These customs of Ancient Egypt will leave you with your mouth open, since this distant and millenary culture had some of the most curious customs in history of humanity. That may be why we are fascinated so much, today, anything that comes from that time of time when pyramids were being built, we sailed on the Nile and the pharaohs lived a soap opera life.
However, these customs of Ancient Egypt are not great things or facts, but small moments that serve to illustrate and to be even more amazed, if possible, by a culture that may be exotic and rare, but, perhaps for that reason, fascinating and wonderful. Know, in this article, the most curious customs of this town. Most have a logical explanation behind that may even be more surprising .
30 Ancient Egyptian customs curious | Surprise yourself!
1. In Ancient Egypt, the marriage it was considered bureaucratic , a procedure to share forces and improve survival. For that reason, divorce was not something strange, nor was remarriage.
two. The flies were so annoying that some pharaohs had slaves covered in honey at their disposal to drive away these annoying animals.
3. Another problem with infestation of unwanted animals was related to lice. There were so many, that the Ancient Egyptians were forced to wear a very peculiar hair style : shave to scratch, and in some cases, wear a wig.
4. The diet of the ancient Egyptians consisted, surprisingly, in many carbohydrates (such as wheat), plants and very little meat and fish.
5. Although there was some equality between genders, the women of the time did not get rid of some unpleasant customs of men . For example, when going by boat, it was not uncommon for them to have to put up with men doing exhibitionism.
6 The Egyptians wore makeup and had a very curious relationship with this, since they considered that it had healing properties. Also, at first they used it as sunscreen!
7 One of the best customs of Ancient Egypt was to immortalize its doctors and doctors (In addition, the Egyptian was one of the most advanced medicines of the moment) through art, since it was a very egalitarian culture.
8 The Ancient Egyptians had customs that seem to go contrary to the rest of the world For example, they kneaded food with their feet but handled clay and manure with their hands.
9 Egyptian contraceptives were uncomfortable and unhygienic. They believed they could avoid pregnant women if they were filled with leaves and crocodile poop. On the other hand, they were convinced that they could avoid pregnancy if they smeared onion juice on the foreskin.
10 The workers who erected the buildings (like the pyramids) of Ancient Egypt had a lot of sense of humor , since they signed their works with informal "graffiti", such as "the gang of drunkards of Menkaure".
eleven. When doing other tasks such as eating and relieving yourself , the Egyptians used to eat outside, on the street, and go to the bathroom inside the house.
12 The ancient cultures, and not only the Egyptian, did not live in a bubble, but very surprising commercial exchanges took place. For example, blue glass beads came from Denmark to Egypt, while products from the north, such as amber, arrived in Egypt.
13 Some unscrupulous embalmers had no qualms about practicing necrophilia the corpses of beautiful or powerful women, which gave rise to the rule of letting the bodies of women decompose for three or four days before being embalmed.
14. Another of the most striking customs of Ancient Egypt is the care that the gods received (or what is the same, their statues). An army of priests was busy offering them food, drinks, gifts and even clean clothes every day.
fifteen. It was common in ancient Egyptian times to believe that the Earth was flat , circular and that the Nile passed right in the middle (this anthropocentric vision of things is common in many cultures).
16 Because of a diet rich in fat and sumptuous and customary banquets, the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt were very fat , something that has not transcended through the murals in which they were painted.
17. As in those times, survival was rare and valuable, since many children and mothers died during childbirth, the Egyptians used to keep images of protective gods , like Bastet, and other amulets to scare away evil spirits.
18 One of the curious customs of Ancient Egypt is the care Egyptians had of their hair. Thus, the wealthiest citizens wore wigs, the poor let them grow and the pharaoh never taught and always wore a headband.
19. During mummification, the brain of the deceased was extracted by breaking the nasal septum and extracting the brain through the nose with a kind of pincers.
twenty. Another of the most esoteric customs of Ancient Egypt is its fondness for laxatives , that they took up to three times a month, and that it was considered that they served to cure everything, even diarrhea!
21. Maybe because of the heat, in Ancient Egypt the children did not wear any clothes until they were teenagers . In addition, they had long hair in a long ponytail to avoid lice.
22 Other curious customs of Ancient Egypt concerning mummification are the fact that all the organs of the deceased were removed and they were kept in a jar, except the heart, which was where the soul was thought to reside.
2. 3. To determine the fertility of women, the Egyptians practiced very unpleasant methods , how to ask them to put an onion or a head of garlic in the vagina and smell their breath the next day. If they could smell the garlic or the onion, the woman was fertile.
24 Herodotus, the Greek chronicler, was responsible for starting one of the oldest hoaxes in history : that those who built the pyramids were slaves, when it came to salaried workers.
25 The floor of the workers of Ancient Egypt was the most curious : one barrel of beer for each day of work.
26 The hygienic conditions of those times were so horrible that it was even thought that it was good to urinate blood , especially in men. She thought that was her menstruation!
27 Another of the customs of ancient Egypt best known is the worship that this people professed to their cats , but what you may not know is that they used to pluck their eyebrows to show their mourning when one of these animals died.
28 Surely the Egyptians did not have a good day when they invented the pillows , since they were made of stone!
29 Since the Egyptians value life after death, one of the most deeply rooted customs of ancient Egypt involved the construction of houses with perishable materials such as mud, while "eternal dwellings," like tombs, were built of more durable materials.
30. Finally, the children did not receive school education, although they were educated in the family , who transmitted their values to them and taught them how to survive by imitating the tasks carried out by the elderly.
As you can see, the customs of Ancient Egypt are fascinating and will surely make you even more interested in this culture. Tell us, did you like this list? Do you know anything more about the customs of this town that we have forgotten to mention? Remember that you can leave us a comment, we will be happy to read you!