How the Rich and Famous Ancient Egyptians Lived

A new study reported in The Independent has offered a peek into the rich and famous people of ancient Egypt who lived a life of merry with fine wine, sex, high fashion, and plenty of partying.

In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh was at the top of the 'pyramid' and his family, noble people who owned land, and the priests came after.

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Scribes, architects and doctors were well off, and skilled craftsmen also had many privileges.

Peasants and unskilled workers were low down the scale of Egyptian society, but it was the servants and slaves that skirted the bottom of the class pyramid.

Men in the armed forces, army and navy were not afforded a high social status, and neither were entertainers.

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As for the eating habits of the ancient Egyptians, arteriosclerosis (high cholesterol) found in ancient Egyptian mummies indicates that they loved to eat and drink well.

Different kinds of meat were available for the elite, like, beef, veal, antelope and gazelle meat.

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Similarly to today perhaps, wine was the booze of choice for high society individuals.

Fine wines were labelled with the date, vineyard and variety as the tax assessors requested, such as the ones found in Tutankhamun's tomb.

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The houses built for the rich and powerful were obviously different from the ones built for labourers and farmers.

The two main differences were materials and space.

Furniture made of 'good' wood was only found in the homes of the rich, as were rugs from Persia, ebony and ivory pieces from African kingdoms, golden vases, jewellery and sculptures from Nubia, various precious stones and gold ornaments.

As for fashion, it literally thrived in ancient Egypt, with the rich people employing the use of wigs, made with sheep or real human hair.

These wigs were worn at parties and in domestic environments as well as at festival and important cults, along with jewellery and headdresses to complete the party look.

Talking about clothing, it seems from archaeological findings that everyone wore tunics. Men wore them down to their knees and women down to their ankles.

When you talk about parties, dinner parties, or banquets, were frequent in rich houses in ancient Egypt, with dancing, drinking and maybe sex included - just as today.

The love and sex lives of the Egyptians were as complicated as they are today.

Turin's famous Erotic Papyrus assures us that the Egyptians were sexually adventurous, with a penchant for naked belly-dancing, and collections of love poetry from the Amarna era reveal that they were also big romantics.

Source-ANI
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