HW# 7-2

Read Pages 42-43 in textbook

1. Making Inferences From what you
have read here, what inferences can
you make about Egyptian society?

2. Comparing and Contrasting How
are the work and leisure activities of
ancient Egypt different from those in
the United States today? How are
they similar?

Ancient Indus Valley Civilization Food

Ancient Indus Valley: Food


Food is an important part of any civilization. Researchers can learn a lot about an ancient culture by the types of meals that were prepared in the past. This information also gives insight to the kind of animals roamed their surrounding areas, as well as what types of animals served as pets rather than food sources. Lets take a look at dinnertime during ancient Indus times. There wasnt an elaborate steak on the table, surrounded by a baked potato and corn. Instead, warn, savory bread was a main kind of meal, which was served with a side of barley or rice.

Through analyzing past remains, it is assumed that the ancient Indus inhabitants were rather crafty farmers. Barley, wheat and peas are just some of things they grew. When it came to fruits, melons and dates were harvested. On their farms, cotton was also a crop. Grain was an important part of life in these times. Each town constructed a large centralized building meant for the storage of crops. Often, it was grain that was placed in this building. After the harvesting of each crop, the reaped benefits were also put into these storage units. It was open to the public for all town members to eat.

For meals that required the preparation of meat, there were many different selections to choose from. For starters, some of the herds that roamed about the farms included pigs, sheep, as well as water buffalo. Where we turn to cows for milk and meat, ancient Indus civilizations herded zebus, which is much similar to a cow. During this ancient time period, fishing was also quite popular. A trip to the river was commonplace, where they brought along their own fishhooks.

What Did They Wear?

Both the males and females during this time dressed in robes filled with color. As for jewelry, women decorated themselves with gold and precious stones. They also applied lipstick to their lips for face decoration. One of the many pieces of treasure uncovered during the digs was the statue of an unidentified woman with a bracelet on her arm. Through analyzing the jewelry of the past, it was accessed that the designs are not much different from the ones that are worn in present India.

How Did They Get Around?

When it came to transportation, there were no cars driven on the ancient Indus streets. They got around town and to places beyond their cities by way of elephants, oxen and camels. Mostly these animals pulled them while they sat in carts with wooden wheels. They also traveled by water with ships that they built with one mast. It is thought that the moved about the Arabian Sea in their ships. This transportation may have also led to trade with other civilizations. The clues regarding this theory have been depicted on seals found throughout the Indus Valley, as well as in Mesopotamia.

Additional articles will be posted regarding the ancient Indus civilizations, which will deal with the art and entertainment options associated with this time period.

Election Day

ROCK THE VOTE!

Ancient Egyptians Food, Cooking Practices and Utensils

The staple food was bread and beer, supplemented by onions or other vegetables and dried fish.

"They eat loaves of bread of coarse grain which they call cyllestis. They make their beverage from barley, for they have no vines in their country.They eat fish raw, sun-dried or preserved in salt brine."
Herodotus, Histories 2,77

Meat was not eaten often by the fellahin( fellahin is a peasant , farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East .) Growing domesticated animals for the sole purpose of meat production was (and still is) expensive. People sometimes supplemented their diet by hunting and fowling and by gathering wild fruit and roots.

In the Tale of Sinuhe the protagonist, who had become a tribal chief, recounts:
" Loaves were made for me daily, and wine as daily fare, cooked meat, roast fowl, as well as desert game. For they snared for me and laid it before me, in addition to the catch of my hounds. Many sweets were made for me, and milk dishes of all kinds. "
Tale of SinuheM. Lichtheim Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. 1, p.227

Temples, apart from having estates of their own where they raised animals, were also given large numbers of cattle by kings and rich officials. A part of these meat offerings was distributed to the needy.

When Seti I (c.1318 - 1304 BCE) sent a thousand troops to the Silsileh quarry he
.... increased that which was furnished to the army in ointment, ox-flesh, fish and plentiful vegetables without limit. Every man among them had 20 deben of bread daily, 2 bundles of vegetables, a roast of flesh and two linen garments monthly.....
Silsileh quarry stelaJ.H. Breasted Ancient Records of Egypt part III § 207

Even after the increase without limit, less than two kilos of often stale bread for hard-working quarrymen might seem less than lavish. The menu of the king's messenger was not quite as basic: .... That which he had: good bread, ox-flesh, wine, sweet oil, (olive) oil, fat, honey, figs, [....], fish and vegetables every day.
Silsileh quarry stelaJ.H. Breasted Ancient Records of Egypt part III § 208

Malnutrition was not rare, though the caloric intake may have been sufficient most of the time.


Cooking
The kitchen was often a corner of the courtyard or on the flat roof; at any rate it was open to the air and generally just lightly roofed with branches. Cooking was done in clay ovens as well as over open fires. Wood was burnt as fuel, and sometimes charcoal, even though it was scarce. The quantities of charcoal mentioned in the Harris papyrus or the diary of Medinet Habu were small. It was transported in baskets or sacks. For lighting the fire a special kind of wood was imported from the south. It was very precious and even an important temple such as the one at Karnak was allotted only sixty pieces a month.

The sailor in the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor found it on his island in the Red Sea
"And on the third day I dug a pit and kindled a fire in it on which I made first of all a burnt offering to the gods, and then cooked meat and fish for myself. Food was baked, boiled, stewed, fried, grilled, or roasted. But other than that very little is known about its preparation. They certainly used salt (Hmat) and oil and probably onions, radishes and garlic as well to add flavour to their other foods. The Egyptian names of a few condiments are known - provided they have been identified correctly - eg. cumin [2] (tpnn - tepenen), dill (jms.t - ameset), coriander (Saw - shaw), vinegar (HmD - hemedj) and lettuce seeds [7]. Mustard was also grown in Egypt [3] possibly as early as the Middle Kingdom, [9] cinnamon and rosemary were among Ramses III's gifts to the temples, Pliny the Elder thought the Egyptian wild marjoram superior to cunila. They drank beer or, more rarely, wine and may also have steeped their meat and fish in them. For sweeteners they used honey, syrup made of unfermented grape juice, and fruit such as raisins, dates, figs, carob and the like. The root of the chuba, a plant growing in the marshes of the Delta, also had a nice sweet

Utensils
What is known about kitchen utensils and equipment stems from the items that have been found in tombs. Storage jars, bowls, pots, pans, ladles, sieves, and whisks were all used in the preparation of food. The kitchen tables on which the meat and fish were cut up had three or four legs, but most preparations were made with the dishes on the floor and the cooks crouching or sitting on the ground beside them.
Most of the commoners used dishes that were made of clay, while the tableware of the wealthy was often made of bronze, silver, and gold. The food was eaten with the tips of the fingers and the diners cleaned their hands in little water bowls at the end of the repast.

DBQ's Egypt

Name:______________________ Date:____/_____/_____
Document 1.
" The basic Egyptian meal was beer, bread, and onions, which the peasants ate daily, probably as a morning meal before they left to work in the fields or on works commanded by the pharaohs. Another simple meal would be eaten in the cool of the evening, probably boiled vegetables, bread, and beer; possibly wild fowl...The wealthy would expect to eat two or three meals a day comprising vegetables, wild fowl, fish, eggs, and beef. Butter, milk, and cheese were also easily obtainable. Dessert would consisted of fruit--grapes, figs, dates, and watermelons. In a Saqqara tomb of the Second Dynasty, a full meal was found that had been laid out for an unnamed noble. It included pottery and alabaster dishes containing a porridge of ground barley, a spit-roasted quail, two cooked lamb's kidney's, pigeon casserole, stewed dish, barbecued beef ribs, triangular loaves of bread made from ground emmer, small round cakes, a dish of stewed figs, a plate of sidder berries, and cheese, all accompanied by jars that had once contained wine and beer. In the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians are around a small table a few inches high, using their fingers to eat. Normally dishes were placed in the center of the table, and each person sitting around dipped bread or a spoon into it. The lower classes continued this form of eating in the New Kingdom, but the upper classes then preferred to sit on tall cushioned chairs. Servants brought around water in small bowls to that guests could wash their hands before and during the meal."---Food in the Ancient World, Joan P. Alcock [Greenwood Press:Westport CT] 2005 (p. 181-2)
What were the main ingredients in the Egyptian diet?


What was the everyday meal of the average Egyptian?


How did the Ancient Egyptians eat their meals?


Document 2
The sailor in the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor found it on his island in the Red Sea "And on the third day I dug a pit and kindled a fire in it on which I made first of all a burnt offering to the gods, and then cooked meat and fish for myself. Food was baked, boiled, stewed, fried, grilled, or roasted. But other than that very little is known about its preparation. They certainly used salt (Hmat) and oil and probably onions, radishes and garlic as well to add flavor to their other foods. The Egyptian names of a few condiments are known - provided they have been identified correctly - eg. cumin [2] (tpnn - tepenen), dill (jms.t - ameset), coriander (Saw - shaw), vinegar (HmD - hemedj) and lettuce seeds [7]. Mustard was also grown in Egypt [3] possibly as early as the Middle Kingdom, [9] cinnamon and rosemary were among Ramses III's gifts to the temples, Pliny the Elder thought the Egyptian wild marjoram superior to cunila. They drank beer or, more rarely, wine and may also have steeped their meat and fish in them. For sweeteners they used honey, syrup made of unfermented grape juice, and fruit such as raisins, dates, figs, carob and the like. The root of the chuba, a plant growing in the marshes of the Delta.

1. What did the Egyptian use to sweeten their food?

2. What herbs were used by the Egyptians?

3. What were the major vegetables of the Egyptians?

HW# 6-2

WRITING ACTIVITY Select an
Egyptian invention or achievement. Write a paragraph
about how your selected achievement changed the
Egyptians’ life

Egypt DBQ's

Name:______________________ Date:____/_____/_____
Document 1.
" The basic Egyptian meal was beer, bread, and onions, which the peasants ate daily, probably as a morning meal before they left to work in the fields or on works commanded by the pharaohs. Another simple meal would be eaten in the cool of the evening, probably boiled vegetables, bread, and beer; possibly wild fowl...The wealthy would expect to eat two or three meals a day comprising vegetables, wild fowl, fish, eggs, and beef. Butter, milk, and cheese were also easily obtainable. Dessert would consisted of fruit--grapes, figs, dates, and watermelons. In a Saqqara tomb of the Second Dynasty, a full meal was found that had been laid out for an unnamed noble. It included pottery and alabaster dishes containing a porridge of ground barley, a spit-roasted quail, two cooked lamb's kidney's, pigeon casserole, stewed dish, barbecued beef ribs, triangular loaves of bread made from ground emmer, small round cakes, a dish of stewed figs, a plate of sidder berries, and cheese, all accompanied by jars that had once contained wine and beer. In the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians are around a small table a few inches high, using their fingers to eat. Normally dishes were placed in the center of the table, and each person sitting around dipped bread or a spoon into it. The lower classes continued this form of eating in the New Kingdom, but the upper classes then preferred to sit on tall cushioned chairs. Servants brought around water in small bowls to that guests could wash their hands before and during the meal."---Food in the Ancient World, Joan P. Alcock [Greenwood Press:Westport CT] 2005 (p. 181-2)
What were the main ingredients in the Egyptian diet?


What was the everyday meal of the average Egyptian?


How did the Ancient Egyptians eat their meals?


Document 2
The sailor in the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor found it on his island in the Red Sea "And on the third day I dug a pit and kindled a fire in it on which I made first of all a burnt offering to the gods, and then cooked meat and fish for myself. Food was baked, boiled, stewed, fried, grilled, or roasted. But other than that very little is known about its preparation. They certainly used salt (Hmat) and oil and probably onions, radishes and garlic as well to add flavor to their other foods. The Egyptian names of a few condiments are known - provided they have been identified correctly - eg. cumin [2] (tpnn - tepenen), dill (jms.t - ameset), coriander (Saw - shaw), vinegar (HmD - hemedj) and lettuce seeds [7]. Mustard was also grown in Egypt [3] possibly as early as the Middle Kingdom, [9] cinnamon and rosemary were among Ramses III's gifts to the temples, Pliny the Elder thought the Egyptian wild marjoram superior to cunila. They drank beer or, more rarely, wine and may also have steeped their meat and fish in them. For sweeteners they used honey, syrup made of unfermented grape juice, and fruit such as raisins, dates, figs, carob and the like. The root of the chuba, a plant growing in the marshes of the Delta.

1. What did the Egyptian use to sweeten their food?

2. What herbs were used by the Egyptians?

3. What were the major vegetables of the Egyptians?