Key Features and Innovations
Page by: Elaine
Advancements in Medical Skills
The Egyptians learned a lot about the human body from mummification/embalming. This new knowledge of the body helped them to develop basic medical skills that we still use frequently today. Egyptian doctors sewed up cuts and set broken bones. They were the first to use splints, bandages, and compresses. Egyptians had also wrote down medical information on papyrus scrolls. These egyptian records are known as the world's first medical books.
Egyptian Society Organization
The Egyptians were the first to ever use bandages
The roles of the people in ancient Egypt were based on their social status, or position in their society. The highest social position would have been the king or pharaoh and his family, followed by a small upper class of army commanders, nobles, and priests. The priests served as government officials and supervised Egyptians who worked as clerks and scribes. Traders, artisans, and scribes made up the middle class. The lowest class but largest group in the Egyptian society was made up of farmers and unskilled workers. Although these workers were the lowest in Egyptian society, they still had chances to improve their position.
Look at the diagram to the right to get a better picture of Egyptian social status.
Who Would I Be?
If I were to be any person on the Egyptian social structure, I would be an artisan. This job would suit me because My work would be there for years to come. For example, Egyptian sculptures, art in temples, paintings, pottery, and much more are still standing after thousands of years. Pros to this job are that you are on the middle class, which is just above farmers and unskilled workers, but below priests and pharaohs. The middle class is a good position to be in, because there is not as much pressure. There is a popular saying that goes like, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Egyptians in the upper class (especially the pharaoh) had all the power, responsibility, and pressure. However, the lower class means that no one has any respect for you. You are forced to work under the blazing sun. Cons to being an artisan is that sometimes you work for ten hours straight, you often go hungry, and you’re viewed as common laborers.
Egyptians invented papyrus, where they would write and draw on
Scribes
Unlike the Mesopotamians, the Egyptian scribes did not use clay tablets to write. They believed clay was too heavy and hard to store. Instead, they used papyrus, which is a plant that only grows in Egypt to make a paper-like sheet. Few ancient Egyptians could read and write hieroglyphics, so the job of being a scribe was not common. Some Egyptian men, however, attended special schools to prepare for careers as scribes in government or business. This job was very important because they would record everything down from every day. without their records, we wouldn't be able to know most of our information about ancient Egypt.
Egyptian Technological Advances
1. Toothpaste
The Egyptians had a lot of trouble with their teeth, most likely because their bread had grit and sand in it, which wore out their enamel. Although they didn't have dentists as part of their job specialization, they did make some effort to keep their teeth clean. the Egyptians contributed an innovation to dental hygiene, in the form of toothpaste. Along with the Babylonians, they're also credited with inventing the first toothbrushes, which were frayed ends of wooden twigs. These advances are still being used very commonly today.
2. Papyrus Sheets
No one can deny that the Chinese changed the world forever with the invention of paper around 140 B.C., but what many people don't know is that the Egyptians had developed a paper-like pproduct thousands of years earlier from the papyrus plant [source: UCLA]. This stiff, reedlike plant grew, and continues to grow in the marshy areas along the Nile River.
3. The Calendar
Many of us would be lost in time without a calendar to help us remember things like appointments and important meetings. However, Without a calendar in ancient Egypt, the ancient Egyptians would have had no way of knowing when the annual flooding of the Nile would begin. Without that knowledge, their entire agricultural system would be put at risk. Without good agriculture, there would be no surplusses which lead to a big population, then leading to job specialization, finally resulting in goverment.
4. Breath Mints
The next time you approach the counter at QFC for Mentos or Ice Breakers or Tic Tacs, you should thank the ancient Egyptians for figuring out a way to conceal the unpleasant aromas our mouths exhale. Unlike us, the Egyptians didn't gorge on sugary soft drinks, candies and foods that contribute to tooth decay, but the stones they used to grind flour for bread gave a lot of sand and grit to their diet, which wore down their teeth, making it vulnerable to infection.
The Egyptians had specialists for many medical problems, but unfortunately, they didn't have dentists or oral surgeons to fix their rotting teeth and gums. Instead, the Egyptians simply just suffered.
5. Ink
One of the inventions in Egypt was, surprisingly, black ink. The Egyptian people were very talented at creating not only black ink, but many multi-colored types of ink and dye. They used these inks to paint on temples and papyrus. These colorful and non-colorful masterpieces still exist today!
Like in Mesopotamia, the Egyptians also developed their own writing system. They called this alphabet hieroglyphics
This is an image of a shadoof. A shadoof is a pole with a bucket and counterweight used especially in ancient Egypt for raising water.
Egyptians invented ox-drawn plows to help with farming
"Welcome to our website" in heiroglyphics!