounded by countryside where wheat and barley were grown in the fields, and vegetables, fruit and flowers were cultivated in the gardens. Some of the towns’ inhabitants were involved in food production, supplying their own needs and feeding resident officials and craftsmen. Excavation of their houses has revealed examples of most implements used for the various stages of crop production, harvesting, and grinding the corn into flour. These included wooden ploughs and rakes used to clear the ground before ploughing commenced. The rakes, which show evidence of much wear, were made from a single piece of wood with several large teeth cut along one side.
Hoes had been developed in Egypt from c.4000 BCE, but even the much later examples (c.2000 BCE–1400 BCE) found at these sites were simply constructed. The blade (broad and flat in some cases, thick and narrow in others) was inserted into the handle; both the handle and the blade were pierced with holes or grooved to accommodate the twisted rope which bound them together in the middle. Archaeologists also found heavy wooden mallets, cut from single pieces of wood, which were used to break up clods of earth. Similar agricultural tools were employed on Khary’s estate. His estate-workers also used ploughs. The earliest type of plough was constructed so that it could be attached to a pair of oxen by fixing a yoke to the front of the animals’ horns. However, by the New Kingdom this was replaced by a shoulder yoke, which was put over the animals’ shoulders and required no further harnessing.
Wooden mattock for hacking up soil prior to sowing seed. Since the original has perished, modern string has been used to bind together the two pieces of the mattock. From Kahun. Dynasty 12. Manchester Museum.
The crop was reaped with sickles which simulated the shape of an animal’s jawbone. Most of the sickles found at Kahun and Gurob were made of wood, shaped in the form of an animal’s jawbone: often two or three pieces were joined together because it was difficult to find a single piece from which the required shape could be carved. A line of short flint blades was set into a groove made along the inside of the handle, and fixed in place with a cement mix of mud and glue. In other cases, an actual animal jawbone was turned into a sickle by setting flints into the teeth sockets. One example found at Kahun was intended for use either by a left-handed person or as a back-handed sickle.
Archaeologists have also found wooden scoops which were used for winnowing, the process of separating the chaff from the wheat, carried out after the grain had been threshed. Finally, a heavy pestle and mortar were employed to reduce the grain to flour, and then the flour was ground even more finely between two stones – a lower millstone and a rounded rubber or pebble. Archaeologists have discovered examples of all these items at Kahun and Gurob.
Situated in the fertile Fayoum oasis, Gurob and Kahun were ideal centres for game-hunting, and implements used by hunters (such as finely polished wooden arrows and throwsticks made of heavy wood which could travel considerable distances) were excavated from the houses. There is also evidence that local industry produced items required for fishing, including fish hooks and different types and sizes of nets. Archaeologists have also found netting needles and clay or stone net sinkers.
A sling, used to drive marauding birds away from crops and vineyards, was discovered at Kahun. This beautifully woven object may be the earliest extant example of a sling from the ancient world: it incorporates a long cord which has a loop at one end to be held on the finger, while the other end is plain. Three small stones found with the sling were probably used as ammunition, and would have been broadcast simultaneously to produce a scatter effect.
Woven sling with long cords, one of which ends in a loop to be retained on the finger; it was found with the three small sling stones (left) which were probably flung from the sling simultaneously, to produce a scatter effect andfrighten away birds in gardens and vineyards. This may be the earliest example of a sling ever discovered. In the foreground are two wooden balls and a leather ball (right) which was repaired in antiquity. From Kahun. Dynasty 12. Manchester Museum.
Transport
Khary, his family and his servants would have used various types of transport on the river, and to travel overland from the river’s edge to a particular destination.5 On the estate, the main beast of burden, the donkey, was used for transferring heavy loads, threshing the com, and riding across the countryside. However, this humble animal would not have been considered a suitable means of conveyance for Khary; an official of his status preferred to ride in a sedan chair, either supported on the backs of two donkeys or carried on the shoulders of a dozen or more attendants. Relaxing on the seat and covered by a canopy, Khary was able to cool himself with water contained in skins carried by servants, who walked beside him, moving the air about with long fans. Another kind of litter which had no canopy was accompanied by a servant who carried a large umbrella. When Khary attended the great festivals in nearby Thebes, he saw that the gods’ statues were transported in heavy litters or carrying chairs. In earlier times, these had been used to carry kings and nobles as well as gods, but by the New Kingdom they were only brought out for religious and ceremonial functions.
The camel, closely associated with Egypt in modern times, does not appear in pharaonic scenes and records: earliest references occur in the Graeco-Roman Period when the animal was first introduced into Egypt. However, Khary could recall his grandfather talking with excitement about the horse and chariot, which had probably been brought to Egypt from Asia Minor during the period of Hyksos rule. Horses were greatly valued, and their ownership was restricted to the royal family and the officials who possessed great estates. In Khary’s lifetime, horses were generally used to draw light, two-wheeled chariots that held a driver and a passenger.
Khary’s own son, Amenemhet, was a member of the chariotry division in Tuthmosis III’s army. The animal’s main task was to draw the chariot, but royalty and the upper classes also rode their horses for pleasure, although this activity was never formally depicted in the tomb-scenes. Since Khary and his family were held in high esteem at Court, he had his own stables and staff to attend to the horses on his estate. He ensured that they were adorned with decorative head-plumes, and that the gilded metal parts of the chariots and tackle, as well as the leather covering of the chariot and the harness, were kept in good repair.
In the New Kingdom, a type of carriage that had been introduced from Palestine became popular. It had two wheels made of wood and metal, a carriage which consisted of a floor and wooden front and sides, and a harness by which it could be attached to a pair of horses. Since it was light and durable, Khary used this carriage for travelling overland or for hunting in the desert; sometimes his son was transported into battle in the same type of vehicle.
Despite the availability of several forms of land transport, the river and canals provided the usual and most convenient method for conveying people and cargo.6 The Egyptians developed many types of boats to meet these different needs, ranging from papyrus skiffs to sea-going vessels designed for warfare or trading expeditions.7 The earliest boats built in Egypt were rafts made of bundles of reeds bound together, in which two people could travel; larger versions accommodated more passengers and sometimes an animal. The stern stood high out of the river so that it could be easily pushed along or away from the sandbanks, and these boats were propelled through the water by means of poles or short oars with broad blades.
Because they incorporated a good, basic design and cheap building materials, fishermen and hunters who pursued game in the shallow waters of the marshland continued to sail this type of boat thousands of years after they were first invented. These rafts also became the prototype for the transport ships which, since the Old Kingdom, had been the main product of an extensive boat-building industry. Shipyards built wooden craft which were used for a variety of purposes: because of constantly shifting sandbanks, all river vessels had shallow drafts so that they would not become lodged in the sand, and to balance this, the upper part of the boat could not be too high.
Vessels were propelled along by wooden oars; these usually had a narrow pointed blade, and were fastened to the ship and held in oarlocks. There were one or two large steering oars at the helm, fixed into an oarlock and held by a rope. Many boats also had linen sails. When they travelled up the Nile (southwards), the crew used the sails whenever the wind was favourable, but otherwise the oars were employed. If conditions were calm, the sailors walked along the riverbank, using a tow-line to pull the boat. When the boat reached the south, the sail was taken down and laid on top of the cabin, and on the return journey downstream (northwards), it was rowed by oarsmen.
Whenever Khary or his sons walked around the bustling harbour at Thebes and looked out across the river, they saw a variety of vessels. There were large, squat transport ships, incurved at the bow and stern, used for transporting cattle, horses and other commodities; these were accommodated in the space at the ends of the boat, since most of the deck space was occupied with a main and second cabin. A crew of three or four rowers and two steersmen spent their lives in uncomfortable conditions, but they took great pride in their vessel and frequently washed down the decks and the cabins. Sometimes, large vessels were accompanied by smaller boats which carried extra supplies. However, the heaviest vessels could not be rowed, and if the weather conditions prevented them from sailing, they had to be towed either by sailors or special tugboats. Other cargo vessels included the barges which carried grain and stone.
Painted wooden model boats from the Tomb of Two Brothers designed to magically undertake the journey to Abydos. One has oars with narrow pointed blades and a furled sail (to travel downstream) while the other is rigged for sailing upstream (southwards); each has a large steering oar at the helm, a crew ofsailors or rowers, two steersmen, and a small deck cabin. From Rif eh. Dynasty 12. Manchester Museum.
As an important official, Khary sometimes accompanied dignitaries on the special, swift-moving vessels which were built from pine imported from Syria (most other boats were constructed from local woods such as acacia). These long craft differed from other boats in that the prow and stern were not raised high out of the water. There was a cabin on deck, made of plaited matting or linen, where the dignitary or owner could sit; in the finest ships, the cabin walls were hung with tapestries. The owner sat and watched the sailors handling the mast and sails, or rowing the vessel, facing the stern as they pulled the boat through the water. They listened intently to the pilot who, as he measured the depth of the water with a pole, shouted instructions so that the ship would not lodge on a sandbank. When the ship moored, the pilot organized the landing arrangements with great care.
Khary encountered many sailors in the harbour. As well as those engaged in military service on the warships, setting out on expeditions to Western Asia or Nubia, there were men who took part in trading ventures and sailed the merchant vessels at home and abroad. There was always much discussion of the problems they had encountered in bringing the large blocks of granite, intended for temple construction, from Aswan to Thebes. Some of the ships’ captains were wealthy and highly regarded, particularly those who sailed the vessels carrying dignitaries, but because of their nautical skills, the steersmen or pilots who guided the river craft enjoyed an almost equal importance.
There were also funerary barques which transported the mummified bodies of the deceased and the mourners from the dwellings on the eastern side of the river to the cemeteries on the west bank. As he moved around, Khary heard the sailors talk of the great seagoing vessels that sailed along the coast of Palestine and Syria to reach Byblos, the port through which timber from the hinterland was exported to Egypt.
The sailors also excitedly discussed the seagoing expeditions which made the hazardous journey along the Red Sea coast to the land of Punt, where they traded for the incense produced by trees in the interior of the country. For these long sea voyages, the Egyptians used sailing vessels which were about sixty-five feet in length; they had sharply pointed bows and were painted with a papyrus design on the stern. Fitted out with oars, each ship accommodated thirty rowers, and also had very large sails. One of these expeditions to Punt was depicted on the walls of the funerary temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri. Loyal to his ruler, Tuthmosis III, Khary despised Hatshepsut, the king’s stepmother, who had briefly usurped his throne.
Unless they needed to travel abroad to obtain commodities that were not available within Egypt, people generally preferred to stay at home where the Nile was always the lively focus of their world. Egypt was now at the height of its political power, and its prosperity was reflected in the variety of river traffic that Khary surveyed with interest and pleasure. The vibrant scene included fleets of boats which belonged to the king, the temples or private individuals, all moving people and goods to their destinations. The Nile was the country’s main artery for trade and communication, but it was also a focus for many religious occasions when, as part of a festival, the god’s statue was taken from one temple to another, or people travelled long distances to participate in these celebrations. One of the most important festivals marked the inundation: it was held as the river began to rise, and invoked the blessings associated with this event, in the hope of bringing about a good Nile and a fruitful harvest. People gathered at the capital towns of their districts, and celebrated with music, dancing and singing. For Khary’s son, the priest Nakht, this was an annual highlight in the religious calendar.