Housing & Daily Life in Ancient Egypt

Houses (Commoners)• Lived in town houses usually 2-3 stories high.• First Floor : held for businesses• Second and Third Floors : the family living area.• Sometimes slept on the roof during the summer to keep cool.• Sewage had to be thrown out into pits, the river, or the streets.• Most all people had some furniture.• Things you find in a commoners house : A stool, small boxes for jewelry and cosmetics,

chests for clothing, pottery jars, and oil lamps. • Most of Egyptians did not have many belongings that had to be hidden so a chest or

basket would use plenty of their space.• Tables were rarely used. • Each home had a fly catcher.

Egyptians bringing in furniture.

There were no forests in Egypt so wood was scarce and

was s not used for house building. The earliest inhabitants of

Egypt lived in huts made from papyrus reeds. However, it

was soon discovered that the mud left behind after the

annual flooding of the Nile (inundation) could be made into

bricks which could be used for building. Bricks were made by

mixing mud and straw and leaving them to dry in the sun.

The houses of the poorest people used one row of bricks

while those that were not so poor used two or three rows.

Although mud brick houses were relatively cheap to make,

they were not very strong and began to crumble after a few

years.

Houses (Rich People)

• Made of bricks of sun dried mud called “adobe”• They only had little wood.• A nobleman's home was divided into three areas: a reception area, a hall, and

the private quarters. • The windows and doors on the house were covered with mats to keep out the

flies, dust, and heat.• The inside walls were decorated with wall hangings made of leather, and the

floors were covered with tile.• Sometimes there was a room on the roof with three walls where the family

slept on hot summer nights.

Building a house.

• The houses of the richest people were stronger because they could afford to build their home from stone.

• Most houses had at least three rooms and all houses had flat roofs which formed part of the living area.

•• The farmhouse (above) has two floors. The upper

floor is used for living space while the lower floor is used to store crops. A reed canopy has been made on the roof to provide shade.

• Small windows can be seen at the top of the upper rooms. Windows and doors were covered with reed mats to keep out dust, flies and heat.

Houses

Ancient Egyptian Housing

Middle Class

Homes

Peasant

Homes

Daily Life

identify similarities and differences between Ancient Egyptian and modern objects.

Artefacts

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/towns.htm