Ancient Egypt: The Land of Pyramids and Pharaohs

Ancient Egypt: The Land of Pyramids and Pharaohs — page 5
Introduction opposing viewpoints of ancient egypt Egypt has been a subject of fascination fascination for many throughout history and researchers have studied artifacts artifacts for many years to learn what they can about their customs and ways of life While ancient Egypt is currently a popular topic in movies and books interest in ancient Egyptian history goes back as far as the first century BC However with this early fascination also came two different views of the Egyptians way of life One view was from foreign visitors some of whom traveled to Egypt and later wrote about it Among them were the Greek historians historians Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus the Greek biographer Plutarch and various Roman and European writers Suffering Under Foreign Rule Due to differences in cultures and visitors not speaking the Egyptian language language they did not understand many of Egypt’s customs and traditions The result was a vision of Egypt as a land of mystery Herodotus enjoyed his stay in the country and was also impressed by the giant pyramids and other architectural architectural wonders The land had more monuments which are difficult to describe than anywhere else in the world he stated However Herodotus was also quick to point out that in keeping with the odd climate which prevails there and the fact that their river behaves differently than any other river almost all Egyptian customs and practices are the opposite of those of everywhere else For instance women go out to the town square and retail goods while men stay at home and do the weaving and whereas everyone else weaves by pushing the weft upwards the Egyptians push it downwards Or again men carry loads on their heads while women do so on their shoulders animals and humans live together in Egypt Other people live off barley 8 ancient egypt the land of pyramids and pharaohs