Ancient Egypt existed from around 2800 BC to the birth of Christ. Egyptian civilization developed along the Nile River and Mediterranean Sea. Egyptian society was strictly hierarchical, with the powerful pharaoh and nobility at the top ruling over craftsmen, farmers, and slaves at the bottom. Egyptians wore simple white linen clothing that differed between social classes and genders. Notable Egyptian architecture included pyramids constructed from stone blocks and mudbrick homes of nobles and peasants. Writing began as hieroglyphic pictures but evolved into a more efficient script used by scribes to record the language and history of ancient Egypt.

2. The civilization of ancient Egypt existed from about
2800BC up to the time of Christ’s birth. It could be
found close to river Nile and the Mediterranean Sea. It
is still interesting to learn about the society, clothing,
architecture and writing of ancient Egypt.

3. SOCIETY
In ancient Egypt, society was structured from the Pharaohs at the highest level to
slaves at the lowest. It was like a pyramid. The Pharaoh and Queen were at the top
and they were the most rich and powerful. Pharaoh means someone who helps
and the Egyptians believed the Pharaoh would give help when they needed it. He
looked like a god, more than a person. Egyptians always had a Pharaoh unless
they were fighting each other in wars. Underneath the Pharaohs came the nobles,
grand viziers of upper and lower Egypt, high priests and high priestesses. At the
next level were the governors and the grand viziers. Craftsmen, artists, scribes and
tax gatherers, were in the middle of society. Some scribes were more important
than others because their job was to check the food supplies. Builders, farmers
and wabs were at the lower level. Least important were the slaves. As you can see,
there were many different levels in society in Ancient Egypt.

4. CLOTHING
The Egyptians wore different clothing depending on whether you were a man, woman or
child. Egyptian clothing was nearly always white, and they dressed in patterned fabric. The
fabric was made from a crop called flax. Men wore loin-cloths, kilts and tunic style outfits.
Women wore simple clothing, ankle length sheath dresses, shawls and cloaks.
However, children wore nothing. The clothing also depended on whether people were rich or
poor. Rich people owned jewellery and used make-up, such as black eye paint and green eye
shadow. Some priests even wore leopard skin on their shoulders to show their importance.
Most Egyptians put oils on their skin, to protect them from the harsh desert winds. They paid
great attention to their heads, used face cream and usually cut their hair short. Egyptians wore
sandals on their feet, with hieroglyphs representing their enemies. Egyptians wore beautiful
clothing but it is very different from modern times.

5. ARCHITECTURE
In ancient Egypt, most people lived close to the river Nile. Egypt’s most famous
architecture were the pyramids, which were made from blocks of stone. They built
pyramid like this: first, they dug up sand from the desert. Then they cut it to the right
size. They used tools that could slice. Then they moved the blocks to the right place by
sliding them on wooden rollers. That is how Egyptians made pyramids. Egyptian houses
were different, depending on whether people were rich or poor. Poor people lived in
huts that had just 1 room. Egyptians did all their activities in that room. Houses were
made out of mud bricks mixed with straw. There was no glass so they cut a hole in the
wall for windows. Rich people lived in much larger houses with many rooms like palaces.
The houses were cool and shady, but families spent most of their time outside.
Gardeners and slaves look after the house. Egyptians also built temples to be the gods’
houses. There was one most important room that only priests can go inside. That room
was very small. Temples also had a library, school, workshop, granaries and storerooms.
So you can see that the most famous architecture in Egypt were the pyramids, but they
also built large temples too.

6. WRITING
Writing in ancient Egypt is very different from our writing today. The
Egyptians were the first civilization to invent writing. It started with
picture writing, called hieroglyphs. This was what the pharaoh’s special
scribes were taught. There were 2 kinds of scribes. One was a high scribe
and another is just a normal scribes. They had to learn more than 100
different hieroglyphs. The scribes wrote hieroglyphs with pens and brush
on papyrus. And there was a box made of reeds that held water. Picture
writing took a long time to do. So, Egyptians then made faster picture
writing. Eventually, the Egyptian writing became a lost language but we
can still see it today on ruins and architecture. It helped us to learn a lot
about language and history.

7. In conclusion this report has described the
society, clothing, architecture and writing of ancient
Egypt. It is clear that this is an interesting civilization
because their writing was so important to the world. I
learned a lot about more about ancient Egypt while
writing this report.

8. REFERENCE LIST
Author Date Title
Tim wood 1997 Ancient wonders
Claire Forbes 1997 Ancient people
George hart 1990 Ancient Egypt
Fiona Macdonald 1997 The world in the time of Tutankhamen
James Mason 1991 Ancient Egypt Resource Book
Jane Shuter 1991 The Ancient Egyptians
Richard Balkwill 1999 Ancient Egypt
Tony Allan 1997 Pharaoh & Pyramid
James Mason 1991 The Tomb of Tutankhamen
Date visited Online
2011.10.18 http://grade4.biss.wikispaces.net/