These ancient Egyptian customs will leave you with your mouth open, since this distant and ancient culture had some of the most curious customs in history of humanity. That may be why we are so fascinated today by anything that comes from that era of time when pyramids were built, the Nile was sailed, and the pharaohs lived a soap opera life.
However, these Ancient Egyptian customs are not great things or facts, but rather small moments that serve to illustrate and be even more amazed, if possible, by a culture that may be exotic and strange, but perhaps precisely for that reason, fascinating and wonderful. Learn, in this article, the most curious customs of this town. Most of them have a logical explanation behind them that can even be more surprising.
30 Very Curious Ancient Egyptian Customs
1. In Ancient Egypt, marriage was considered bureaucratic, a procedure to share forces and improve survival. For that reason, divorce was not something strange, nor was remarriage.
2. The flies were so annoying that some pharaohs had slaves covered in honey at their disposal to ward off these annoying animals.
3. Another problem with infestation of unwanted animals was related to lice. There were so many that The Ancient Egyptians were forced to wear a very peculiar hair style: shave clean, and in some cases, wear a wig.
4. The diet of the ancient Egyptians consisted, surprisingly, of lots of carbohydrates (like wheat), plants and very little meat and fish.
5. Although there was some equality between genders, Women of the time were not free from some unpleasant customs of men. For example, when going by boat, it was not unusual for them to have to put up with men doing exhibitionism.
6. The Egyptians wore makeup and had a very curious relationship with this, since they considered that it had healing properties. Plus, they used it as sunscreen at first!
7. One of the best customs of Ancient Egypt was to immortalize their doctors (In addition, Egyptian medicine was one of the most advanced medicines of the time) through art, since it was a very egalitarian culture.
8. The Ancient Egyptians had customs that seem to be the opposite of the rest of the worldFor example, they kneaded food with their feet but handled clay and dung with their hands.
9. Egyptian contraceptives were uncomfortable and unhygienic. They believed they could avoid getting pregnant if they filled themselves with leaves and crocodile poop. On the other hand, they were convinced that they could avoid pregnancy if they rubbed onion juice on their foreskin.
10. The workers who built the buildings (such as the pyramids) of Ancient Egypt had a great sense of humorsince they signed their works with informal “graffiti”, such as that of “Menkaure’s drunk gang”.
eleven. When doing other tasks such as eating and relieving yourselfEgyptians used to eat outside, on the street, and go to the bathroom inside the house.
12. Ancient cultures, and not just the Egyptian one, did not live in a bubble, but very surprising commercial exchanges took place. For example, some blue glass beads that came from Egypt arrived in Denmark, while products from the north, such as amber, arrived in Egypt.
13. Some unscrupulous embalmers had no qualms about practicing necrophilia the corpses of beautiful or powerful women, which arose the rule of allowing women’s bodies to decompose for three or four days before being embalmed.
14. Another of the most surprising customs of Ancient Egypt is the care that the gods received. (or what is the same, their statues). An army of priests were in charge of offering them food, drink, gifts and even clean clothes every day.
fifteen. It was common in ancient Egyptian times to believe that the Earth was flat.circular and that the Nile passed right through the middle (this anthropocentric vision of things is common in many cultures).
16. Due to a high-fat diet and regular sumptuous banquets, the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt were very fat.something that has not been revealed through the murals in which they were painted.
17. As in those times survival was rare and valuable, since many children and mothers died during childbirth, The Egyptians used to keep images of protective godslike Bastet, and other amulets to ward off evil spirits.
18. One of the curious customs of Ancient Egypt is the care that the Egyptians took of their hair. Thus, the wealthiest citizens wore wigs, the poor grew their hair long and the pharaoh never showed it and always wore a diadem.
19. During mummification, The brain of the deceased was removed by splitting the nasal septum and removing the brain through the nose. with some kind of tweezers.
twenty. Another of the most eschatological customs of Ancient Egypt is their penchant for laxatives.which they took up to three times a month, and which were considered to cure everything, even diarrhea!
21. Maybe because of the heat, In Ancient Egypt, children did not wear any clothes until they were teenagers.. Additionally, they wore their hair in a long ponytail to avoid lice.
22. Other curious customs of Ancient Egypt regarding mummification are the fact that all the organs of the deceased were removed. and they were kept in a jar, except for the heart, which was where the soul was believed to reside.
23. To determine the fertility of women, the Egyptians practiced some very unpleasant methods, like asking them to put an onion or a head of garlic into their vagina and smell their breath the next day. If they could smell garlic or onion, the woman was fertile.
24. Herodotus, the Greek chronicler, was responsible for starting one of the oldest hoaxes in history: that those who built the pyramids were slaves, when they were paid workers.
25. The soil of the workers of Ancient Egypt was most curious: a barrel of beer for each day of work.
26. The conditions of those times were, in some aspects, so horrible and bathed in lack of culture that it was even believed that it was good to urinate blood., especially in men. It was believed that this was his menstruation!
27. Another of the best-known customs of ancient Egypt is the adoration that these people professed to their cats.but what you may not know is that they plucked their eyebrows to show their mourning when one of these animals died.
28. The Egyptians probably didn’t have a good day when they invented pillows.since these were made of stone!
29. Since the Egyptians valued life after death so much, one of the most deeply rooted ancient Egyptian customs involved building houses with perishable materials such as clay, while “eternal dwellings”, such as tombs, were built from more durable materials.
30. Finally, Children did not receive school education, although they were educated in the familywhich transmitted its values to them and taught them to survive by imitating the tasks carried out by their elders.
As you can see, the customs of Ancient Egypt are fascinating and will surely make you even more interested in this culture. Tell us, did you like this list? Do you know anything else about the customs of this town that we have forgotten to mention? Remember that you can leave us a comment, we will be happy to read you!