Oct 4          Ancient Egyptian Discoveries and Inventions

While we tend to think about pharaohs, pyramids and mummies when we think about the Ancient Egyptians, they have been responsible for many other inventions and discoveries that are still in use today.  Below is a list of some of these items.

·         Calendar         First solar-based calendar with 12 months and 365 days (I will talk more on this subject in my Karnak blog as there is a chiseled replica of this calendar that was found in the Temple of Karnack.)

·         Bowling           Apparently the ancient Egyptians like to play the original version of bowling, as stone balls with finger holes have been found inside some of the tombs.  In their version, it was played in a large hall between two people who were positioned at either end of 13-foot lane.  In the center of the lane was a square opening that fit the diameter of the smaller ball.  One player had the small ball while the other player had a larger ball that was assumed to be used to try and keep the smaller ball out of the opening. Each player would roll their ball simultaneously and at the end of each roll, the players would exchange balls.  The winner was the person who got their small ball in the opening the most times.

·         Sailboats          Egyptians began using sailboats made of papyrus with cloth sails around 3000 BCE.  They were called Feluccas and were used to transport goods on the Nile River.  They still exist today as the traditional sailboats on the Nile, although they are no longer made of papyrus.  In fact, on our visit to Aswan, we will be treated to a Felucca boat ride.

·         Ink       The first use of ink for writing occurred around 2500 BCE and emerged from both the ancient Egyptians and China at relatively the same time.  The ancient Egyptians made a mixture of vegetable gum, soot, and melted wax that they used for writing on their papyrus paper.  They soon expanded their ink to include color.  The ink was also used for tattoos, as several mummies have been found with tattoos.  The ancient Egyptian scribes are also credited with discovering the pen.  As a replacement for the styluses used in writing on clay, they first used a reed straw that had been sharpened to a point at one end.  But the reed was too rigid, so they turned to using the molted feathers from large birds to create a quill.

·         Papyrus           The papyrus plant (or paper plant) grew in great quantity along the banks of the Nile River.  The Egyptians would take the central pith of the stem and cut it into thin strips.  These strips would then be pressed together and dried to create a thin paper writing surface – the first example of sheets of paper.  The papyrus plant was also used to make sails, cloth, mats, and cords.

·         Medical Books             The early Egyptians created papyrus textbooks that described medical tools such as scalpels, forceps, lancets, bandages, swabs, and described medical procedures such as stiches and cauterizing a wound.  It has been documented that Egyptian physicians were able to conduct 50 different types of surgery, everything from broken bones to head wounds.  They used plaster casts, stiches, splints and even developed a salve of ochre, kohl, and sycamore juice as an ointment for burns.

·         Books and Written Language             Although ancient cultures all had languages,  the ancient Egyptians were the first to turn the oral language into a set of written symbols that followed rules and patterns.  Hieroglyphs were the first attempts at a written language, and these were soon followed by a cursive script that the Egyptians were the first to put on paper.  Written in black ink on papyrus paper, this was the forerunner of today’s black ink and white paper format of our books.  At the bottom of this blog I have included a picture of the English alphabet with its Egyptian hieroglyphic equivalents.

·         The Decimal Math System      Egypt introduced math using systems of 10, as we do now, nearly 5,000 years ago.

·         The Sickle        The curved sickle revolutionized agriculture after Egyptians started inserting stone blades 4,000 years ago.  They were also the first to use animals (oxen) to pull their plows instead of people, enabling farmers to cover more ground.

·         Local Police    During the New Kingdom era, the pharaohs established police forces that were armed with wooden staffs and dogs.  Prior to this time, it was the responsibility of the military, royal guards, or private security guards to enforce the laws.

·        First Beer        Beer played an important part in the festivals of the Ancient Egyptians.  Although the first fermented beer originated in Mesopotamia, it was so thick that you were unable to drink it from a glass.  The Egyptians were the first to develop a light, fluid liquid very similar to the beer of today.  As a bonus, the beer contained a high level of naturally occurring tetracycline, an antibiotic that the Egyptians used to treat gum disease and other illnesses. 

 In 2021, Egypt announced the discovery of what may be the oldest brewery in the world.  Dating back to 3000 BCE, it was located in the ancient city of Abydos, about 310 miles south of Cairo.  Abydos was the home to royal necropolises dating back to the first four dynasties and the area where the ruins were found was an area reserved exclusively for the early kings/pharaohs.  It is believed that the beer was used for royal rituals/sacrifices.

·        Wine    There is some evidence that wine played a role in Ancient Egypt as early as 5500 BCE (perhaps even earlier than the wine making by the ancient Greeks and Romans).  Archaeologists have found wine jars that were placed in tombs as offerings to the gods during the Predynastic period.  There were also references to wine on ceramic jar seals in tombs from the 1^st and 2^nd Dynasties (3100-2700 BCE).  From as far back as 4500 years ago, there is documentation that shows a traditional wine process that is similar to the one wine producers in the Mediterranean region still use today.  It appears from these images found among the ruins of Ancient Egypt, that it may have been Egypt that influenced the Mediterranean wine culture, rather than vice versa.  Historians believe that it was trade with Egypt that introduced the Crete Minoan civilization to the Egyptian winemaking process and that they, in turn, introduced it to Mycenaean Greece.  It is interesting to note that while both red and white wines were available then, only the red wine is found in the tombs.  That may be because there was a relationship between red wine and the blood of Osiris, the god of death and resurrection.  In late Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts, Osiris is also referred to as the Lord of Wine.

·         Eye Make-up   Believed to have been invented around 4000 BCE, Egyptians (both men and women) were the first culture to use make-up not only for spiritual rituals, but also for vanity and medical benefits.  They used elaborate eye make-up to imitate the gods and protect themselves from evil spirits, which they believed entered the body through the eyes.  They thought that by applying generous applications of the thick black kohl eye makeup (made by combining soot with galena, a dark gray type of lead) they would gain protection from the gods Ra and Horus.  The Egyptians were very superstitious and believed that an eye without make-up was vulnerable to the “evil eye (looking at someone with envy or jealousy).”  They also believed that the kohl color of their eye make-up, which, when combined with the eye’s moisture, created antibacterial properties, protected them from eye infections caused by the desert dust, bacteria in the Nile River, and insects.  The green eye make-up (known as Udju) was produced using a green malachite (copper) that was found in  the Sinai region of Egypt.  It was primarily worn by women as the area of Sinai was considered under the domain of Hathor, the goddess of beauty, joy, and love.  They also invented a type of mascara to help protect their eyes, but I doubt anyone today would want to use it today – it was a mixture of kohl, honey, water, and crocodile manure.  They colored their eyebrows with burnt almonds and used saffron or malachite as eye shadow.  And finally, they applied a mixture of water and finely ground red ochre to their lips and cheeks.  This mixture was also used as a remedy for burns. 

 By using this make-up, they felt they were impressing the gods and gaining their favor, especially on judgement day when their fate and entrance into the afterworld would be decided.  So not only were their mummies made to look beautiful, but their tombs were often filled with combs and brushes, perfumes, hairpins, and containers of their various make-up.

 One of Cleopatra’s beauty tricks was the combination of milk and honey to be used in bath water to help exfoliate and moisturize the skin.  This combination is found today in many of our bath products.  And many of us learned another of her secrets when we visited the Dead Sea in Israel.  The salt and minerals from the sea help to soften and replenish the skin.  And I can attest to how great your skin feels after a float in the Dead Sea!  And while we tend to spend a lot of money on moisturizing lotions and aging creams, we were not alone.  Ancient Egyptians also had their array of castor, sesame, and almond oils for the same reason.  And instead of using a razor for removing unwanted hair, they used a paste of sugar, lemon, and water, to remove the hair.  And as we age, so did they, and they would rub the resin of fir trees into the scalp believing that it would promote hair growth, and they used henna to get rid of the gray hairs.

·        Wigs and Deodorants             Wigs were originally invented to keep up their appearances and prevent sunburn during the summer when it was the practice to shave their heads to keep from attracting lice and other bugs.  They soon became so popular that people wanted to wear them year-round.  So, they invented a beeswax and resin glue that would keep the wigs in place over real hair.  Body odor was a real problem in Ancient Egypt.  In addition to using plant-based perfumes,  they also made a deodorant out of incense.

·         First Breathe Mint      Dental hygiene was not generally practice in Ancient Egypt and tooth decay was a major problem.  To alleviate the odor of the decay, the Egyptians invented the first breath mint, a chewable concoction of cinnamon or licorice root, frankincense, and myrrh.  What toothpaste they did have was more of a powder combination of dried iris, pepper grains, rock salt, and lots of mint or a mixture of ox hooves, ashes, burnt eggshells, and pumice.

·        Yeast bread     Bread has been around for over 30,000 years, but it was the Egyptians who developed the yeast bread, creating a hearty multi-grain loaf.  4500 years later, Seamus Blackly (inventor of the Xbox) wanted to recreate the Egyptian bread.  Using modern technology, he extracted yeast residue from Old Kingdom pottery by injecting nutrients into the pots and as the pot regained its moisture the dormant yeast awoke.  Blackly then extracted the yeast to use in his bread making while also using flour made from three of Egypt’s ancient grains – barley, einkorn, and kamut.

·        Incubation of Eggs      Ancient Egyptian farmers found that by creating a warming oven made of mud, they could remove eggs from the nest as soon as they were laid, thus allowing the hens to begin producing more eggs.  In this way, farmers were able to hatch thousands of chicks in only a few weeks.  The farmers then trained their workers on how and when to turn the eggs to ensure that they hatched.  They would turn the eggs by gently rolling each egg across a farmer’s closed eye.  Aristotle, the best-known philosopher in the Western world, wrote that the Egyptian farmers were able to make eggs “hatch spontaneously” from dung heaps.  As he was the great Aristotle, people believed what he had written.  It wasn’t until 200 years later that another historian was able to get closer to the truth and reveal the real secret – that the Egyptian farmers had invented the first egg incubators.  Europeans were so fascinated in this new discovery that they wanted to do the same thing back home.  However, the Egyptians had guarded their secret and the Europeans had failed to take into account that their climates required a higher heat.  And higher heat could result in the death of the chicks and require more fuel.  It wasn’t until 1897 that the modern electrical incubator was invented.  Although most Egyptian farmers today use the incubator, there are still about 200 mud ovens in use.

·         Door lock        An Egyptian palace, built 4000 years ago, has the world’s first door lock.  Consisting of a wooden pin and bolt set, it was unlocked using a brush-like wooden key where the brush bristles matched pin holes in the lock.  

·         Clocks             Egyptians created two kinds of early clocks, one for day and one for night.  They built an obelisk-based clock that used the sun’s movement of shadow to measure time in daylight hours, and water clocks, where the spacing of droplets predicted the time after dark.

·         Birthdays         Birthdays are believed to have originated with the ancient Egyptians back in 3,000 BCE when the people celebrated the pharaoh’s “birth” as a god. 

 

English-Egyptian Hieroglyphic Equivalents

 

 

Below is my name in hieroglyphics: