More About Egypt

Today in class, we went over more notes about Egypt and the Egyptian life. I actually learned some pretty interesting facts on Egypt today. 

Egypt actually had society classes that built up from least important to most important, like a pyramid. At the base of this pyramid were the slaves and servants. They usually only helped the rich and wealthy and mostly did household chores and cared for children. Above the servants were the farmers who raised mostly wheat, barley, and onions. Above them were artisans who usually carved statues. On top of the artisans were merchants who created a barter system that eventually led to coins and money. Scribes were next. They kept records and wrote poetry and stories. They were also one of the first people to create a calendar. Scribes wrote two different way, hieroglyphics (picture symbols) and hieratic (letter symbols). Next were the soldiers. I thought that the soldiers were pretty smart because they were involved in the Bronze Age and they thought it would be effective to put bronze tips on their wooden swords. On top of soldiers were people known as the "white kilt class." These people were mostly priests, physicians, and engineers. At the very top of the pyramid was the Pharaoh who was the religious and political leader of the country. 

After we learned about the classes, we delved more into the different Pharaohs and how they lived and their duties. When we finished that topic, we went to gods and goddesses, which I found very interesting. Did you know that there were over 2,000 gods and goddesses and they all represented different things and had different duties. Gods and goddesses were considered to "control" the lives of people. Also, gods were portrayed as half animal and half human to show that they were the best of everything. 

After we went through the notes, we went to Crash Course and learned more about Egypt, even though there were a few mistakes they made. And that's what happened in class today.