LIFE UNDER T,HE PHARAOH by LEON4RD COTTRELL- LONDON EVANS BROTHERS LIMITE)) Firll pub/ilhed I955 Printed in Greal Britain by_ Thf Camelot PrtJs Ltd., VITIMn and Southampton To SIR ALAN GARDINER in appreciation of a valued friendship CONTENTS Chap. Page INTRODUCTION • ' I I I THE LAi.'m, THE PEOPLE AND THEIR GODS 15 II REKHMIRE COMES HOME 30 III HOUSES AND FURNITURE 44 IV THE VIZIER GIVES A PARTY 59 V THE EGYPl'IAN WOMAN 76 VI LOVERS AND FRIENDS 87 VII THE PHARAOH'S ARMY 95 VIII PER-HOR GOES 1'0 SCHOOL. 108 IX THE CRAFT OF WRITING • 121 X LABOURERS AND CRAFTSMEN 136 XI MAGIC AND MEDICINE 157 XII BUYING AND SELLING 167 XIII THE PEOPLE'S PHARAOH 175 XIV HOUSE OF ETERNITY • 185 ApPENDIX: FACT OR FICTION? 197 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • 202 THE DYNASTIES OF ANCIENT EGYPT 203 BIBLIOGRAPHY 205 INDEX 207 LIST OF ILLUSTRAT raNS ' ~ ~ Fa,lngpage I. Colossal ~statues of Amenophis III in his Temple at Luxor (Cottrell). ,. . Frontispiece 2. The pyramid plateau from Abusir (Cottrell) 16 3., Boats on the Nile at Luxor (Cottrell) 16 4. The Goddess Isis suckling the infant Horus (British Museum) \ 17 5. Rameses II offering to the God Horus (Cottrell) . 17 6. Rekhmire's boat (Ashmolean Museum) 32 7. Cattle-boats 00 the Nile (Ashmolean Museum) 32 8. Step Pyramid of Djoser (Cottrell) 33 9. Step Pyramid at Sakkara at twilight (Cottrell) 33 10. A great estate of the Eighteenth Dynasty (Mrs. A. Engelbach) . 34 I!. Child's chair from the tomb of Tutankhamun (Ash- molean Museum) . 35 12. "Soul-house" (Ashmolean Museum) 46 13. "Soul-house" (British Museum) 46 14. pancing girls performing at a banquet (Cottrell) 47 15. Guests at a banquet (British Museum) 48 16. Group of ancient Egyptian musical instruments (British Museum) 49 17 . .Painted figure of a girl playing a harp (British Museum) 49 18. Daughters of Amenophis III in procession (from the tomb of Khereuf) (Cottrell) 64 19. The wife of the Vizier Nakht (Cottrell) 65 20. A group of toilet artic~es (British Museum) . 65 21. Statue of an Eighteenth-Dynasty woman (Cottrell) 66 22. Sketch of 'Y0man suckling a child (British Museum) 66 23. Nefretiti ~nd Akhenaten.in chariot (Cottrell) 67 24. Tomb-fresco (catching wild-fowl) (British Museum) 78 25. Boomerangs (British Museum) . 79 ~6, A young Egyptian girl (Cottrell) 79 10 LIFE UNDER THE PHARAOHS 27. Frieze of Egyptian warriors from the Temple of Karnak (Cottrell) . 80 -28. The chariot of Tutankhamun (Cottrell) 81 29. Egyptian infantry on the march (Lehnert and Ldndrock) 81 30. Wooden toy horse (British MuseuJn) . 96 3I . Toy lion with movable jaw (British Museum) 96 32. Spinning tops (British Museum) . . ., 97 33. Balls of painted fabric (British Museum) 97 34. Writing board from an Egyptian school (Ashmolean Museum) 1I2 3 S. Example of "hieratic" script (British Museum) 113 36. Scribe's palette (Ashmolean Museum) . 1 I 3 37. Metal-workers and catpenters (from the Tomb of Rekhmire) 128 38. Craftsmen in the Temple of Amum (from the Tomb of Rekhmire) 129 39. Men making statues (from the Tomb of Rel¢mire) 144 40. Men ploughing (British Museum) 145 41. Alabaster vases of the Third Dynasty (Cottrell) . 14:.5 42. Group of carpenters' tools (British Museum) 160 43. Granite block, showing method of splitting (Cottrell). 160 44. Gold portrait mask of Tutankhamun (Ashmolean Museum) 161 45. Dancing girls performing a ritual dance . 161 46. Mummy of Tuthmosis III (from Cairo Museum) (Cottrell) . 176 47. Statue of Tuthmosis III (Lehnert and Landrock) 176 48. Fresco of the Young Prince (Macmillan) 177 49. The Theban Necropolis (Cottrell) 177 50. Tomb-fresco from the Tomb of Rekhmire-Rekhmire and wife receiving offerings from children 192 5 I. Keftiu bringing tribute . 192 52. The Nile at Luxor, looking westwards to the Theban hills (Cottrell) 193 53. The Funerary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir-el- Bahri (B.O.A.C.) 193 · INTRODUCTION A years ago I wrote a book called The Lost FEW Pharaobs which began with the words, "This is a book by an amateur for the amateur". It was an attempt to provide an accurate but simply written and readable introduction to the study of Ancient Egypt. The present work, which is by way of a sequel to the first, falls into a similar category, though its aim is solnewhat different. The Lost Pharaohs begins with an outline of Egyptian history, from pre-Dynastic times (i.e. before 3100 B.C.) to the coming of the Romans, and goes on to describe the beginnings of Egyptology as a science, with the decipher ment of the hieroglyphs, and the gradual unfolding of the Ancient Egyptian civilisation through the successive discoveries of great archaeologists, from Mariette to Montet. After the book was published a number of readers were kind enough to write to me suggesting a further volume dealing more fully than was possible in The Lost Pharaohs with the everyday life of the Ancient Egyptians. I put the idea on one side at first, partly because there already exist a number of excellent and scholarly works on this highly specialised subject, but chiefly because I was writing a book on ancient Crete and had temporarily transferred my allegiance from Pharaoh to King Minos. Then, last year, I went back to Egypt. Although I was there on business which was far removed from Egyptology, I had the opportunity of meeting some of myoid friends among the Egyptian archaeologists, and revisiting some of the sites I had known seven years ago. And once I was out of Cairo, when I saw again the long brown ridge of the Pyramid plateau, when I stood with my friend Zakaria 12 LIFE UNDER THE PHARAOHS Goneim beside the Step Pyramid at Sakkara and gazed out across ,that wonderful green valley, all the old fascination • returhed; my re-kindled enthusiasm burned brighter than ever and I knew that I had to write another book on Egypt. I went again to Luxor, walked again in the VaJley of the Tombs of the Kings, talked far into the ni~ht with Labib Habachi, the Chief Inspector of Antiquities at Luxor, and with him and other friends discussed the latest develop ments in Egyptian excavation and research. I also revisited the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and through the courtesy of Dr. Mustapha Amer, the Director of the Servic,e des Antiquites, was able to see and photograph the royal mummies which are not on public exhibition. But this time I did not look only at the ancient monu ments. I was able to spend a Ettle time as a guest in Egyptian villages where fragments of the ancient Egyptian language still survive, to meet and talk with the fellahin, who, despite their Arabic veneer, are the lineal descendants of the Ancient Egyptians, and to watch ceremonies and customs , for which one can find parallels in the days of the Pharaohs. In particular I am grateful to Mr. Youssef el Afifi, Director of the Unesco Centre at Sirs-el-Layan, who has spent a lifetime studying the country people, and to Dr. George Sobhy, an Egyptian surgeon who is also an Egyptologist, and who, besides being an authority on the Coptic language, has done some remarkable research upon the survival of the ancient language and folk-customs, particularly .in the field of medicine. However, there remained the problem of what form this book should- take. A number of' specialised works have been written, by professional Egyptologists, on the everyday life of the Ancient Egyptians, though many of these are now out of print. I am not a specialist, and I w:ould not be so presumptuous as to attempt to write a comprehensive textbook on Egyptian life and culture, for which task others are far better qualified than 1. In