Alright, so the other day I was thinking about what Egyptians did for entertainment back in the day, you know, thousands of years ago. It’s a pretty cool topic, right? So, I started digging around to find out.
First thing I did was a simple search on the internet. I mean, where else do you start? The results were pretty interesting. I found out that most ancient Egyptians couldn’t read or write. Can you imagine that? No books, no scrolls, nothing! It makes you appreciate how easy we have it now. They also didn’t have theaters until the Greeks showed up. That means no plays or dramas to watch, which is kind of a bummer.
What I found about entertainment
But here’s where it gets fun. I stumbled upon this story about a pygmy brought from a place called Yam to entertain the young pharaoh Pepi II. It’s a really neat story from the Old Kingdom days. Apparently, this pharaoh was super into this pygmy, which shows you how they valued different kinds of entertainment.
Then, I started looking into what ordinary folks did for fun. Turns out, they were pretty active! They swam and canoed in the Nile River. I mean, if you lived near the Nile, wouldn’t you? They also played board games. I wonder what kinds of games they had. And get this, they loved making music and dancing. Who doesn’t love a good dance party, right?
What I did for details
Now, I wanted to get even more specific, so I dove deeper. I read about how men in Rome, which was later, enjoyed things like riding, fencing, wrestling, throwing, and swimming. It sounds like they were super into sports and physical activities. And in the countryside, they’d go hunting and fishing. Plus, they played ball games at home. One game involved throwing a ball up and catching it before it hit the ground. Sounds simple, but probably pretty fun.
Another thing I learned was about hieroglyphs. These were the ancient Egyptian writings, and they used them for like 4,000 years! They wrote on papyrus, carved them into stone on tombs and temple walls. Imagine the skill it took to do that. It’s pretty amazing to think about how they communicated and recorded their history.
Here’s a summary of my findings:
- No Reading or Writing: Most Egyptians couldn’t read or write.
- No Theaters: No theaters until the Greeks came along.
- Pharaoh’s Entertainment: Story of a pygmy entertaining a young pharaoh.
- Everyday Fun: Swimming, canoeing, board games, music, and dancing.
- Roman Activities: Riding, fencing, wrestling, throwing, swimming, hunting, fishing, and ball games.
- Hieroglyphs: Ancient Egyptian writing used for thousands of years on papyrus and stone.
So, after all this digging, I realized that even though ancient Egyptians didn’t have the same kinds of entertainment we have today, they still found plenty of ways to have fun and enjoy life. It’s a good reminder that people have always found ways to entertain themselves, no matter the time period. Hope you found this as interesting as I did!
