The ancient Egyptian civilization is the subject of considerable curiosity for some because of its distance and differences from the world in which we live today, for others because of its similarities to modern life. The following questions represent a few that have been asked of us often over the years. We’ve answered them to the best of our knowledge and hope they inspire you to learn more. Select any question to see the answer.   What did the ancient Egyptians eat? Did the ancient Egyptians really shave their heads? Why did the Egyptians mummify their dead? How did the Egyptians mummify their dead? Why did the Egyptians mummify animals? Was ancient Egyptian art produced only for royalty and other elites? Who were artists in ancient Egypt? Does Egyptian art give us a true sense of how ancient Egyptians looked? Why are gods and goddesses depicted with animal heads? Why are the noses broken on so many Egyptian objects? What kind of calendar did the ancient Egyptians use? Why are visitors asked not to touch the objects?           Back to Top   What did the ancient Egyptians eat? The ancient Egyptians included images of people making and eating food in their art, described food in their texts, and even buried items of food in tombs with the deceased. Thus we have a fairly good idea of what they ate. The staples of the average person’s diet were bread—made in many different shapes—beer, and vegetables. Bread and beer are the first two items mentioned in standard offering formulas for the deceased. (Learn more about offerings.) Garlic, leek, lettuce, and cucumber have been found in Egyptian tombs. Legumes (especially lentils), fruit, oil, fish—either dried or cooked—milk, eggs, and cheese also supplemented the Egyptian diet. Wealthy people ate meat from cattle, sheep, and goats, and fowl such as ducks and geese. Archaeological finds of pig bones and mentions of pigs as offerings in texts suggest that the Egyptians also ate pork. They made wine from grapes and dates and sometimes even labeled the jars with remarks as to the quality of the contents, such as “very good.” Funerary stelae depict offering tables piled high with bread, oil, and vegetables, but also include the desired luxury of beef and fowl.         Back to Top   Why did the Egyptians mummify their dead? The word “mummy” derives from the Arabic mummiya, meaning “bitumen” or “pitch” (tar or asphalt), and refers to the black resin discovered on bodies placed in Late Period burials. The ancient Egyptian word for “mummy” was sah, meaning “nobility” and “dignity.” The Egyptians believed that a deceased person’s mummy could reunite with his or her alter ego (ba) and also serve the needs of the deceased (akh) and his or her life force (ka) in the afterlife. The mummy therefore provided a suitable house for the ba, much like a temple statue of a god did for a specific deity. By the New Kingdom (circa 1539–1075 B.C.), the process of mummification took seventy days from death to funeral, coinciding with the cycle of the constellation Orion. Orion was associated with the death and resurrection of the god Osiris, making it relevant to the process of mummification.         Back to Top     How did the Egyptians mummify their dead? In the Predynastic Period (circa 4400–3100 B.C.), the Egyptians buried their dead in simple desert graves. They may have developed mummification to imitate the natural process that occurred when the sand in these graves absorbed the bodily fluids. Another theory suggests that mummification resulted from a desire to preserve the appearance of the body. This is supported by the discovery of some Old Kingdom mummies covered in plaster and paint to preserve the deceased’s image. In either case, the Egyptians began attempting to preserve the body by artificial means in the Early Dynastic Period (circa 3100–2675 B.C.). During the Old Kingdom (circa 2675–2170 B.C.), the practice of removing the organs to inhibit decomposition began. Embalmers also began experimenting with a naturally occurring salt called natron to dry out the body. By the Middle Kingdom (circa 2008–1630 B.C.), natron allowed the preservation of skin and some muscle tissue. The practice of removing the brain through the nose became standard by the New Kingdom (circa 1539–1075 B.C.). By the New Kingdom, the mummification process took seventy days from death to funeral. First the organs were removed, except for the heart, which the Egyptians believed to be the seat of thought and emotion. The lungs, liver, stomach, and intestines were washed, soaked in a natron solution, bandaged, and placed in containers made especially for this purpose (canopic jars). The body was dried out with natron. After forty days, it was moved to another site where the cranial cavity was packed with resin-soaked linen and the body cavity with linen packets of sawdust or myrrh, an aromatic gum mixture obtained from a tree. The skin was treated with natron again, rubbed with the preservatives cedar oil, wax, and gum, and then coated with liquid resin to seal the pores. Finally, the body was wrapped in bandages while priests recited spells and placed amulets on it. The linen wrappings associated the deceased directly with Osiris, god of the underworld, whose dismembered body had been bound together and magically reconstituted by Isis. When the bandaging was completed on the sixty-eighth day, the body was placed in its coffin and the funeral rites began.         Back to Top   Why did the Egyptians mummify animals? One of the most popular misconceptions about ancient Egyptians is that they worshiped animals such as cats, dogs, and birds. Some animals, such as the Apis bull, may have been sacred, but the majority were not. Instead, as in many religions, animals symbolized certain gods and—just like figurines of animals in bronze, terracotta, faience, or other materials—their mummies served as votive offerings to those gods.         Back to Top     Was ancient Egyptian art produced only for royalty and other elites? Artists and artisans worked for official institutions like the royal court and the temple, or for powerful officials. They might also have been sent to other destinations to carry out work for the king or the temple administration, or lent to a member of the court or an associate of the temple to work on his or her tomb. Artists and artisans could also do freelance work for each other or for individuals other than the king at various times and in various places. In all cases, they were paid in rations or goods that could be bartered. While it is true that most objects were made for wealthy and powerful Egyptians, these works have also had a better chance of surviving in the elaborate tombs of royalty and other elites. Objects for the non-elite were probably made from perishable materials that have not survived the thousands of years since their creation.         Back to Top     Who were artists in ancient Egypt? Tomb scenes with images of artists, rare inscriptions and texts, and the surviving objects themselves all provide clues about ancient Egyptian artists. Egyptologists sometimes make a distinction between the artists who carved statues and reliefs in stone and the artisans who made jewelry, furniture, and objects in metal, stone, and many other materials. The Egyptians had no word for “artist,” but they did have various words to distinguish specialists within a craft, such as “polisher” (seshep). Artists who worked for the court and the temple were often literate and highly skilled. (Find out more about the connection between writing and art.) Overseers supervised teams that carved statues, decorated tombs, or fashioned personal arts in workshops. Training was done by apprenticeship, with sons often following their fathers into the profession. There is no evidence for female artists or craftsmen, and little direct evidence for the role of patrons, whether royal or private. Most artists and craftsmen were anonymous.         Back to Top   Does Egyptian art give us a true sense of how ancient Egyptians looked? Some royal images in sculpture and relief seem to resemble the preserved mummies of kings, suggesting that they may have been portraits. In fact, all periods of Egyptian art include works that appear to be lifelike, but even an image that seems to be realistic is not necessarily a close resemblance to a real person. The Western concept of portraiture may not have existed in ancient Egypt. Many Egyptian images are idealizing, intended to convey specific qualities such as youth or athleticism. In Egypt’s Late Period (Dynasties 26–31, 664–332 B.C.), naturalizing representations became common and were produced in large numbers. However, even features that seem to be specific to a particular person may still be part of an idealizing image; wrinkles and other signs of age might have been added to denote wisdom, for example. Similarly, nonroyal individuals, and occasionally a king’s successors, were portrayed in the official style of a king in order to be associated with him.         Back to Top   Did the ancient Egyptians really shave their heads? Elite men and women cut their hair short or shaved it completely, either to keep cool, to fit under a wig, or as a precaution against lice. They wore wigs made of human hair, and hairpieces of artificial curls or braids that could be added separately. Wigs were probably worn in public and at parties. Men and women also shaved their body hair and Egyptian priests were required to shave their heads and bodies as part of a purification process during their terms of service in a temple.         Back to Top   Why are gods and goddesses depicted with animal heads? Animals played a highly complex role in Egyptian society. Some had divine connections, while others had associations with the forces of chaos that needed to be subdued and were therefore hunted, killed, or sacrificed. Many animals were domesticated or kept as household pets. Egyptian gods were associated with various animals, but this does not mean they were “animal gods.” An animal symbolized a specific aspect of a god, but many gods had more than one animal form and no animal was associated with only one deity. Learn more about Egyptian gods and goddesses.         Back to Top   Why are the noses broken on so many Egyptian objects? When a statue falls forward, the nose is the first point to hit the ground. Broken noses are often found on ancient Greek, Roman, Chinese, and Southeast Asian statues. But archaeologists in Egypt have also found mutilated statues upright in sealed tombs, showing evidence of deliberate disfiguration with a hammer and chisel. Such mutilation reflects the function of Egyptian art. The Egyptians believed that tomb statues could be transformed into living beings through a funerary ritual called the Opening of the Mouth Ceremony. A “living” statue served as an eternal home for the deceased’s soul, and smashing its nose effectively “killed” the statue and the soul of the deceased. Statues’ noses were probably sometimes broken by those who wished to defeat or harm the individual represented. Statues could also have been broken intentionally by later generations. Ancient Egyptian statues were sometimes cleared out of temples and put in a pit to make room for new statues. After the rise of Christianity beginning in the 4th century A.D., these temples often became quarries and the statues in them were broken up to make useful things such as doorjambs.         Back to Top     What kind of calendar did the ancient Egyptians use? There is no single ancient Egyptian word equivalent to the word “time,” although many words referred to segments or kinds of time such as parts of the day, specific occurrences, and “never.” Unlike the Western calendar, the ancient Egyptians did not have a continuous dating system from a fixed point. An early lunar calendar, based on the cycles of the moon, coexisted with a solar or civil calendar by the time of the Old Kingdom. The civil calendar had 365 days and 3 seasons: Akhet (Inundation), Peret (Growing), and Shemu (Summer). Dates within this calendar were based on the years following a king’s accession to the throne. For example, the date on an ancient Egyptian papyrus reads: “Regnal Year 2, Month 2 of (?) (the name of the season is lost), Day 8, in the time of [the majesty of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt] Sekhemre’ Sewadj[t]owy, the Son of [Re, Sobekhotep, may he live forever and ever!] (The text in brackets has been lost and is reconstructed by a modern scholar.) Translation from W. C. Hayes. A Papyrus of the Late Middle Kingdom in The Brooklyn Museum [Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446]. The Brooklyn Museum, 1972/1955, p. 124.         Back to Top     Why are visitors asked not to touch the objects? Hands contain grease, oils, and salts that can damage objects. Metal objects can be stained or etched by touching. Even stone can be affected by touching—regardless of how gentle or careful you are. Stone objects often have dark, grimy stains from fingerprints that can even get inside a porous stone, making it more difficult to clean. Fragile objects can crumble or break if touched and paint can be rubbed off. Go behind the scenes and find out how conservators cleaned and repaired one ancient Egyptian object.