Lost Voices of the Nile: Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt by Charlotte Booth

Author:Charlotte Booth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amberley Publishing
Published: 2015-08-13T16:00:00+00:00

6.

WORKING FOR A LIVING

‘Man comes forth from his mother’s womb and runs to his master.’1

From a very young age, perhaps as young as nine years old, boys had to make a decision about their future career. To a modern western child this would be an impossible task, as there are so many potential career paths open to them. However, in ancient Egypt the options were somewhat limited. Generally a boy followed in his father’s footsteps, taking on his role upon death or retirement. A lone text from Deir el-Medina, however, suggests that some workmen left their jobs in order to enable their sons to take over the role, with the understanding that the son would contribute some of his rations to the upkeep of his father.2

Such hereditary roles included the priesthood, administration, the military, farming and craftsmanship. Such crafts were varied and included carpentry, stone masonry, bricklaying, basketry, pottery, flint knapping, faience making and metalwork. All of these industries could have been carried out in the home on a small scale or in larger workshops if working for the state. One of the more unusual workshops at El-Lahun was that of the doll maker, which was discovered with unfinished dolls and locks of hair that were still to be attached. The dolls themselves appear to have been a combination of fertility dolls, with their pubic areas highlighted, and jointed dolls, which may have been foreigners used in execration rituals, rather than dolls used as childhood playthings. However, regardless of their purpose this workman was an expert doll-maker, a role he probably hoped to pass on to his son.

Uneducated boys of the lower classes had even less choices than their middle-class counterparts and likely followed their fathers into farming or other unskilled manual labour. Their lives were hard and they relied heavily on the environment for a successful harvest year on year. Farmers were paid a percentage of the crop that was not required for taxes and land rent.

At the end of the sixth dynasty there was a change in status and farmers were exempt from some taxes, although they were still monitored carefully by state scribes. Farmers were able to sell and rent out their own land, but the owners were still ultimately responsible for the payment of taxes on the yield of the land. Farmers were reliant on a quick harvest and they often hired cattle from breeders to help with harvesting the crop, which they needed to pay for out of their income. ‘You have satisfied my heart with the compensation for my red female ploughing ox, which is called by the name of Ta … That I gave you to ploughing with from regnal year 14 to regnal year 15. My heart is satisfied with its compensation.’3 To prevent any problems with the identification of the cows when it was time to return them, each cow was branded with an image unique to the cattle farmer. Many farmers, in addition to owning cattle who could pull the

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