Ancient Egyptians: Just Like Us

Sometimes it is good to be reminded that people, though separated by thousands of years, have things in common. In the short video below, we review some of the ways that Ancient Egyptians were similar to us today!

Featured Objects from the Collection

Bread Mold, Egyptian, New Kingdom, ca. 1550-1069 BC, ceramic, 8 H x 2 ¼ W, purchased from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Albany Institute of History & Art Purchase, 1958.7.1

Have you been baking lately? Check out this ancient Egyptian bread mold! Although Egyptians baked bread in a variety of shapes (triangle, ovoid, bell-shaped), the conical loaves of emmer wheat bread seem to have been among the most common. This conical bread mold was excavated at Deir El-Bahri by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1930-1931.

Relief of a Granary, Egyptian, Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 11, ca., 2055-1985 BC, limestone, gift of Heinrich Medicus, 2013.1.22

Did you know that the ancient Egyptians measured their wealth in grain? The estates of royalty and high officials had large granaries, which were filled with wheat and barley that the Egyptians used as currency as well as food. This relief carving probably comes from the temple of Mentuhotep II at Deir el Bahri. It depicts a man carrying a sack of grain up steps to the open top of a grain silo.