1000 Facts Ancient Egypt by Belinda Gallagher

Author:Belinda Gallagher
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Children & Teens
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781848107281
Publisher: Miles Kelly Publishing
Published: 2010-06-15T16:00:00+00:00

Egyptians believed that flowers had special properties. They thought that their scent came from the gods. Incense from flowers was used at funerals and in temple rituals.

Men and women wore perfumes made from lilies and lotus flowers. Collars and headdresses of flower petals were worn on special occasions.

Flowers were often symbolic and had different meanings. A lotus flower symbolized rebirth while papyrus represented prosperity and the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Trees provided shade from the scorching sun. Species such as palm grew readily in the fertile soil of the Nile Valley and provided fruit, wood and shelter.

Olive trees were grown around Egyptian temples. They provided a source of oil for the lamps that were needed for the many shrines.

Good quality wood was not readily available to the ancient Egyptians. Most native species were small and slow-growing, such as acacia and sycamore. They were of little use for building.

To overcome this problem, wood was imported from the Old Kingdom onwards, including cedar and pine from the Lebanon and ebony from Africa.

The ancient Egyptians associated many trees with gods and the afterlife. Hathor was referred to as the ‘lady of the sycamore’.

Trees were sometimes linked with the duration of a pharaoh’s rule. Reliefs have been found showing the gods Thoth and Seshat inscribing the leaves of the ished tree with the number of years in a pharaoh’s reign.

The symbol of a date palm branch was used in hieroglyphs to denote the word ‘year’.

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