?What was on the dining table of ancient Egyptians
The civilization of ancient Egypt was not just a building civilization whose mention was associated with the architectural edifices it left behind that were built thousands of years ago, or the tombs of kings and nobles that contained sculptures, drawings, literary creations, or funerary texts. Rather, it was a life whose details were formulated by its creators, without forgetting everything that helped them in forming this entity. Even food and drink habits occupied a prominent place in their faith and thought.
The fertile soil and abundance of river water in the land of Egypt helped its inhabitants to grow many food crops. They also contributed to providing a living environment for fish and birds that came from far and wide to this land, creating a diversity of food sources from which ancient Egyptians benefited.
Food held importance in the lives of Egyptians as evidenced by one of the functions of the king himself and the belief that “it is his words that create food.” The Egyptians knew how to grow many vegetables, such as peas, garlic, onions, and lettuce. There are also inscriptions indicating that they knew from early times the cultivation of types of fruits, such as dates, which are a popular fruit for the general population, in addition to figs, grapes, pomegranates, and watermelons. This is what appeared in inscriptions on buildings dating back to the period. The eras of the New Kingdom, according to the division of eras of ancient Egyptian history.
The ancient Egyptian was keen not to go overboard or crave food in order to preserve his health. He also deliberately showed the graceful bodies of both sexes in his inscriptions, artistic sculptures, and literary teachings, as is evident from a text seen by the BBC, written in the teachings of a person called “Kajmni,” translated into French by Claire Lalouette. Professor of Ancient Egyptian Literature at the University of Paris-Sorbonne, in a special study within the UNESCO Models of Global Thought series under the title “Sacred Texts and Profane Texts” of the ancient Egyptian text:
“If you sit with many people to eat, look at the food indifferently, even if you crave it. Self-control does not cost a person more than a moment, and it is a shame for a person to be evil, for a cup of water quenches the crop.”
Al-Masry emphasized the culture of moderation in the will of another person, known as “Khiti bin Dawauf,” to his son, “Bibi,” where he says:
“Be content with your food if three loaves of bread and two mugs of beer are enough for you. If your stomach is not enough, fight it.”
The scarcity of historical sources does not help in providing a detailed description of the Egyptians’ methods of cooking their food at home. However, food can be divided into two parts depending on the environment of its consumption: the food of this world and the food of the afterlife.
The food of the ancient Egyptian in his daily life was not merely to satisfy a state of hunger. Rather, he used some of these foods to formulate medical prescriptions that would help him overcome health problems and diseases, which is evident from the availability of a number of medical papyri that were written specifically for this purpose, the most famous of which is the “Papyrus” "Ebers", named after its discoverer, the German scientist Ebers, in 1862 in the Theban tombs, which date back to 1550 BC during the reign of King Amenhotep I, 18th Dynasty, and it includes hundreds of popular medical recipes, including recipes that used medicinal herbs, aromatic plants, vegetables such as onions, and other plants. Like a cactus.
There are also two papyri of great importance in this field: the “Hurst” papyrus, which dates back to the era of King Amenhotep I, and contains 260 medical prescriptions, and the “Berlin” papyrus, which dates back to the era of King Ramesses II, Dynasty 19, and contains 204. Medical prescriptions, as well as other papyri such as "Edwin Smith" and "Chester Beatty".
In ancient times, the Egyptian used the bounties that his agricultural land yielded, in addition to food, to provide during the celebration of various holidays, which scholars of ancient Egyptian history have divided into “official holidays,” such as the Flood Day, the beginning of the seasons, and the New Year’s Day, and “local holidays,” which are holidays held in Specific Egyptian regions, "religious holidays", such as the great "Opet" festival for the procession of the god Amun, and "agricultural holidays", such as the feasts of the fulfillment of the Nile and Sham El-Nessim, which has been famous for thousands of years until now for eating Foods such as eggs, salted fish, and onions, the feast of plowing the land, and the feast of the goddess “Rennott,” the goddess of the harvest, as well as funeral occasions.
The Egyptian was interested in the great popular religious holiday of Opet, for example, in which the god Amun, the official god of the state according to Egyptian religious beliefs in the eras of the New Kingdom, according to the division of the eras of ancient Egyptian history, moved from his temple in Karnak to the temple of Luxor, and the king was During this popular occasion, sacrifices consisting of meat, birds, fruit, milk, bread, and beer are offered.
An attempt to divide the classes of society in ancient Egypt may help shed light on the eating habits that characterized each class of society.
The food of the simple class of the people, such as the peasants, who were the toiling class in the country and the poorest, depended on the presence of bread, beer, and some simple vegetable foods. As for eating animal meat, these peasants preferred the field and the care of those animals, which helped them in their agricultural work, over They enjoyed eating its meat, so they resorted to what is known as rationalization of consumption for the benefit of their source of livelihood.
As for the middle class, which represents the construction workers and the artisan group, they were somewhat more fortunate compared to the peasants, as their work depended on what is known as the system of distributing daily supplies, in which foods varied between meat and fish in addition to vegetables, and this is indicated by what was revealed by the excavation work. In the tombs of the pyramid construction workers, in the Giza area, where food remains were found, Among them were fish skeletons that were distributed to workers while performing their work tasks
As for the upper class and the nobility, which is the luxurious class in society, the types of food varied between meat, fish, birds, vegetables, and fruits of the finest types, as well as bread, pies, and drinks, especially wine, as evidenced by the inscriptions of the tombs of the state’s nobles throughout the ages, the most prominent of which is an inscription in the tomb of Vizier Ptah. Hehotep, during the reign of King Djedkare in the Fifth Dynasty, sitting in front of an offering table filled with everything delicious, drinking a cup of “pure water” and in front of him servants and priests slaughtering livestock and carrying fresh foods, while there is an upper inscription of maids carrying foods.
"afterlife food"
In ancient times, the Egyptian linked his eating habits and religion, which he had been interested in since his earliest times, as a social phenomenon that every human gathering needed in order to serve the control of his behavior and the rules of his dealings with others in his daily environment. His sense of the presence of supernatural powers behind the phenomena on which his life depended and influenced was a reason behind the diversity of gods. Because each god possesses a hidden power that exceeds the ability of man, he made sure to offer special foods to these gods in the form of offerings in order to appease them and hope that they would protect him from the evils of life.
The functions of these gods were multiple in the Egyptian theological system, and some of them were associated with different types of food, such as the god “Nebri,” whom the Egyptians took as the lord of wheat, the main crop in the country, and the goddess “Rennutet,” the goddess of the harvest and the mistress of the fields, and the god “Shesmu,” the lord of wine. The goddess Hatem-Het is the goddess of fish resources. Along with the god Habi, the god of the Nile and the flood, the symbol of all giving to good things in this country
The Egyptians used to offer food offerings to the gods in the temples, and it was a periodic, almost daily worship, consisting of bread, fruits, and meat, which were basic foods that the priests and temple workers relied on. Purification was required while offering these food offerings, as indicated by a text dating back to the Old Kingdom era. :
“Everyone who enters here must be pure, and purify himself just as he is purified when he enters the temple of the great god.”
The ancient Egyptians believed that gods, like humans, needed food and drink, so among their religious rituals was offering sacrifices on almost fixed dates in front of the symbol of this god, or holding funeral feasts to please him during the burial ceremonies of a deceased person and his transition to the other world, as they are feasts held at the time of death and in front of his grave. , Full of food, drinking vessels, and all kinds of flowers.
Details recorded by some inscriptions dating back to the era of the New Kingdom, according to the division of the eras of ancient Egyptian history, indicate the details of this day, when the family of the deceased wore the best clothes and carried vessels of wine during the burial ceremonies of the deceased from the rich class, while the poor class resorted to simplifying those days. The ceremony was carried out as much as possible in a way that was appropriate to her social level.
A text from the introduction to Chapter 99 of the book “Going Out into the Day,” known metaphorically as the Book of the Dead among the ancient Egyptians, embodies an image of life in the other world and its nutritional bliss. The BBC reviewed it in the French translation provided by the scientist Paul Barget, professor of Arts and Humanities. University of Lyon, for the ancient Egyptian text:
“If the deceased becomes aware of this chapter (spell), he will be able to go out to the fields of the jungle, and they will offer him sweets, a pitcher of beer, and bread from the altar of the great god, and the fields and fields full of wheat and barley, and the followers of Horus will harvest them for him, and he will eat from this barley and wheat, and his organs will be nourished, These organs will be like those of the gods.”
The ancient Egyptian believed that the dead person was resurrected in his grave after his death and carried out his activities again with the same needs he had when he was alive on the face of the earth. Food and drink were an important part of the funerary belongings that were placed next to the dead person, because without them he would not regain his life after death in the other world, according to thought. Egyptian ideologue.
The ancient Egyptian civilization lived over a period of time for more than three thousand years, and despite all the religious, political and social fluctuations that befell it, as well as the changes that occurred to it historically, this civilization lived within the framework of its basic identity, and with the same general tendency, after the Egyptian succeeded The ancients expressed their daily and intellectual life in pursuit of eternity and conquering death, using the finest and most effective means of artistic expression.
The great French scholar, François Dumas, said about the civilization of ancient Egypt, “The ultimate goal of writing the history of Egypt’s civilization is to work to bring the spirit of those who created it closer together, and to reach the center from which social, literary, and artistic innovations began, for a world that still dazzles with its successes and splendor, even if it has disappeared for more than a year.” Two thousand years ago.
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