CREEPY THINGS YOU'D FIND IN ANCIENT EGYPT

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BY SARAH CROCKER/JAN. 22, 2021 1:51 PM EST

In the eyes of quite a few people, ancient Egypt could be a bit creepy. As per History, most scholars
agree that ancient Egypt "began" when the fractured lands around the Nile River were united around
3100 B.C.E. and ran, with a couple of significant interruptions, until a Macedonian named Alexander the
Great strolled into town with conquering on his mind in 332 B.C.E. However you put it, that's a lot of
time for a civilization to develop a set of increasingly complicated beliefs, some of which may put
modern folk in an uneasy state.

Of course, classics of ancient Egyptian culture, like animal-headed gods and mummified kings, probably
seemed pretty natural and decidedly un-creepy to them. If these practices are raising the hair on the
back of your neck, then try to remember that they were considered everyday by a lot of Egyptians. For
instance, a mummy was considered necessary for that person's soul to exist comfortably in the afterlife,
according to the Smithsonian. Creepy or not, the "double" portion of an individual's soul, the ka, needed
to hang around the tomb and receive the (hopefully) perpetual offerings and prayers provided by
mourners and priests.

Still, over the course of its long history, the land of the pharaohs came up with a few things that are
pretty odd to us today. Here are some of the creepiest things you would find in ancient Egypt.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN GODS WALKED AROUND WITH ANIMAL HEADS

Metropolitan Museum of Art/Wikimedia Commons

Though ancient and modern religions still associate their deities with animals, few people have taken
this idea to quite the extreme established by the ancient Egyptians. Some of their most enduring gods
sport animal heads, in enduring and, for some, pretty creepy fashion.

According to the Reading Museum, animals often presented interesting features to the ancient
Egyptians. Who wouldn't want to be fearsome like the crocodile, strong like the hippo, or as elegant as a
cat? Other creatures, like the maternal cow, were evocative not just of a mother's love but of the
romance that would have made her a mother in the first place. It makes sense for animals to be
associated with gods, like when, as per Britannica, the fertility goddess Hathor was shown as a divine
cow.

Britannica reports that Horus, a sky deity, was frequently shown with a falcon's head atop a man's body.
Anubis, who was in charge of everything to do with dead people, sported a jackal's head. Historians
suspect that early Egyptians may have seen wild jackals ghoulishly scavenging graveyards, leading to the
association between them and the funereal Anubis. Two gods, the ram-associated Amun and the falcon-
headed Re, were even combined to become one of the most powerful and widely worshipped deities in
later ancient Egypt, known as Amun-Re.

MANY GODS OF ANCIENT EGYPT WERE HONORED WITH ANIMAL MUMMIES

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Like so many other deities in cultures throughout world history, the gods of ancient Egypt needed to be
pleased by their human devotees. This included prayers and worship, of course, but also required
people to make sacrifices to show that they really meant it when they paid homage to a god or goddess.
In ancient Egypt, that often meant mummies.

Because so many ancient Egyptian gods were associated with animals, the mummies in question were
actually votive mummies, National Geographic reports. Like their human counterparts, animals were
often carefully wrapped in linen, and some even sported gilded embellishments. They might be cats,
baboons, birds, fish, entire gazelles, cows, and even tiny scarab beetles. Cuts of meat might be
mummified as well, perhaps to act as food for departed humans in the afterlife. However, not all of
these mummy bundles are as they seem. Some contain only a jumble of bones, not a whole animal.
They might also be poorly mummified or wrapped, indicating that they were the cheap versions of
better-prepared mummy offerings.

Animal votive offerings became so popular that ancient Egyptian priests began to manage a cottage
industry of rearing, slaughtering, and mummifying sacred animals. According to Nature, close
examinations of animal mummies show that many were purposefully dispatched so they could be
embalmed and purchased by worshippers.

SOME ANCIENT EGYPTIAN TOMBS REALLY DO CARRY CREEPY CURSES

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You may have already heard of "King Tut's Curse," the story that anyone who was involved with the
1923 excavation of pharaoh Tutankhamen's tomb was doomed to suffering and death ever after.
According to History, that's all nonsense. Expedition financier George Herbert, lord Carnarvon, did
indeed die from blood poisoning two months after the tomb's discovery, though archaeologist Howard
Carter and others involved in the excavation survived for quite a while longer.

Though the tale of Tut's curse is largely nonsense, there really are some creepy curses written on the
walls of ancient tombs. Thousands of years ago, many Egyptians believed that their mummified body
was sacrosanct. Any interference with their remains jeopardized their existence in the afterlife, says
National Museums Scotland. Though rare, examples of tomb curses or warnings center on this anxiety.
One such inscription tells visitors "not to take (even) a pebble from within [the tomb] outside ... beware
of forcefully removing this stone from its place."

Business Insider reports that similar curses were put there to ward off grave robbers, an unfortunately
common problem. In one burial, a vizier named Ankhmahor tells trespassers that anything they "might
do against this, my tomb, the same shall be done to your property." He also threatened to plague them
with the "fear of seeing ghosts."

ROYAL SIBLINGS GOT ALARMINGLY CLOSE IN ANCIENT EGYPT

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Many ancient Egyptian royals were pretty concerned about preserving their family lines in order to keep
power, money, and divine blood at the top of the social structure. But, how to do this? If you believe
that your family and your family alone is descended from Amun-Re, for example, then how can you
possibly mix with mere humanity? To keep it all in the family, a significant number of royals married
their own cousins and even siblings.

Though this seems shocking in the extreme today, it was a matter of course for ancient Egyptians. It's
worth noting that, as the Ancient History Encyclopedia reports, many Egyptians referred to their
romantic partners as "sister" or "brother," though this affectionate term did not necessarily mean they
were blood relatives. Common folk, it appears, were just fine marrying outside of their families.

However, as University College London points out, there's clear evidence that incest happened in royal
households. The mummy of Tutankhamun, the boy pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, was analyzed by
scientists who, upon examining his DNA, discovered that Tut was the product of a brother-sister union.
Some scientists believe that this explains a bone deformity in his foot, which would have made walking
difficult and perhaps even painful.

These relationships were part of Egyptian religious belief as well. Two of the biggest gods, Osiris and Isis,
were said to be siblings who produced the falcon-headed Horus, according to Britannica.

SOME ANCIENT EGYPTIAN TEMPLES WERE FULL OF CROCODILES

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Some temples dedicated to gods also watched over their associated animals. Sometimes, that was
meant to create a steady supply of animals to be turned into votive mummy offerings to the gods. Other
times, ancient Egyptian priests were tasked with taking care of animals as an act of devotion to their
god. This was probably fine for the priests and priestesses to deities like the cat-headed Bastet, but you
may have been creeped out by the temple to Sobek.

According to The Washington Post, Sobek was the god of the Nile who sported a crocodile's head on top
of a man's body. Some temples dedicated to him also kept real Nile crocodiles, some even with
nurseries for hatchlings. Ancient Greek historian Herodotus claimed that some crocodiles were even
adorned with jewelry placed by some pretty brave priests. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence that
these animals were fed a fine diet, far better than some human Egyptians at the time.

After their death, PBS reports, these crocodiles were also mummified. Archaeologists who completed a
DNA analysis on some of these mummies found that they were related to a smaller, more docile species
of modern crocodiles, compared to the big, mean ones currently stalking the waters of the Nile.

EARLY ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SERVANTS MIGHT BE BURIED ALONGSIDE THEIR EMPLOYERS

Metropolitan Museum of Art/Wikimedia Commons

Serving a pharaoh had its perks. A member of the royal household, even if they were working at the
command of others, might expect a certain level of security and some decent food on a regular basis.
Yet, servants in ancient Egypt's first dynasty might have faced a terrible bargain when their king passed
on into the afterlife. You see, he didn't want to go alone.

So-called "retainer sacrifices" only appear to have occurred early in ancient Egypt's history, between
3500 – 2900 B.C.E., according to The Strange World of Human Sacrifice. Some early burials hint that the
individuals interred were purposefully dismembered, which would have been an odd practice amongst
the early people of ancient Egypt. Some funerary complexes of Egyptian kings, like that of pharaoh Aha,
are accompanied by an array of "subsidiary graves," often occupied by young men who normally
wouldn't have died of natural causes in such numbers and in such orderly fashion. 

Another king, Djer, rested in a tomb surrounded by more than 300 individual burials, reports the
American Society of Overseas Research. The practice seems to have faded from there, with subsequent
pharaohs buried with fewer and fewer retainers. King Qa'a was accompanied by 26 chambers, some
occupied by individual humans, while others appear to have been reserved for grave goods meant for
use in the afterlife.

SOME ANCIENT EGYPTIAN WOMEN WORKED AS PROFESSIONAL MOURNERS

Metropolitan Museum of Art/Wikimedia Commons

Death was a big deal in ancient Egyptian culture. If their families could afford it, individuals would be
carefully mummified by professional embalmers. The body was often decked out in amulets and jewelry
and installed in a fine sarcophagus before internment in a tomb. High-class people might even
have mortuary temples, reports Britannica, where priests would offer prayers and goods to sustain the
dead person's soul.

All of this pomp also meant that the funeral itself was a pretty big deal. While some practices that were
part of ancient Egyptian send-offs might seem familiar to us today, others could be creepy to modern
folk, depending on their culture of origin. According to The Funerary Art of Ancient Egypt, one of the
most striking traditions was that of the professional mourner. These were women who were paid to act
out extravagant grief. In some paintings, they appear weeping and disheveled, wailing while they touch
the deceased's coffin.

Some modern cultures still employ professional mourners. WNYC reports that Hu Xinglian is one of the
best-known professional mourners in China today for her crying and shouting at funerals. "Our entry
into the world is splendidly dramatic," she said, "so our exit from this world also needs to be
spectacular." The ancient Egyptians would likely agree.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MAGIC COULD GET PRETTY INTENSE

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Though other cultures and people throughout history have gotten pretty worked up over things like the
occult and witchcraft, it didn't necessarily bother the ancient Egyptians. Magical practice was accepted
in nearly all periods of ancient Egyptian history, so long as you didn't try to hurt the wrong sorts of
people.

For many, magic was an everyday thing. According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, magical amulets
showing the bearded dwarf god Bes were said to help with fertility and childbirth. His striking face
appears everywhere in Egyptian records, from statues, to jewelry, to reports of Bes tattoos, all intended
to magically draw upon his considerable power. Bes presumably answered to Heka, the primordial god
and force of magic who was so all-encompassing that he never got his own temples. Even then, priests
were expected to take on magical rituals and healing practices, too, as Heka was often thought of as a
god of medicine.

Rituals could still get serious, with elaborate rituals and accouterments like amulets and protective
knives, reports the BBC. Magicians used wax figures, mysterious books full of spells, and even ivory
wands. Everyone used magic, from scorpion-charmers who banished the little arthropods from Egyptian
homes to midwives helping their clients through the dangerous courses of pregnancy and childbirth.
HAREM WOMEN TRIED TO KILL THE PHARAOH WITH MAGIC

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The women of Ramesses III's harem orchestrated a successful plot to kill the king, involving not just his
bloody murder but a good dose of eerie magic to make the guards look the other way. According to the
The Los Angeles Times, the women and men involved in the conspiracy included the pharaoh's second
queen, Tiy, and their son, Prince Pentawere. Whoever actually committed the crime must have had a
stomach of steel. Ramesses III's mummy shows that his throat was cut so deeply that he died nearly
instantly.

The conspirators were found out, however. Ramesses III's successor, who would go on to become
Ramesses IV, wasn't especially merciful. According to National Geographic, fragmentary court records
from the time indicate that some of the named criminals were allowed to commit suicide, presumably
to avoid the shame of a public execution. Historians assume that other unnamed plotters were killed.

It's not exactly known how their lives ended, but one imagines it wasn't very pleasant. Archaeologists
now believe that an unusual, poorly treated, and possibly strangled mummy, known as "Unknown Man
E" is likely Pentawere himself. The remains were found with the mummy of Ramesses III, but, while the
pharaoh's body was in an excellent state of preservation, Unknown Man E seems to have been the
subject of a rush job. According to Archaeology, some believe that the mummy may have been handled
as crudely as it was because of the prince's treasonous crime.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN EMBALMERS HAD SERIOUSLY CREEPY WORKPLACES

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For many cultures, working with the dead is eerie enough on its own. Embalmers, who played an
important role in preserving a person's remains for the afterlife, had to set aside any qualms and get to
work. In fact, those workshops were so well-established that, as Smithsonian Magazine reports, they
were comparable to modern funeral homes. One structure, dating to around 600 B.C.E., not only
showed evidence of mummification areas but also the existence of burial packages scaled to a family's
means.

Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, described the mummification processes for different social
strata. He wrote that, after everyone agreed upon a price, embalmers would take an iron tool and "draw
out the brain through the nostrils," after which they would make an incision in the abdomen and "take
out the whole contents of the belly" before treating everything with natron, a natural salt. That's what
the rich folks got, anyway. Poorer people could expect to have their bodies treated only with cedar oil
and natron.
It makes sense that mummification operations had to be aggregated in one place, as even the Egyptians
seemed creeped out by the presence of dead bodies. According to History, mummification was also a
complicated process that took an average of 70 days per individual, meaning a workshop simply needed
space to contain more than one person at a time.

BOTCHED MUMMIFICATIONS COULD LEAD TO RESTLESS SPIRITS

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Mummification wasn't just a technical enterprise. Ancient Egyptians generally believed that the process
was necessary not just to preserve the physical remains of a person but to ensure the continued
existence of their soul. That soul, according to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, was known as different
aspects like the ka, the shuyet, the akh, and the human-headed bird version known as the ba. To get
everything done properly, embalmers and priests needed to say the right incantations and provide the
correct amulets to ensure a decent afterlife.

With such a complicated series of tasks, no wonder people sometimes messed up. Yet, as ancient
Egyptian legends maintain, incorrectly preserving the dead sometimes meant that they would return
and bother the living. Illness and bad fortune could be blamed on the restless dead, who would have to
be shooed back to the afterlife by a priest or seer.

One ghost story related in the Ancient History Encyclopedia centers on a man named Khonsemhab, who
encounters a spirit by the name of Nebusemekh. The deceased man is upset, as his tomb has collapsed,
and no one's bothered to fix it. Khonsemhab, who may have been a high priest himself, reportedly
speaks to the spirit and tells the ghost he'll fix everything. The text rather frustratingly cuts off there,
but, knowing ancient Egyptian culture and its focus on the afterlife, hopefully Khonsemhab did his duty
and fixed up the man's tomb.

THE DEAD FEARED THAT THE GODDESS AMMUT WOULD DEVOUR THEIR HEARTS

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If you happened to be an ancient Egyptian who found themself in the afterlife, you might decide that
you have bigger worries than crumbling tombs or slapdash embalmers. As Egyptian beliefs had it, each
dead person was to face one final judgment. If they failed this ultimate test, they would be annihilated
via the jaws of a terrifying creature.

This was Ammut, who was actually a goddess in most estimations, though she looked very different
from the likes of Isis or Hathor. According to The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses,
she's often depicted as a creature with the head of a crocodile, the front of a lion or leopard, and the
rear of a hippopotamus. All were fearsome, deadly creatures for living Egyptians. 

Ammut waited in the Hall of Truth while the deceased's heart was weighed against the feather of Ma'at,
the goddess of truth and justice, as per the Ancient History Encyclopedia. If the person had been good
and righteous during their life, their heart was lighter than the feather and they passed on into paradise.
If they were wicked, however, the heart would be heavy. It would be tossed to Ammut, who would
devour the organ and thus wipe the evil person's soul from existence.

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THINGS THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT

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BY EMILIA DAVID/AUG. 12, 2020 3:29 PM EST

Many histories of ancient Egypt only deal with the lives of pharaohs. But everyday Egyptians also had
interesting lives. They weren't just farming or building stone memorials and there were certain things
they couldn't live without.

According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, all Egyptians, no matter their social class, were
encouraged to "let their face shine" — basically, do things that made them happy. So ancient Egyptians
enjoyed sports, games, and festivals. Archaeological evidence suggests that they played various sports
– a form of hockey, handball, archery, swimming, tug of war, gymnastics, and something called water
jousting, which involved small boats. Players recreated ship battles in which they would try to knock
over an opponent's boat.
History writes Egyptians also made board games to amuse themselves. They played Mehen, and Dogs
and Jackals, but the most famous board game was Senet, which pharaohs also played. Senet was so
popular that paintings showed Queen Nefertiti playing the game. King Tutankhamen was buried with it.

Games and sports were not the only activities that helped ancient Egyptians "let their face shine."
People would often gather to watch performances, explains the Ancient History Encyclopedia. After
these shows, Egyptians would indulge in a drink called heqet, a honey-flavored beer that resembled
mead. They also had beer, but it was no Budweiser.

THEY WERE ALSO KIND OF VAIN

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When we see illustrations of ancient Egyptians, they are almost always wearing makeup. History reports
both men and women often wore makeup because they believed it granted protection from the gods
Horus and Ra. It's not the make-up we know today, but ancient Egyptians invented the idea of painting
one's face. They ground malachite and galena into kohl, which evolved into the modern-day eyeliner.
Women rubbed paint on their cheeks, like blush, and used henna to color their nails. Make-up for them
was more than vanity; ancient Egyptians believed make-up had healing powers. History says they were
probably right. Research showed the kohl protected them from eye infections. English Online also points
out that some ancient Egyptians dyed their hair, applied perfumes, and wore lots of jewelry if they could
afford it.

Ancient Egyptians venerated animals as incarnations of the gods they worshiped. As such, they tended
to keep many animals as pets, per History. Cats were the most popular pets and were revered as an
embodiment of the goddess Bastet. They also kept hawks, ibises, dogs, lions, and baboons. Ancient
Egyptian police officers even used monkeys and dogs to assist their investigations.

Everyday life in ancient Egypt was all about a good work-life balance. They worked hard to feed their
families, but also needed to have fun and enjoy themselves to prove to the gods they were worthy of
riches in the afterlife.

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WHAT LIFE WAS REALLY LIKE FOR WOMEN IN ANCIENT EGYPT

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BY KATHY BENJAMIN/SEPT. 25, 2019 3:30 PM EST/UPDATED: FEB. 1, 2021 11:30 AM EST

A lot of the time, people think of women's rights as something that started only very recently. Society in
the past was horrible compared to the glorious, enlightened geniuses of the present. To make ourselves
look good, everyone else has to be bad.

But history isn't a straight line. Feminism wasn't something invented in the 1940s or even the 1840s.
While there have been plenty of times in history when women were horrifically oppressed (looking at
you, Ancient Greece), there were also periods, in some cases long periods, where they enjoyed almost
equal rights to men. Ancient Egypt was one such time.

If you ignore the slavery and the disease and living at the mercy of the Nile River, Ancient Egypt was a
pretty awesome place to be a woman. But just how awesome was it? Well, from the importance of
alcohol to matters of makeup, here's what life was really like for women in Ancient Egypt.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN WOMEN WERE ROLLING IN RIGHTS

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It's almost unbelievable the number of rights women in Ancient Egypt had. According to Ancient History
Encyclopedia, in Ancient Egypt, women could, "own land, initiate divorce, own and operate their own
business," and have many kinds of jobs outside the home. But wait, there's more! They could also own
their own houses, "enter into contracts with men, have abortions, and dispose of their own property as
they saw fit." Ancient Pages adds they could get drunk, make legally-binding wills, and receive both the
same pay as men for the same work and the same punishments for the same crimes. It was a level of
personal and sexual freedom that no other ancient civilization gave women and wasn't even common in
modern times until recently. When the Ancient Greek historian Herodotus visited Egypt, he was shocked
at how women behaved. This made sense, since he came from a place where men didn't even like
women going outside, and suddenly, he was in a feminist utopia.
Well, almost. No society in history has gotten the equality of the sexes thing right, and Ancient Egypt
wasn't perfect. While women did sometimes have authority over men, that wasn't considered ideal, and
men were usually in charge. There were positions women couldn't hold, usually those of the most
important government officials. And in 3,000 years, Ancient Egypt only managed to have seven female
rulers. Still, the US hasn't managed one woman president yet, so we can't really say anything.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MARRIAGES WERE INTERESTING

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Women had a ton of rights in Ancient Egypt, although things were a bit tricky when it came to
marriage. According to Short History, girls usually got married right after they hit puberty, which at the
time was generally about 13 years old. While boys often weren't that much older, usually marrying
between 16 and 20, it wasn't uncommon for teen girls to marry much older men. So how a marriage can
really be an "equal partnership" when you have a major age discrepancy is questionable.

Still, Ancient History Encyclopedia says that while it was understood that men were the head of the
household and had the final word, there's "plenty of evidence to suggest that men consulted with their
wives regularly." Ancient Egyptian fathers gave marriage advice to their sons that included "do not
control your wife in her house," not to snap at her, to "recognize her skill," to enjoy her company, and to
"[desist] from strife at home." Still, wives had certain expectations on them, like having lots of children,
and if they committed adultery, they could be killed.

But if they didn't like their husband, divorce was simple. A woman just had to say she wanted one. She
didn't even need a reason like infidelity on her husband's part. And she got custody of any children.

RUNNING THE HOME WAS A MASSIVE RESPONSIBILITY

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While women may have been equal to their husbands, the job of taking care of the house still fell to
them. Rich women might have servants or slaves, and many women also had jobs outside the home, but
how well their house was kept was still on their heads. According to Ancient History Encyclopedia, while
men helped out with housework from time to time, women had a lot to do.

In a time before alarm clocks, a woman had to wake her whole family up so they could go to work or
school. Then she had to take care of the family altar. Every house had one, and keeping the gods happy
was the woman's job. Then she had to cook breakfast, do the dishes, haul the daily water from the well,
do all the childcare, and take care of any elderly relatives. And of course, she had to feed, water, and
generally take care of any animals the family owned. Plus, she had to make lunch, do some weaving and
sewing, do laundry, bake bread, brew beer, make dinner, serve dinner, clean up dinner, put everyone to
bed, and do it all again the next day. And this was before there were any appliances to make her life a
tiny bit easier.

Some tasks were extra essential. The Ancient Egyptians were neat freaks, meaning the house needed to
be spotless, so it looked nice, but also to keep pests away. Tending the garden was also super important,
since it was the source of most of the family's food.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN WOMEN OFTEN HAD JOBS OUTSIDE THE HOME

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Plenty of Ancient Egyptian women worked in the domestic sphere, but it was also perfectly acceptable
for women to — wait for it — work outside the home. According to Ancient History Encyclopedia, the
list of jobs they could do was basically endless, and many of them involved authority over men.

In a time before locks, when an important room or container needed to be closed and stay closed, you
called on a sealer. These bureaucrats carried official, authorized seals that would have to be broken to
open whatever they were used to close, so it was a great way of locking something. That made the
position of sealer one of the most important jobs in Ancient Egypt, and women sealers were considered
equal to their male counterparts.

Women could be doctors, as well, and the female physician Pesehet even taught male students in a
medical school. Male patients would also see lady doctors with no issue. There were female dentists,
female seers who interpreted dreams and omens for people, and women who ran textile manufacturing
businesses. There are even paintings of these women supervising their workers. Ladies who had a talent
for performing could become musicians, singers, and dancers, entertaining privately and in public
temple events.

Even women who liked domestic work could do it on the professional level. Girls could become servants
as teenagers and rise up the ranks. The top position was household manager, basically running
everything for a rich woman who didn't want to do it herself.

WOMEN MADE BEER, AND ANCIENT EGYPTIANS LOVED BEER

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There was one job in Egypt that held supreme importance, and in a completely unexpected twist, it was
dominated by women. That job was beer brewer. Beer was vital to Ancient Egyptian existence. The story
went that it had been given to humanity by the god Osiris, with breweries watched over by the goddess
Tenenet, according to Ancient History Encyclopedia. Another story said when the goddess Sekhmet
decided to destroy humanity, she was tricked into getting drunk on beer, passed out, and forgot about
it. These and other gods were regularly given offerings of beer, and many temple rituals involved getting
very wasted.

So beer was important on a spiritual level but also on a practical level. Ancient Egypt Online says
everyone drank beer, including children. Beer was seen not so much as a fun drink but a nutritious food
staple. Laborers were often paid partly in beer, including the ones working on the pyramids, who got a
daily ration of 1 ⅓ gallons each. When experts at the British Museum recreated Ancient Egyptian beer,
they were surprised to find it was "absolutely delicious."

Since beer was really a food, that made brewing cooking, and cooking was women's work. There's
evidence that, definitely in early Egyptian history and probably for most of it, breweries were "entirely
operated by females." They made huge quantities of booze, which meant they could make a lot of
money. And since beer was so vital and ubiquitous, it was an important, honorable profession.

WOMEN COULD BE COLLATERAL

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Slavery was a complicated institution in Ancient Egypt. There were different levels of servitude, and it's
often hard for experts to distinguish between them, according to Tour Egypt. Servants were a thing, but
so were slaves, with no distinct dividing line. People who owned land could still be listed as property of a
king, making them sort of equivalent to serfs. Slavery was inherited (if your mother was a slave,
regardless of who your father was, then you would also be a slave), or prisoners of war could find
themselves enslaved, and slavery could even be a temporary thing you (more or less) chose for yourself.

The UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology says in times of famine, men and women could offer to become
slaves in order to make sure they got enough food. Sometimes, men found themselves in debt, and they
would offer family members, usually women, as collateral. Those women would remain slaves until the
debt was repaid. Even among slaves there was a hierarchy, with foreign slaves seen as "better" since
originally, they or their families had been of a higher class than regular Egyptian slaves.

Slaves could own property and negotiate transactions. There's a record of two slave women who gave
their master some of their own land in exchange for goods. While some slaves became like members of
the family, others were freed. One way of finding freedom was by being "purified" and going to work in
a temple, and as it turns out, King Tut actually purified some slave women who worked in his palace.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN WOMEN COULD DO WHAT THEY WANTED IN THE BEDROOM

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Prudish, male, Victorian researchers though Ancient Egypt had prostitutes because, obviously, any
women who were having sex out of wedlock must've been working girls. But that was totally wrong.

According to Ancient Egyptian Sexuality , people back then weren't hung up on sex. Even their gods and
goddesses were always getting up to filthy stuff. Indeed, with the exception of adultery, which was a
serious no-no, Ancient Egyptians seem to have been totally cool with women doing whatever. Ancient
History Encyclopedia says there was no Ancient Egyptian word for "virgin," possibly meaning that didn't
matter. There was definitely no guilt attached to young, single women having their fun, and if one of
them ended up pregnant, it was probably something to be celebrated. Fertility was so important to the
Egyptians that an out-of-wedlock teen pregnancy was a great thing, because it meant lots more babies
to come.

There are no records of brothels in 3,000 years of Ancient Egyptian history. What they did have were
"sacred prostitutes" who worked in temples. They were there to scratch the priest's itch. This was a
hugely honorable position, one families would offer up their most beautiful daughters for. The women
would walk around in sheer clothing, or just naked, happily calling attention to their job. They didn't
even get paid, the honor was so great. When they got older, they would leave and go get married, with
no shame attached to their previous profession at all.

PRIESTESSES WERE POWERFUL AND VERY CLEAN

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The Ancient Egyptians were seriously religious. Keeping the gods happy was of the utmost importance,
so the people who served them on a day-to-day basis had lots of power. This included women, since
there were plenty of priestesses. While Ancient History Encyclopedia says it was typical for female
attendants to serve goddesses, this wasn't always the case. Some priestesses served male deities,
including the all-important Amun. One woman held the position God's Wife of Amun, a job that "would
eventually become as powerful as that of the king."

Literally anyone who worked in a temple was considered a priest or priestess, so daily life varied
drastically, depending on whether you were more on the janitor end or the high priestess end of the
scale. Rituals could involve bathing and dressing a statue of a goddess, lighting sacred fires, or cooking
food for the deity. Many priestesses worked part-time, just one month out of every four. According to
Herodotus, priestesses had to be super clean, bathing four times a day and shaving all the hair off their
bodies and heads (including eyebrows and eyelashes at some temples) to keep lice away and to stay
pristine. They also had to practice singing and dancing, so they could entertain their goddess.
The power some priestesses had is evident in their tombs. National Geographic reported on a tomb
discovered in 2017, belonging to Hetpet, a priestess of Hathor. According to the magazine, it was
"lavishly decorated," including paintings of cheeky monkeys and hunting scenes. 

ROYAL WOMEN HAD A SAY IN RUNNING THE COUNTRY

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Ancient Egyptian royalty lived lives of luxury. While there were a small number of women who held the
top job in Ancient Egyptian history, the vast majority of pharaohs were men. But they had women in
their lives. Lots of them.

Ancient History Encyclopedia says each pharaoh would have numerous queens. One of them would be
the most important "principle wife." While in the early years of Ancient Egypt, a queen might just be
expected to run the palace, support her husband, and act as regent for an underage son, in the New
Kingdom, queens had major power. She got her own royal and religious titles, official duties, land, an
income, and a degree of independence. Queens were often the pharaoh's most important counselors,
who according to Historic Mysteries, "molded the pharaoh's thinking in matters of state and religion and
provided him with strong support." They might act as diplomats, and at least one had her name written
in a cartouche, just like a king. Some pharaohs had their wives depicted in statues, occasionally the same
size as their own, standing or sitting beside them, making the two royals appear equal in importance.
Nefertiti (pictured) basically took over running the country for her husband while he concentrated on
religion.

The royal line was passed through women, not men, so they were of supreme importance, even
daughters of the pharaoh. Of course, the men these royal women were having kids with were often
their brothers, fathers, or uncles, so it's not all great.

EGYPTIAN WOMEN HAD FERTILITY TATTOOS

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Until very recently, it was thought only Ancient Egyptian women got tattoos. After all, only women were
depicted with tattoos in Ancient Egyptian art, and of all the Egyptian mummies that had been found,
only the female ones were inked. Of course, it was male archaeologists who usually found these
mummies (since they were basically all dudes until recently) and they had some not-so-nice theories
about the women with body art. According to Groupthink, the male archaeologists decided these ladies
must be "dancing girls" or of other "dubious status." Even if they found them buried among royalty, at
best they must have been a pharaoh's concubine.
Now we know that's not accurate at all. One of the slut-shamed mummies turned out to be the priestess
Amunet, which excavators would've realized if they'd just read her burial inscription. Ancient History
Encyclopedia says as more tattooed women were connected to the royal court, scholars had to change
their theories. Now, it seems tattoos might've been connected to fertility. In general, these tattoos
(usually patterns of dots) appear on women's stomachs, thighs, and breasts. It seems women inked
themselves to honor the goddess of fertility and as a kind of permanent amulet, giving them help
conceiving but also protection during pregnancy and childbirth. The tattoo artists were also exclusively
women.

Only in 2018 was the first discovery of a tattooed male mummy revealed. So inked men did exist in
Ancient Egypt, but so far, it seems very uncommon.

A WOMEN'S APPEARANCE WAS VERY IMPORTANT

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Everyone can immediately call to mind what an Ancient Egyptian lady looks like, whether it's the head of
Nefertiti, one of a million images of what Cleopatra might've looked like, or just a random woman
painted with her head turned to the side. And that distinctive look was hugely important to the average
Ancient Egyptian woman. According to Ancient Pages, clothing was considered "one of the most
important elements in a person's life."

The Ancient Egyptians are famous for one look because it stuck around for thousands of years. No twice-
yearly fashion shows full of new styles for them. Women wore a basic, tight, strappy dress that fell to
their ankles. In the winter, they would throw a thick linen cloak over their shoulders. Women working in
the fields switched to a short skirt and nothing else. The "in" color for all clothing was white, as much for
practical reasons in the heat as anything. Some new fads did come in, including pleated cloth and
brightly colored fringe. All women, no matter how poor, wore jewelry. Jewelry was vital to look
attractive for the gods, so women covered themselves in beaded necklaces, bracelets, earrings, collar,
and rings.

Makeup was not only aesthetic but also holy. Religion and beauty went hand in hand, so everyone wore
makeup. Women did elaborate eye makeup, which might've also been practical, as the thick black kohl
could've acted a bit like sunglasses. They also shaved their heads and wore wigs, completing the look.

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FALSE FACTS YOU ALWAYS BELIEVED ABOUT ANCIENT EGYPT

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BY KATHY BENJAMIN/AUG. 21, 2017 3:34 PM EST/UPDATED: NOV. 12, 2020 4:34 PM EST

Despite how awesome your fifth grade social studies teacher was, he or she didn't teach you everything
there is to know about Ancient Egypt. And in reality, many of the larger-than-life "facts" you did learn
were probably complete BS. Here's the truth behind all that cool stuff you thought was true about the
Ancient Egyptians.

MUMMIFICATION WAS JUST FOR PHARAOHS

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The most famous mummies were pharaohs who went to the afterlife with jewels, jars full of their
insides, and one hell of a dehydrated body. But just because you couldn't afford a giant pyramid to
house your remains in didn't mean you didn't want to be mummified. In fact, everyday people are just
as likely to show up in museums as the people who ruled over Ancient Egypt.

According to the Smithsonian, the earliest mummies in Egypt were probably made accidentally because
when you just chuck an unprotected body into the sand in an arid environment, the body will mummify
of its own accord. People soon decided being mummified was the hip new thing that would help send
you off to a fun time in the afterlife, and everyone wanted to get in on it.

According to Egyptologist Salima Ikram, if you could afford it, you paid for someone to dry you out and
remove your internal organs. If you were really wealthy, you had a tomb made to hold your Halloween-
ready, wrapped-up body. Even the poorest people would try to mummify themselves, resorting to the
age-old sand technique if necessary.
With everyone trying to get mummified, Egypt was overflowing with bodies. Over 3,000 years an
estimated 70 million mummies were produced, although Ikram thinks there were probably even more.
With that many mummies, you'd be lucky not to trip over them in the street.

KING TUT WAS KILLED BY HIS POWER-HUNGRY GRAND VIZIER

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For years, people thought King Tut's death was worthy of a Hollywood movie. According to the LA Times,
even many Egyptologists thought the boy king was brutally murdered because the back of his skull
appeared to be fractured. Books were written on the theory that he met a grisly fate at the hands of his
grand vizier Aye.

Not only was there the physical evidence, but Aye didn't act like someone who was innocent. He was a
commoner who ruled in Tut's stead while the pharaoh was a child. Then Tut died shortly after taking
power, and Aye started acting really suspicious. He claimed power for himself immediately and
cemented it by marrying Tut's widow, who then also died rather quickly. Talk about red flags.

Lucky for Aye's reputation, we now know Tut didn't die from a bonk on the head. Exactly what he died
of is still a mystery, though. According to LiveScience, theories abound, including that he either had
malaria, fell from his chariot, broke his leg, or had sickle cell disease. Basically, everything in the world
might have killed him except the guy who comes off as a power-hungry maniac.

PHARAOHS WERE ALWAYS BURIED WITH THEIR SERVANTS

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Pop culture loves the image of pharaohs being buried alongside dozens of their servants. How powerful
must you be when you can order a bunch of executions from the great beyond? The truth is, while some
Ancient Egyptian pharaohs did bring their servants with them to the afterlife, it only happened during
the First Dynasty and quickly fell out of fashion.
However, that didn't mean the pharaohs would go to Egyptian heaven by themselves. They still needed
servants there to do all the work for them. After all, they were gods, so how could they be expected to
do anything as complicated as make bread or pour wine? Luckily for the servants, during most of the
Ancient Egyptian period, pharaohs found their way around slaughtering perfectly good servants by being
buried with small wooden dolls. These small statues were called ushabtis; according to author Mey Zaki,
they were painted to look just like the servants they were replacing. Then the little wooden people
would do all the hard work so pharaohs could enjoy being dead. They could be buried with hundreds of
these little helpers. Egyptologist Salima Ikram told PBS that some pharaohs went even further and just
wrote down the names of the servants they would need in the afterlife. Servants were probably thrilled
to give up the honor of dying with their pharaoh.

THE PHARAOH'S CURSE WAS SUPER DEADLY

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If we all know one thing about the discovery of King Tut, it's that after his tomb was opened, everyone
involved started dropping like flies. According to a New York Times article from 1922, statues guarding
the inner tomb had golden serpents on their heads. The night of the excavation, the leader of the dig
Howard Carter (at center in the above image) was having dinner when a serpent that looked just like
those in the tomb attacked and killed his pet canary. From there the idea of the curse took off.

According to Time magazine, newspapers started running with the curse idea. (Obviously they would
never do this just to sell more copy.) LiveScience says that even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed the
curse was real. One theory is that the rumor might have been started by Howard Carter himself just so
people would stay away from his find.

All told, 11 people connected with the dig died in the next seven years, but there never was any curse.
According to History.com, in 2002 the British Medical Journal did a study of the lifespans of all the
Westerners who were in Egypt at the time of the tomb's opening and found that those who were
present weren't likely to die any earlier than their contemporaries. Carter lived another 17 years, and
plenty of "cursed" people lived long and happy lives.

CLEOPATRA WAS A HOTTIE

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If in-her-prime Elizabeth Taylor is chosen to play you in a movie, chances are you were super hot. That's
the myth that has existed about Cleopatra since Ancient Rome. This was a woman who managed to
seduce two of the most powerful men in the world at the time, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, so she
must have been a total fox. According to Heritage Daily, the Roman historian Cassius Dio, writing 200
years after she died, said Cleopatra was "a woman of surpassing beauty."

Here's the thing: sexy does not always equal hot. And according to the Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley,
from the evidence we do have the chances are Cleopatra was pretty mannish looking. Unfortunately, we
don't have any portraits or busts of the queen, but we do have her picture on coins from the era. These
show her as having a big nose, a protruding chin, and wrinkles. Not exactly supermodel status. It's
possible that she portrayed herself that way to seem more dignified rather than as a weak woman.
Women had been pharaohs before, but she probably still wanted to assert her authority as much as she
could, and looking more like a weathered guy might have done the trick. Or it could be an accurate
representation of what she looked like. The Roman writer Plutarch, who never met Cleopatra but was
writing before Cassius Dio, said that she had a sexy voice but wasn't a hottie. Maybe we'll figure it out if
we ever find her tomb.

EVERYTHING WAS WRITTEN IN HIEROGLYPHICS

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Virtually every time you see Egyptian writing, it's all hieroglyphics. The images made up a language so
complex that we had no idea what they said until the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. Now housed in the
British Museum, the stone helpfully translates the hieroglyphics into Greek. But despite what you might
think, not everyone in Egypt had time to sit and carve pretty pictures every time they needed to write a
grocery list.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, for over 2,500 years, people who could read and write mostly
used a type of script derived from hieroglyphics called hieratic. This was the standard way to write using
a pen and papyrus as opposed to chiseling stuff into rocks. Even religious documents were usually
written in hieratic. This script was eventually replaced with an even simpler one called demotic. (That's
the third language on the Rosetta Stone.) Again per the Britannica, its Egyptian name literally mean
"writing for documents" and scribes and businesspeople used it for over 1,000 years. As cool as it might
be to think of a storekeeper carving your receipt out into a huge piece of rock for a couple hours, in
reality they'd just dash off some quick cursive. Hieroglyphics were used for important things like tomb
messages because the dead weren't really in a rush once. Craftsmen had all the time in the world to
write that stuff out.
THE PYRAMIDS ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT

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Dramatic period movies have told you what to expect if you ever go see the pyramids. Located in the
middle of the desert, your camel will be half dead after walking so far to see these ancient marvels. Sand
will have lodged itself in crevices you never even knew you had. Finally, they rise out of the dunes like a
mirage and you have made it. It was well worth the dangerous, thirsty journey to see something so
amazing.

It makes sense you'd think this since most pictures you see of the pyramids show sand, the Sphinx, and
not much else. But in reality, the pyramids sit right on the edge of the sprawling city of Cairo, as seen in
the above image. Depending on where you live, you might have one very sweet view. Some realtors
probably advertise houses as being within walking distance to the last remaining Ancient Wonder of the
World. It kind of takes away part of their mystical qualities, though, knowing you could just pop out to
the store and pass the pyramids on your way.

JEWS AND SLAVES BUILT THE PYRAMIDS

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Hollywood is obsessed with the idea that slaves, particularly Jewish slaves, built the pyramids. It makes a
little sense: how could something that big be built without some back-breaking forced labor? Surely no
one would offer to build them just out of loyalty to the pharaoh?

Maybe not just for loyalty, but throw in a paycheck and you've got a workforce. According to
Egyptologists, around 10,000 skilled workers were employed to build the pyramids. It makes sense
because the pharaohs would want people who knew what they were doing. The slave story started with
the Ancient Greek historian Herodotus and hasn't let up since. The Jewish aspect was added much more
recently, when former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin visited Egypt in 1977 and threw out the
idea that the Jews has been the ones who built the pyramids.

Begin was partially right. According to the Bible, the Jews were enslaved to do "backbreaking labor." But
whatever they built it wasn't the pyramids because, simply put, the Jews didn't exist at that time.
Archaeological evidence shows that the people who did build them were treated well. The 10,000
laborers worked in three-month shifts and, as a group, consumed 21 cows and 23 sheep per day. If they
died while working on the pyramids, they were given the honor of being buried right outside it, in tombs
complete with beer and bread for their sweet party in the afterlife.

ALL ITS RULERS WERE EGYPTIAN

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When you think of Ancient Egypt, you probably think of a very specific style, namely really buff people
who were always looking to the side for some reason. But it wasn't just Egyptians who ruled over the
Nile.

Ancient Egypt was a pretty impressive place, and once other countries started building their own
empires, it was the place to conquer. Who wouldn't want to get a fancy hat, a nice tomb, and to become
a living god? The first foreigner who decided Egypt had to be his was Alexander the Great. This
Macedonian was on a roll, taking over everything in his path. Once he got to Egypt, he started a dynasty
that would last over 300 years. Ethnically Greek, according to the New York Times, the Ptolemy dynasty
would be become a kind of mesh of the two cultures and Alexandria would become one of the first
cosmopolitan cities. The Ptolemies would take on some of the weirder Egyptian customs, like marrying
siblings to keep power in the family, but according to the Smithsonian, not a single Ptolemy pharaoh
could be troubled to learn the Egyptian language until Cleopatra, and she was the last of the line. Talk
about too little too late.

PEOPLE HAD VERY FEW RIGHTS

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When your country is ruled by people who are supposedly gods in human form, you probably assume
average people don't have many rights. We know that Ancient Egypt had slaves, but people actually had
a lot more rights than you might expect.

Skilled workers, like the ones who built the pyramids, had a sweet life. According to PBS, workers had
houses with numerous rooms and got two days off for every ten days they worked. (That's a lot better
than pop culture images of whip-cracking slave drivers would suggest.) They were even allowed extra
days off if they needed to mummify a friend or relative, or (most importantly) if they needed to brew
beer. But they took their perks seriously and were even known to go on strike if they weren't getting the
treatment they wanted. After the death of Ramses II, the government had trouble feeding and paying
the workers, so they organized the first recorded strike in history.

What's more, women in Ancient Egypt had almost as many rights as men, according to the University of
Chicago Library. They shared property jointly with their husbands and could divorce them if things went
south. They could hold down jobs and make contracts in their own names; they could even be pharaohs,
the sweetest position there was. Nice. Women couldn't even vote in most societies until almost 100
years ago.

THE PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT TO STORE GRAIN

Phillip Medhurst Collection of Bible illustrations

It's hard to believe this needs debunking, but the idea that pyramids were built to store grain is so
prevalent that a presidential hopeful even brought it up while campaigning.

Ben Carson didn't just pull this theory out of his nether regions. This story started appearing in the
Middle Ages, according to the BBC. The idea is that the biblical figure Joseph had a dream that Egypt was
going to have a terrible famine and needed to store grain to get ready. Then he told the pharaoh
(pictured above). You can even see images of the pyramids being filled with grain at St. Mark's cathedral
in Venice. Why wouldn't you trust people who decided to build a city on top of water?

There are a few things wrong with this theory. First, the story of Joseph occurs during the Middle
Kingdom, hundreds of years after the pyramids were built. The biblical story never even mentions
pyramids. Second, pyramids have very little room inside, which would make it ridiculous to build such
huge structures to store a tiny bit of grain. Finally, we know that the pyramids were built as tombs.
Carson's idea is so ridiculous to people who actually know what they are doing that, according to
Mahmoud Afifi, Egypt's head of ancient antiquities, the theory they were grain stores is right up there
with the idea they were built by people from Atlantis.

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THE REASON YOU'D NEVER SURVIVE LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT

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BY ROBERT BALKOVICH/MARCH 10, 2020 2:12 PM EST/UPDATED: DEC. 16, 2020 11:37 AM EST

Despite their obsession with death, people in ancient Egypt thought of themselves as living the best
possible lives. Of course hindsight is 20/20 and looking back at the trials and tribulations of life before
the common era it's clear there was more than a little room for improvement. Those of us who enjoy
the comforts of the modern world would probably be horrified to walk a day in the sandals of the
average person in ancient Egypt.

Although Egypt was renowned for having a relatively advanced society compared to the rest of the
ancient world, it was still a time before modern science and medicine. High infant mortality rates and
risk of death during childbirth were contributing factors to the average life expectancy being around 40
years old, according to an article from the BBC (although many people lived much longer).

Egypt also had its own unique set of dangers, as outlined in the same BBC article. The Nile was the
lifeblood of Egyptian society because of the agricultural yields produced by its nutrient rich silt, but it
was also home to a plethora of life threatening parasites. Grain grown by the Nile fed most of the
civilization's population, but that simple diet often lead to malnutrition and anemia. Another problem
with Egyptian's addiction to grain was the omnipresent sand that found its way into bread. This wore
down Egyptian's teeth over time, causing abscesses that could prove fatal if the infection spread to the
bloodstream.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

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According to Dr Aimé Muyoboke Karimunda's book The Death Penalty in Africa practices like human
sacrifices and the death penalty weren't very common in ancient Egypt, but that doesn't mean you
weren't at risk of running afoul of the law. If you were accused of a crime you were guilty until proven
innocent, and depending on the crime you were being accused of being found guilty could mean dire
consequences. 

The most brutal punishments were reserved for those who committed acts of treason against the state,
which was also a sign of disrespect toward the gods. Ramses III was alleged to have put a group of
conspirators to death by impalement. For less serious crimes such as tomb raiding or theft you were
lucky if your punishment was an amputation. According to Ancient History Encyclopedia being convicted
of more serious crimes, such as murder, put you at risk of being drowned, or even burned alive, a
punishment that was especially brutal in a society that believed you needed your body to remain intact
after death to pass to the afterlife.