Life in ancient Egypt and Assyria

Preface

This will not be an unbroken history of the ancient Oriental dynasties and nations : the order of events, the lines of the kings, the movements and invasions of the peoples may be found fully related in my Ancient History, or in its abridged edition by Van den Berg. I only wish to give the readers of this book some impression of life under its various phases amongst the two most civilised nations which flourished upon our earth before the Greeks. I have chosen for each of them the epoch we know the best, and of which we possess the greatest number of monuments : for Egypt, that of Rameses II. (fourteenth century B.C.) ; for Assyria, that of Assurbanipal (seventh century). I have acted like those conscientious travellers who do not like to enter a new country without some preparation, who study its customs and language before they start ; then I journeyed — or at least I believed so — two or three thousand years back, away from our present era. Once there, I looked round and endeavoured to see as well and as much as possible. I walked through the streets of the city, glanced through the half-opened doors, peered into the shops, noted down the remarks of the populace that I chanced to

VI PREFACE.

overhear. Some famished masons went on strike : I followed them to the house of the Count of Thebes to see what happened. A funeral passed with a great clamour: I accompanied the dead man to his tomb, and learnt the chances of life granted to him in the other world. A marriage was being celebrated : I took advantage of the facility with which Orientals open their houses upon festival days to be present, at a distance, during the reading of the contract. When Pharaoh or the King of Nineveh passed by, I joined the loungers that followed him. to the temple, the palace, or the hunting- field ; where custom and etiquette prevented me from entering, I penetrated in the spirit by conversations or by the texts. I have read upon a clay cylinder the prayer which Assurbanipal addressed to Ishtar in an hour of anguish ; an important and loquacious £3ribe has related to me the travels of an Egyptian soldier in Syria ; twenty bas-reliefs have enabled me to be present, without personal danger, at the wars of the ancient world ; at the recruitment of its armies, at their marches, their evolutions ; have shown me by what energetic efforts Rameses II. triumphed over the Khita, and how an Assyrian general prepared to attack a city.

I have reproduced in Assyria the majority of the scenes described in Egypt ; the reader, by comparing them together, will easily realise upon what points the civilisations of the two countries were alike, and in what respects they differed. The illustrations which accompany the text render this difference visible to all eyes. There are a great many of them, but I would have added to their number if I could. Our scholars, and even their professors, are sometimes much em-

PREFACE. VU

barrassed when they wish to picture to themselves one of these ancient men whose history we are relating, how he dressed, what he ate, the trades and arts which he practised. These drawings by M. Faucher-Gudin will teach them more on these points than any long description. They have been executed with remarkable fidelity ; it is the Egyptian and the Assyrian himself that they show us, and not those caricatures of Egyptians and Assyrians which are too often seen in our books.

G. Maspero.

Contents

EGYPT.

CHIP.

I. THEBES AND THE POPULAR LIFE .

Chapter I. Thebes And The Popular Life

The suburbs — The mud houses — Brick-making and the construction of houses — The furniture of the poor — Thieves and the urban police — The family: the man and the handicrafts — The scribe and his chances of fortune — The administrative formulas — The woman and her household: water, bread, fuel — The children at home and at school : their respect for the mother.

Those parts of Thebes which extend over the banks of the Nile between Luxor and Karnak present the dull, sordid aspect which, as a rule, belongs to the suburbs of a great city. They are not regularly formed districts, so much as a collection of grey huts, joined, together at every imaginable angle. Narrow, crooked paths wind amongst them, as though left there by chance, broken at intervals, by a muddy pool, from which the cattle drink and the women draw water (Fig. 1) ; by an irregular square shaded by acacias or sycamores ; by a piece of waste land encumbered by filth, for which the dogs of the neighbourhood dispute with hawks and vultures. Most of the houses are miserably built of earth or unbaked bricks, covered with a layer of mud. The poorest of them consist of a 2

THEBES AND THE POPULAR LIFE.

simple square cell, sometimes of two little rooms opening directly into each other, or separated by a small court. They are covered by a thin roof of palm-leaves placed side by side, which is so low that a man of medium height, rising incautiously, would pierce it with a blow from his head. The richer inhabitants have a solidly built ground- floor, surmounted by a terrace and two or three rooms, reached by a staircase placed against the wall of the court. The small, dark rooms below are used as stables for the cattle, sleeping- rooms for the slaves, and storerooms for the clothes and

Fig. 1.— The Pool of Luxor.

household provisions ; the family live in the upper story. The roofs and floors are made of the trunks of palm-trees, simply split in two lengthwise and laid side by side, a bed of beaten earth being then spread over them.

Rain is rare in Upper Egypt, but once or twice in a century the heaven opens its cataracts, and absolute waterspouts pour for eight or ten hours upon the plain of Thebes. The slightly thatched roofs are perforated and broken in a few minutes, the terraces give way and fall into the lower story, the walls become diluted and flow away in muddy rivulets ;

THEBES AND THE POPULAR LIFE. d

where populous districts were seen in the morning, uneven heaps of black paste are found in the evening, with broken beams and pieces of half-melted walls projecting here and there from the mud. Elsewhere such a catastrophe would entail utter ruin ; here one or two weeks of labour suffice to repair it all. As soon as the rain has ceased, the whole population — men, women, and children — exert themselves, and hasten to draw from the rubbish the wood, provisions, and utensils that have resisted the inundation, then from the diluted mud of the old buildings they make new huts, which the sun quickly dries and cracks in all directions. Two days later no traces of the accident remain.

Fig. 2. — Brick making.

A little more time and labour are required to rebuild the houses of the better classes. Two or three labourers go down into the nearest pool, and collect pailsful of mud from the bottom, heap it upon the bank, knead it, mix it with gravel and finely chopped straw, and press it into wooden moulds, which an assistant carries away and empties out into the sunshine. In a few hours the bricks are ready for use, and the building is commenced (Fig. 2). No one thinks of clearing the ground or of digging foundations ; the people are satisfied with levelling the rubbish, and placing the first bricks loosely upon the kind of bed they have thus prepared. A fortnight later the ground-floor is closed and roofed in,, the family re-enter the dwelling with their cattle, and live in it whilst the upper story is being completed. The new house is exactly like the old one, only it is built upon a higher level. Whenever an accident forces the landowners to rebuild their houses, the soil is raised several feet, and the district, as though upheaved by a perpetual movement, rises above the level of the surrounding plain. At the end of some centuries it is perched upon a regular mound, which contains the accumulated remains of all the former buildings.

There is no furniture, or at least very little, in the homes of the smaller folk. No seats or beds, but a few very low stools, some mats of rush or of fibres of the palm, with curved edges, provided with sharp prickles to keep off the scorpions and protect the sleepers from their attacks ; one or two wooden chests for the linen ; some large flat stones for grinding the corn ; in one corner a bin made of beaten earth, which contains the corn, oil, and provisions ; some tin pots, saucepans, and bowls ; lastly, against one of the walls stands a small figure of a god, in enamelled stone, wood, or bronze — a kind of domestic fetish, to which a short worship is offered, and which drives away evil spirits or venomous beasts. The hearth is usually placed near the back wall; a hole is left in the roof just above it, through which the smoke escapes. It is a serious business to procure fire if no one in the neighbourhood has a light or will give one ; it is then necessary to strike two pieces of flint together until a spark is obtained, which sets light to a heap of dry leaves or fibres prepared beforehand. The women, therefore, always leave some fuel smouldering beneath the ashes, which can be easily fanned by the hand or revived by the breath. The fire is regularly extinguished once in every year, upon the Feast of the Dead, or again when any member of the family dies ; the new flame is then kindled by means of a spark from the sacred fire, borrowed from

THEBES Aa.O THE POPULAR LIFE. O

the nearest temple. Furniture, utensils, linen, provisions, tools, everything that the house contains, is of so little value that most people leave the door open night and day, even if they absent themselves for a long time : their poverty defies theft. Those who have something to lose guard their properly by large wooden locks and bolts, which they secure by a little mud, sealed with a stamp. To break a seal is a crime severely punished, but fear of the punishment does not always keep evildoers away. On the first of the last Epiphi, Nsisouamon was robbed by a band of thieves who are still undetected, but he suspects that ihey came from the workyard of the master-mason, Nakhtmout. They entered his house whilst be was at his business, and took from it two large household loaves, as well as three votive cakes, which were piled in a corner; then perceiving the flasks of scented oil, which they could not easily dispose of, they broke them, pouring the contents out upon the floor from pure malice. They then attacked the bin, and took two pots of the fruit of the jujube- tree. When Nsisouamon returned home in the evening he discovered the theft, made a formal complaint, and left it to the police to detect and punish the culprits. But he reckoned, so they say, without his host. The captain of the Libyan soldiers, the Maaziou, who is entrusted with the supervision of the district, has married Nakhtmout's sister and feels no inclination to quarrel with his brother-in-law. The robbers, sure of their impunity, determined to punish Nsisouamon for having dared to complain. The 13th Epiphi is a day of solemn festival in honour of the deceased Pharaoh, Amenophis III. ; the workshops were closed, the shops shut, the workpeople had a general holiday, and Nsisouamon took advantage of his leisure to pass the afternoon with his father. The scoundrels entered his shop and stole three great loaves, eight cakes, and a plateful of macaroons ; they then poured the palm brandy intotha beer tomake it turn sour.

THEBES AND THE POPULAR LIFE.

The poor man is ruined, and heaven only knows what would have become of him if his masters had not come to his assistance, and out of their own money refunded to him all that he had lost.

Although polygamy is authorised by law, the men of the lower classes and the small tradespeople have only one wife, who is frequently their own sister or one of their nearest relations. The family is very united, but the husband rarely stays at home during the day ; his trade necessitates his absence. He leaves very early in the morning, at sunrise, barefooted, bareheaded, or merely wearing an old felt cap which tightly fits his skull, his only garment a pair of cotton drawers which scarcely fall below his hips (Fig. 3). He carries his food with him — two cakes of dhoura, baked under the ashes, one or two onions, sometimes a little oil in which to dip his bread, sometimes a morsel of dried fish. Towards noon the work stops for an hour or two, which is used for eating and sleeping ; it ceases entirely Fig. 3.— Man of the at SUnset. Each trade has its disadvantages, which the poet enumerates in the following lines : — ' I have seen the blacksmith at his work in the heat of his forge ; he has the fingers of a crocodile^ and is black as fishspawn. The artisans of all kinds that handle the chisel, have they more rest than the peasant ? Their fields are the wood they shape, their profession is the metal ; even in the night they are called, and they work again after their labour of the day ; even in the night their house is lighted up and they are awake. The stonemason seeks his work in every kind of hard stone. When he has completed his orders and his hands are tired, does he rest ? He must be in the workyard at sunrise, even if his knees and spine break with his toil. The barber shaves even in the night ; to be able to eat, to be able to lie down, he must go from district to district searching for customers ; he must overwork himself, as well as his two hands, to fill his belly : thus the honey is eaten only by those who make it. The dyer, his fingers stink with the odour of decayed fish, his two eyes ache with weariness, his hand never ceases renewing pieces of stuff, until he detests the sight of stuff. The shoemaker is very miserable, and is for ever complaining ; his health is like that of a dead fish, and he has nothing to eat but his leather.'

The wages, so laboriously earned, just suffice to maintain the family. They are usually paid in kind — a few bushels of corn, measured by a parsimonious hand, a few measures of oil, some salt provisions, and, on festival days, one or two jars of wine or beer. The overseers bear a stick as their insignia, and use it freely. ' Man has a back/ says the proverb, ' and only obeys when it is beaten/ It was the stick that built the Pyramids, dug out the canals, won victories for the conquering Pharaohs ; it is now building the temple of Amen, and aids the artisans of every trade to manufacture the linen, jewels, and valuable furniture which constitute the wealth of Egypt, and for which foreigners compete at high prices in the markets of Asia, Africa, and distant Europe. It has, therefore, entered so completely into the daily life of the people, that it is looked upon as an inevitable evil. Small and great, all are equal before it, from Pharaoh's minister to the least of his slaves ; and it is a phenomenon worthy of admiration and of quotation in an epitaph, if any one, even of the nobility, have lived all the years of his life ' without being once beaten before a magistrate ' (Fig. 4). The workman, resigned beforehand, patiently labours under the rod that threatens him, with intelligence, even with gaiety. His mind is naturally lively and his repartee quick ; he instinctively seizes the pleasant side of things, and knows

THEBES AND THE POPULAR LIFE.

how to give a piquant turn to his slightest witticisms. The smallest incident in the day's work — an awkward apprentice cutting his finger, a comrade sleeping over his task whom the overseer lashes to awaken him, an ass suddenly braying in the quiet street outside — anything serves as a pretext for amusement : laughter breaks the silence, then tongues chatter, scoffs and merry jokes pass round, the stick vainly interferes, at least an hour elapses before quiet is re-established.

The writer, the scribe, escapes these discomforts, at least so he boasts. ' There is nothing like being a rxucKsv.^^1"'

Fig -4. — The Bastiuado.

scribe/ the wise say ; ' the scribe gets all that is upon the earth.' But we must not be dazzled by this assertion, or always expect those who boast of learning to be skilful authors in verse or prose — wealthy, influential personages. 1$g doubt there are some scribes of very high rank. Prince Amenhiounamif, the eldest son of Pharaoh, the designated successor to the throne, and his brothers are all scribes. Nakhtminou, the hereditary lord of Akhmim, is a scribe ; so is also Baknikhonsou, the high priest of Theban Amen, and the greatest religious dignitary of the kingdom. But so are Thotimhabi, whom the architect Amenmosou employs to register the workmen in the building-yard every morning ; Hori, who passes his days in counting heads of cattle and entering the numbers in his books ; Ramisou, the keeper of the accounts to the mastercarpenter Tinro ; Nofirronpit, who runs about drawing up petitions or writing notes for illiterate people who require such aid — these are all scribes, and they bear the same title as the son of the sovereign or the most powerful barons of the kingdom. The scribe is simply a man who knows how to read and write, to draw up administrative formulas, and to calculate interest. The instruction which he has received is a necessary complement of his position if he belongs to a good family, whilst if he be poor it enables him to obtain a lucrative situation in the administrarion or at the house of a wealthy personage.

There is, therefore, no sacrifice which the smaller folk deem too great, if it enables them to give their sons the acquirement!: which may raise them above the common people, or at least ensure a less miserable fate. If one of them, in his infancy, displays any intelligence, they send him, when about six or eight years old, to the district school, where an old pedagogue teaches him the rudiments of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Towards ten or twelve years old, they withdraw him from the care of this first teacher and apprentice him to a scribe in some office, who undertakes to make him a learned scribe. The child accompanies his master to the office or workyard, and there passes entire months in copying letters, circulars, legal documents, or accounts, which he does not at first understand, but which he faithfully remembers. There are books for his use full of copies taken from well-known authors, which he studies perpetually. If he requires a brief, precise report, this is how Ennana worded one of his : — ' I reached Elephantine, and accomplished my mission. I reviewed the infantry and the chariot soldiers from the temples, as well as the servants and subordinates who are in the houses of Pharaoh's 1. h. s.* officials. As my journey is for the purpose of making* a report in the presence of his Majesty, 1. h. s., the course of my business is as rapid as that of the Nile ; you need not, therefore, feel anxious about me.' There is not a superfluous word. If, on the other hand, a petition in a poetical style be required, see how Pentoirit asked for a holiday. * My heart has left me, it is travelling and does not know how to return, it sees Memphis and hastens there. Would that I were in its place. I remain here, busy following my heart, which endeavours to draw me towards Memphis. I have no work in hand, my heart is tormented. May it please the god Ptah to lead me to Memphis, and do thou grant that I may be seen walking there. I am at leisure, my heart is watching, my heart is no longer in my bosom, languor has seized my limbs ; my eye is dim, my ear hardened, my voice feeble, it is a failure of all my strength. I pray thee remedy all this/

The pupil copies and recopies, the master inserts forgotten words, corrects the faults of spelling, and draws on the margin the signs or groups unskilfully traced. When the book is duly finished and the apprentice can write all the formulas from memory, portions of phrases are detached from them, which he must join together, so as to combine new formulas; the master then entrusts him with the composition of a few letters, gradually increasing the number and adding to the difficulties. As soon as he has fairly mastered the ordinary daily routine his education is ended, and an unimportant post is sought for. He obtains it and then marries, becoming the head of a family, sometimes before he is twenty years old ; he has no further ambition, but is content to vegetate quietly in the ob-

* L. h. s. is the abbreviation of the words life, health, strength (in Egyptian, onkhou, ouza, sonbou), always placed as a wish after the name and titles of Pharaoh,

THEBES AND THE POPULAR LIFE.

scure circle where fate has thrown him. His children will follow in the path that he has traced for them, and their children after them ; in certain administrations there are whole dynasties of scribes, the members of one family having succeeded to the same posts for a century or more. Sometimes one of them, more intelligent or more ambitious than the others, makes an effort to rise above the usual mediocrity ; his good writing, happy choice of words, activity, obligingness, and honesty — perhaps, on the other hand, his prudent dishonesty — attract the attention of his superiors and secure his advancement. Cases have been seen of the son of a peasant or of a poor citizen, commencing by booking the delivery of bread or vegetables in some provincial office, and ending, after a long and industrious career, by governing one half of Egypt. The rooms of his barns overflow with corn ; his storehouses are full of gold, valuable stuffs, and precious vases; his stable ' multiplies the backs ' of his oxen, and the son of his first protector dare only approach him with bis face bent to the ground, dragging himself upon his knees.

The Egyptian woman of the lower and middle classes is more respected and more independent than any other woman in the world. As a daughter, she inherits from her parents an equal share with her brothers ; as a wife, she is the real mistress of the house, nibit pi, her husband being, so to speak, merely her privileged guest. She goes and comes as she likes, talks to whom she pleases without any one being able to question her actions, goes amongst men with an uncovered face, a rule quite opposed to the habits of the Syrian women, who are always more of tte P^o l™^ or less strictly veiled. She is dressed

THEBES AND THE POPULAR LIFE.

in a short smock-frock, very narrow and clinging to her body ; it only reaches her ankles and leaves the upper part of the bosom uncovered, being held in place by braces over the shoulders (Fig. 5). The forehead, chin, and breasts are covered with delicate and indelible tattooing, the lips are rouged, the eyes surrounded by a black band, which is lengthened on the temples almost to the hair. The powder used for this adornment is a mixture of antimony and finely powdered charcoal, which heightens the whiteness of the complexion, gives brilliancy to the eyes, and protects them from ophthalmia ; the use of it is hygienically beneficial and coquetry

Fig. 6.— Sandal.

Fig. 7. -Collar.

also finds it advantageous. The hair, greased, oiled, and sometimes dyed blue, falls upon the shoulders and neck in very fine tresses, which terminate in balls of earth ; since ^his arrangement requires several hours' work to complete it properly, the hair is not often dressed, once in every ten or twelve days, once a month, or even less frequently. The feet, arms, and neck are bare, but on festival days a pair of sandals, made of papyrus-leaves or of leather (Fig. 6), glass bracelets on the wrists and ankles, a large collar of beads or of tubes of enamelled faience (Fig. 7), a fillet, and a flower on the forehead, complete the costume and correct the too great simplicity of ordinary days.

In truth, the woman is the mainspring that keeps the whole household in movement. She rises at daybreak, lights the fire, distributes the bread for the day, sends the men to the workshop, the cattle to pasture under the care of the smallest boys and of the girls, then, once rid of her family, she goes out in her turn to the watar supply. She descends to the river, canal, or nearest pool, exchanges with her friends the news of the night, washes, as she chats, her feet, hands, and body, fills her jar, and slowly reascends to her home, her loins bent, her chest forward, her neck straightened by the weight. As soon as she reaches the house she changes her trade of water-carrier for that of baker. She scatters a few handfuls of grain upon an oblong stone, which has a slightly concave slanting surface, and then crushes them with a smaller stone, shaped like a pestle, which she damps from time to time. For an hour or more she labours with arms, shoulders, loins, the whole body ; the effort is great, the result very mediocre. The flour, several times repassed over the mortar, is uneven, rough, mixed with bran and whole grain, which have escaped from the grinding, dust, and splinters of stone. Such as it is the housewife kneads it with a little water, mixes with it, by way of leaven, a piece of stale paste kept from the previous day, and makes it into round cakes, as thick as a thumb and about six inches in diameter, which she spreads upon flat stones and covers with hot ashes. Wood is too rare and too dear for her to procure ; she, therefore, replaces it by a fuel of her own manufacture. The dung of her live stock, with that of asses, oxen, and sheep collected by the children from outside, is vigorously stirred like an ordinary paste, and she then forms it into clods or bricks, which she stands against the outer walls of the house or places in the court, so that they may dry in the sun. This doubtful substance burns slowly, almost without smoke, with a light flame and a fairly strong smell of ammonia ; it gives out a great deal of heat before it falls into ashes. , The

THEBES AND THE POPULAR LIFE.

bread, slightly risen, often undercooked, retains a special flavour and a sour taste, to which strangers find it difficult to accustom themselves. The impurities which it contains at last triumph over the strongest teeth : one grinds rather than munches, and many old men have worn their teeth down to the gums, like horses.

In spare moments the woman cooks, spins, weaves, sews, cuts out and mends the clothes, goes to market to sell her poultry, eggs, butter, and the linen she has woven — doing all this without neglecting the little ones who cry, or the newborn infant that she is nursing. Usually married very young, a mother before she is fifteen, frequently a grandmother at thirty, children are always multiplying and swarming round her. A large family is a blessing from the gods, which is welcomed with gratitude, partly because its keep is inexpensive. There is no question of costume ; boys and

girls sometimes wear a bracelet on the wrist or an amulet round the neck, as well as a thick tress of hair falling over one ear, but they remain unconsciously nude until puberty (Figs. 8 and 9). As soon as they can walk the mother employs them in little ways, sends them out to pick up dry branches and herbs, or to collect in baskets the materials for the fuel ; she entrusts them with the care of driving the geese to feed, and finally allows them to take the cattle to pasture and to drink. As soon as they are six or eight years old she sends them to school or makes them learn a trade, usually that of the father. Many never get so far, but die in infancy. Badly fed, indifferently cared for, abandoned to themselves for entire days, those who have any weak points in their constitutions die one after the other. The most nume-

Fig. 8.— A Little Boy.

THEBES AND THE POPULAR LIFE.

rous families are, usually, but the remnants of still larger numbers. But, at least, those who survive are endowed with good health that resists every shock. The Egyptian people, weeded, so to speak, by this natural operation, contains only vigorous individuals, of robust, sturdy beauty, who can endure pain and fatigue. It includes few of those infirm, crooked, and illmade creatures who swarm in other countries: ophthalmia is the only malady it has to dread. The action of the fine sand, with which the atmosphere is saturated, the insupportable glare of light, the influence of the serene nights and of the fogs which rise in the mornings, produce, amongst the labourers and city workmen, a number of eye diseases, which