10 great inventions of the ancient Egyptians

10. Eye makeup

The Egyptians believed that eye makeup would help people live longer. Originating as far back as 4000 BC, eye makeup is still popular today. Some cultures even still use the same techniques as the Egyptians did thousands of years ago. They combined carbon black with a mineral called galena to create kohl, a black ointment that is still popular today. They also applied green eye makeup by combining a mineral called malachite with galena.

For the ancient Egyptians, it wasn’t just women who needed makeup. In their society, appearance represents social status, so the higher the social status, the more elaborate makeup they wear. Fashion is only part of the reason why Egyptians love to paint their eyes so boldly. They believe that doing so can help cure eye diseases to keep their eyes from turning into the eyes of evil.

9. Handwriting

Painting to narrate or record is nothing new, since 30,000 BC ancient people in France and Spain began to paint on cave walls to store information. However, it was Egypt and Mesopotamia that first developed a writing system from this drawing.

The Egyptian writing system is a hieroglyphic system, which first appeared in 6000 BC. Hieroglyphs are simple descriptions of the words they represent, but have certain limitations. Over time, the Egyptians added a number of other elements to their writing system, including characters such as the alphabet representing certain sounds and other characters, allowing them to write names and characters. abstract concepts.

Today, everyone knows Egypt as the birthplace of the hieroglyphics, which includes letters, syllabic symbols, as well as ideograms – images representing whole phrase – found widely in Egyptian tombs and many other places. These records provide us with an understanding of ancient Egyptian society from politics to culture. Later, the French scholar Jean-Francois Champollion found the Rosetta Stone and successfully deciphered it, marking the end of the mysterious period of Ancient Egypt that lasted for nearly 1500 years.

8. Paper papyrus

No one denies that the Chinese changed the world with the invention of paper around 140 BC, but many people don’t know that the Egyptians made paper from the papyrus tree thousands of years ago. (papyrus). Papyrus paper is ivory, golden brown, hard but bendable, and especially very durable, made from the core of a type of papyrus called papyrus, about 2-3m high that grows on both sides of the Nile. The strong and very durable properties of paypyrus were also used to sew sails, make sandals, weave carpets and other necessities of ancient Egyptian life.

The ancient Egyptians kept the technique of making papyrus paper a secret so that they could have an advantage in trading this paper with countries in the region. However, in 1965 scientist Hassan Ragab figured out how the ancients made papyrus sheets and tried to revive this traditional craft in Egypt.

7. Calendar

In ancient times, the calendar played an extremely important role, helping people survive against harsh nature. The ancient Egyptians used calendars from thousands of years BC to know when the Nile flood would occur, thereby taking appropriate farming practices.

The Egyptian calendar was developed to accommodate agricultural practices and was divided into three main seasons: flooding, growing, and harvesting. Each season has four months, each month is divided into 30 days, a total of 360 days a year a few days shorter than reality. The Egyptians added five days between harvest and flooding. These five days are designated exclusively as religious holidays to honor the children of the gods.

6. Plow

Evidence suggests that the Egyptians and Sumerians were among the first societies to use plows as far back as 4000 BC. The first plows were improved from hand tools, so they were still too light and ineffective for tilling. Moreover, it takes 4 strong men to pull this plow.

But everything changed in the 2000s BC, when the Egyptians first used oxen to pull the plow. The first method they used was to tie the plow to the horns, but it made it difficult for the cattle to breathe. Later, they improved by using a lashing system to achieve greater efficiency. Plowing caused the agricultural revolution in ancient Egypt, and along with the regular water regime of the Nile, farming in Egyptian society became much more favorable when compared to other cultures. other civilizations at that time.