Daily Life in
Ancient Egypt
6th Grade Social Studies
Chapter 4 Lesson 4
The Big Picture
 Farmers
planted and harvested crops
between the yearly Nile floods.
 Most people worked on huge farms
owned by government leaders, army
officers, or scribes.
A Social Pyramid
A
person’s position in society depended
on what he or she did for a living.
 The farmers and captured people made
up the largest part of society.
A Social Pyramid- Slavery in
Egypt


Slaves were the lowest level of the social
pyramid.
Most of the slaves in ancient Egypt were
Syrians.

However, enslaved people did have basic rights
in Egypt.


They had the right to be treated fairly under the
law and even to own property.
Look at the diagram on the next slide:

The pharaoh is at the top of the Egyptian Social
Pyramid and the slaves are at the bottom.
A Social Pyramid
Pharaoh
Government
Officials
Soldiers
Scribes
Merchants
Artisans
Farmers
Slaves
Farms and Cities
 Both
in cities and on farms, people
enjoyed simple pleasures, such as:


Celebrating holidays
Playing games
Farms and Cities- Farm Life
 Most
Egyptians live on big farms.
 The farmers were run by local scribes.
 Farmers grew and harvested crops.
 The farmers gave half of the products to
the pharaoh as taxes.
Farms and Cities- Planting and
Harvesting
 To
bring water to the fields, farmers dug
irrigation canals and hauled water using
shadoufs.
 At harvest time women, men, and
children headed out to the fields to cut,
stack, and carry grain.
 The shares taken by the pharaoh were
measured by the scribes
Farms and Cities- Cities in
Egypt
 Most
craft workers and artists lived in small
mud-brick homes.
Farms and Cities- A Busy
Neighborhood
 The
typical Egyptian neighborhood
characteristics:





Entrance room served as workshop.
Small living rooms.
Stairway would lead up to the flat roof.
There were everyday chores.
Women would go to the local canal to get
water.
Children in Egypt
 Children
in Egypt loved to spin tops, make
cloth dolls, wrestle, run and play games.
 Farmer’s children had little time to play
since they were needed to help in the
fields.
 Carrying water and feeding the farm
animals were the children’s daily chores.
Children in Egypt
 Children
of craft workers began working
at the age of 5.
 At about the age of 12 girls studied to
become weavers.
 Sons of government leaders became
assistants to their fathers.
Why it Matters?
 Around
the end of the New Kingdom the
Egyptian Empire went through great
changes.
 Around 1100 BC a united Egypt collapsed.
 The “Gift of the Nile” continued to affect
people everywhere.
Main Ideas
 While
Egypt become a mighty empire,
ordinary people continued to work in
much the same ways as they had for
thousands of years.
 Enslaved Syrians and Nubians became
key workers in Egypt’s empire.

They worked along side farmers and craft
workers to produce needed crops and
goods.
Main Ideas
 Most
farmers worked on large farms
owned by powerful families.
 Most people in Egypt’s towns and cities
lived in crowded neighborhoods and
crafted goods for a living.
Think About It
 How
did Egypt’s social pyramid shape life
in the New Kingdom?



The pharaoh, government officials and
soldiers were at the top.
The scribes, merchants and artisans were at
the center.
The farmers and the slaves were at the
bottom.
Think About It
 How
did the growth of Egypt’s empire
play a role in the growth of slavery along
the Nile? And how did the enslaved
people add to the economy?


Building an empire leads to war since they
are destroying and conquering to build
larger empires.
War meant capture and enslavement of
people, whose labor was demanded.
Think About It.
 What
was everyday life like of the New
Kingdom?



Farmers and their children had little extra
time because they were needed in the
fields.
Their lives were busy, work filled, and they
lived in modest houses.
They had everyday chores, but they had
free time for things such as board games.