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The Home
Furnishings
Furniture has survived from the tombs placed there to provide the owner with his comforts in the next life and, much more rarely, from domestic contexts such as the town of Kahun. Individual pieces were functional and sometimes elegant; quality varied according to the status of the family. Pieces included beds, chests (for storing clothes, jewelry, and dishes), small tables, and stools. Rushes and palm leaves were used for the manufacture of mats, baskets, and parts of furniture (beds and chair seats), but wood was most often employed for furniture construction. Chairs and couches were particularly fine. Those used by the upper classes were often made of ebony and ivory and incorporated feet carved to represent the paws of a lion. The earliest type of seat was a wooden stool, used with a cushion; this design remained popular down into the New Kingdom, although some changes were introduced in Dynasty 5. These seats had high sides and a back but they were obviously uncomfortable, and in the Middle Kingdom the back was altered and the sides were lowered. Other styles were introduced in the New Kingdom, and thick cushions were used with them in place of the leather seat found in earlier periods. Chairs were often used with footstools. Variations on the simple seat included folding stools (rather like camp stools) and low seats for older people. In some cases the furniture itself survives, but more frequently the evidence of the tomb murals provides the only detailed information. The couch or bed apparently developed from the seat. Again, the lion’s paws were used to decorate the feet. Sometimes cushions were piled onto these couches, and at least one example of an herb pillow (to assist sleep) has survived. Wooden headrests, however, frequently replaced pillows. The headrest was placed under the neck and allowed the owner to rest without removing his wig. There were no tables of the traditional type at which people sat on chairs to eat. Stands, often made of stone, were used, rather like our trays or “occasional” tables; each held a cup or jug and a flat basket as a plate. Instead of cupboards, their clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, and domestic items were stored in boxes and baskets. Some of the boxes incorporated devices allowing them to be sealed and secured. In the kitchens and cellars there were clay ovens and large pottery jars for keeping wine, oil, and grain. Special jars were used to keep the precious water supply as cool as possible. Bathrooms and lavatories provided additional comfort in the wealthiest villas. Rugs and hangings brought color to the decoration of a room. Woven, colored matting was suspended to cover the upper parts of the inner wall surfaces, and thick rugs covered the floors. The doors and windows (which were small and set high in the walls) were protected by mats hung over the openings; when not in use, these were raised on wooden rollers fixed at the top of each door or window. This afforded privacy and protection from the sun, but allowed cooling breezes to pass through the house. . Servants and Housekeeping The upper classes lived in considerable style and employed many servants. The estates of the great nobles had their own slaughterhouses and bakeries, and these as well as the food stores had to be organized and managed. Within the house a butler attended to the master’s drinks, and there were cooks, bakers, porters, gardeners, and other servants. At some periods many households seem to include foreign servants, some of whom held positions of considerable authority. From the medical papyri we know something of their housekeeping methods. Plant recipes were used to get rid of vermin and insects; one prescription for flea infestation was to grind fleabane with charcoal and then dust the house with this mixture. Fumigation pellets were also used to improve or mask household smells, and scented oils were probably burned in the houses. To light their homes, candles made of plant fibers were dipped in sesame oil. . Flowers and Gardens The Egyptians loved plants, flowers, and floral decorations, and these were widely used for the living and the dead because of their beauty and their religious and magical symbolism. Floristry was a well-organized industry, and the chief florist of the Temple of Amun at Karnak had the temple plant nurseries, which he supervised, depicted in a scene on his tomb wall. Ancient records indicate that Ramesses III presented nearly two million bouquets in this temple over a three-year period. Beyond their religious importance at festivals and their use as a presentation to the deceased on the day of burial, flowers and foliage were valued as a decoration for the home. Plants, garlands, and flowers decked the living rooms; outside, gardens were assiduously tended. Flowers were also made into elaborate table decorations for parties and banquets, and guests wore and carried lotus buds. A wealth of plant remains from ancient Egypt, wall scenes in tombs and temples, and models of houses and villas all indicate that the Egyptians cultivated and even landscaped their gardens from as early as the Old Kingdom. The gardens were private retreats with shady trees, sweet-smelling flowers, and cool ponds and lakes. Private domestic gardens are sometimes depicted on tomb walls, because the owner hoped to continue to enjoy his garden in the next life. The typical upper-class garden was walled to provide seclusion and privacy, and a porter’s lodge was situated at the only entrance. In some examples, the whole area was subdivided into “rooms” containing different types of trees, shrubs, and flowers; some sections may have been devoted to rare trees, whereas others perhaps contained nursery plantations. Gardens were formally arranged, with trees aligned in neat rows, and flowers planted in square beds or straight borders. There was often a pool with water plants and fish, and a seat, summerhouse, and line of shade trees where the owner could contemplate his garden. There were fruit trees and flowers chosen for their beauty and fragrance. Two species of blue and white lotuses grew in the ponds, and field flowers such as poppies and cornflowers were mixed in the borders with mandrake, iris, lilies, chrysanthemum, and delphinium. The Egyptians also imported exotic plants and trees such as the pomegranate and the fig. One poem recalls that a fig tree was brought from Syria as a love token, and gardens and flowers were generally associated with romantic love. Apart from these country gardens, even town houses were decorated with trees and shrubs planted in pots and containers and arranged along the facade of the house. There are no tomb scenes that depict royal gardens, but they were undoubtedly splendid. The ivory panels on a casket found in Tutankhamun’s tomb show scenes of the king and his wife passing time in their garden. The Great Papyrus Harris preserves the information that Ramesses III tried to create garden cities. He planted trees and papyrus plants in Thebes and had incense trees brought back from Punt to enhance the temple gardens. In a new city he founded in the Delta, great vineyards were created, and there were walks shaded by fruit trees. Some time earlier Queen Hatshepsut had also ordered incense trees to be transported from Punt and planted in the garden of her funerary temple at Deir el-Bahri, and in c.2000 BC King Mentuhotep Nebhepetre had planned a garden around his temple, which stands adjacent to Hatshepsut’s own monument. Not only have the tree pits and tree cuttings been discovered there, but on a floor slab in the temple the garden plan sketched by the landscape artist in charge of the work can still be seen. In the Temple of Karnak wall reliefs in one small chamber depict the plants which Tuthmosis III brought back from his military campaigns in Asia Minor and Syria. Generally, temple gardens were planted to delight the god and to provide the flowers and herbs for the daily offerings made to the god’s statue. Sometimes, physic gardens were also established to provide produce for the priests to use in their medicines. The temple and domestic gardens closely resembled each other in design and purpose. . Pets The ancient Egyptians loved animals, and many households kept pets. These included ducks, monkeys, dogs, and cats. The domestic cat, perhaps the favorite pet, probably was introduced into Egypt from areas to the west and south, as it does not occur in representations or references until the First Intermediate Period (c.2100 BC). From the Middle Kingdom (c.1900 BC), however, cats appeared as pets in tomb scenes and were also mummified. The cat was regarded as a benign and helpful creature, ridding the house of vermin and accompanying the tomb owner and his family on fowling expeditions in the marshes. The cat goddess, Bastet, had a major temple at Bubastis in the Delta. The Egyptian word for “cat” was miw, derived from the sound the animal makes. .
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The Home
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