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social pyramid
social pyramid
People's place on the social pyramid depended on their job. Farmers and enslaved people were at the bottom. The person with the most power such as the pharaoh was at the top. First class would be the pharaoh, government officials, and soldiers. Middle class would be scribes, merchants, and artisan. The lower class is peasants, farmers and enslaved people. The lower class did the majority of work for the middle and first class.
Farm Life
Farmers, craft workers, and enslaved people did most of the work. Farms bustled with many kinds of tasks. Farmers grew and harvested crops. Herders tended cattle and chickens. Bakers grounded wheat from the fields and baked bread. Brewers made beer from wheat and barley, and fishers caught fresh fish from the Nile River. Farmers had to quickly harvest their crops before the yearly Nile flood if they didn't all their crops would be destroyed along with their hard work. More than half of these products went to the Pharaoh as taxes. The remaining went to the owner of the farm. Workers and enslaved people split the little that was left.
Planting and Harvesting
No job was easy, but farming was the hardest of all. To prepare the soils for planting they dug up large fields with cattle drawn wooden plows and hoes. To bring water to the fields they had to dig irrigation canals and hauled water using something called a shadouf. Farmers were also called by the government to assist in building canals, temples, or tombs for the pharaoh. At harvest-time women, men, and children went to fields to cut, stack, and carry grain. While they worked in the heat someone would chant out songs and everyone joined in to make the time pass. Farmers loaded the cut stalks in baskets and took them to the threshing, or separating areas. There oxen and/or donkeys walked over them and to separate the grain from the straw. Once the grain was separated from the straw, the girls would toss it into the air using wooden shovels so that the wind would blow away the remaining straw. Scribes measured and took the shares claimed by the pharaoh and the farm owner. Harvest was a time for celebration despite the hard work. Around Harvest-time they made special offerings to the gods of harvest Ra and Rennunet.
A Busy Neighborhood
Everyday someone had something to do you never had a break in this busy neighborhood. Each person in the noisy neighborhood would wake up to a daily list of chores. Every single morning the women of the house went down to the local canal to get water. They would return home with clay water pots balanced on their heads. The woman had a vast task according to the Egyptian's. It was to make bread, bread is the most important part of an Egyptian's diet. Families went to the market to sell their wares. At the local markets, the families could buy wheat, grapes, olives, fresh fish from the Nile river, beef, pork, and chicken. After a long day of work, they liked to have fun too. along with all the artifacts they found they came across board games that they played in their free time.
Children in Egypt
Children both wealthy and poor loved to play with spin tops, they made cloth dolls, they would wrestle, run and just have a fun time. The most popular pets were dog, cats, and monkeys. The children would play in the canals that went through the farms and villages. The pharaoh's children would even swim in their swimming pools! The amount of play time children had depended on their what their families did for work. People at the bottom of the social pyramid such as farmers' had very little play time since they were needed to help in the fields. Other than working at harvest time, farmer's children would help scatter seeds around during planting time. Farm children also did daily chores, like carrying buckets of water and feeding the animals. At the age of five children of craftworkers starting working with their parents. By doing this children would already have the knowledge they needed to have for when they are adults. Potter's children also started working at a young age; they had them put the smooth finish on the pots. At age 12 girls who were studying to become weavers starting training. The training could be as long as five years. Sons of government leaders became assistants to their father. They also would be a leader some day. Scribes' sons would be already going to scribe school by age 10. That was a very common skill to pass down from fathers to their sons.
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