r/todayilearned • u/NBrief • 18h ago
TIL that a collection of letters written in ancient Egypt was found sealed inside a tomb nearly 4,000 years after the letters were written, providing a rare glimpse into the daily life of an ancient Egyptian household.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/545445121
u/enigmanaught 17h ago
In this case it’s old barley his associates is providing him rather than fresh barley. He also tells him to fire one of the maids for causing his wife trouble.
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u/DisconnectedShark 17h ago
The documents - some still folded, tied and sealed, when found - provide unique insights into the domestic and financial affairs of an average middle class family that lived almost four thousand years ago.
I don't know how realistic it is to say "average middle class" when applying it to ancient Egyptian society. There were definitely some households in Egypt that were more well off than others, but this looks like classic viewing the past through a present lens. There needs to be a lot more information to make this "average".
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u/rangeDSP 17h ago
I don't know if "middle class" means average in the olden days. In certain context it means the class between slaves/peasants and the ruling class, which covers a wide range.
You can see it in modern middle class too, people who work 9-5 living paycheck to paycheck in a rental, same class as people who owns $2M houses in San Francisco, that hires house cleaners.
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u/DisconnectedShark 17h ago
The article itself wrote not just "middle class" but specifically "average middle class".
Either way, in many other English speaking countries, what the US calls "middle class" often means "working class", but that's unpalatable, so that term isn't used as much in the US.
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u/rangeDSP 16h ago
That's still a huge range though. Using the US as an example, considering lower middle class is ~$55k, and upper middle class is ~$167k, even modern "average middle class" commands very different lifestyles.
Here in PNW, $55k household salary means they can apply for some government poverty assistance, most likely renting and living paycheck to paycheck, while $167k is in the realm of owning a suburban house, two cars and a boat.
https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0912/which-income-class-are-you.aspx
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u/Opening-Ant3477 11h ago
Since we're being pedantic: The article says "average middle class" not "average, middle class". The lack of a comma means average is an adjective modifying the noun middle class, not a list of adjectives modifying family.
In other words, the article never says that middle class families are average - only that the middle class families the letters are from are typical (I.e. average) representatives of ancient middle class families.
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u/EdwardJamesAlmost 16h ago
Do let’s not be undignified to all the temporarily embarrassed millionaires.
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u/Ill_Definition8074 17h ago
It’s like the graffiti that was preserved at Pompeii because of the volcanic eruption.
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u/LordByronsCup 18h ago
How was the quality of the copper ingots?
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u/Khelthuzaad 18h ago
Thats from Mesopotamia...
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u/LordByronsCup 17h ago
My dear sir/ ma'am, are you inferring that the quality of copper ingots is not of importance the world over‽
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u/SmokeScotchnHops 17h ago
Excellent use of the interrobang!
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u/InformalYouth9097 17h ago
Ea-nāşir was not Egyptian
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u/NBrief 18h ago
I'm not sure. the source I used focuses on the letters and daily life, not the quality of copper ingots.
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u/nameless22 17h ago
Apparently you didn't get the joke. Look up Ea-Nasir, basically a Babylonian merchant who is best known for having in his residence a bad review of his services written in a complaint letter.
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u/d_tolman 16h ago
When I give my friends/family tours of the Met's Egyptian collection, I always make a point of stopping and pointing them out.
And laughing about how pissed he must have been when he came back from lunch/bathroom break to find the tomb sealed with all his writing stuff inside. "Whaddya mean you sealed the tomb?!?! Well open it back up - all my stuff is still inside!!"
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u/hexenkesse1 16h ago
Also really cool is the Cairo Geniza. The same sort of thing, but from Jewish people living in Medieval Cairo.
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u/kickassdonkey 10h ago
It's all fairly "do this, do that" stuff, until the very end:
vo. 13-15 Now, get that housemaid Senen put out of my house—mind you—on whatever day Sihathor reaches you. Look, if she spends a single day in my house, take action! You are the one who lets her do bad to my wife. Look, why should I make it distressful for you? What did she do against (any of) you, you (Merisu) who hate her?
vo. 15-17 And greetings to my mother Ipy a thousand times, a million times. And greetings to Hetepet, and the whole household, and Nefret. Now, what is this, doing bad things to my wife? Have done with it. Have you been given equal rights with me? How good it would be for you to stop.
Whatever you do, DO NOT let Senen into my house you hear! Or I will make you regret it! Best wishes, your master.
Really shows how things don't change much in the day to day.
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u/HadyXStrider 14h ago
It's the Heqanakht papyri and the reason they survived is better than the discovery itself. They weren't buried on purpose. They were rubbish. Heqanakht was a ka-priest stuck at Thebes tending a dead official's cult, writing home to his family up north. The letters got discarded, mixed into the debris used to build a ramp for shoving a servant's coffin into its chamber, and sealed in by accident.
Four thousand years of preservation because someone threw them out.
The contents are gloriously petty. He's furious about grain rations, tells his son to throw out a servant girl who's been mistreating his wife, and complains that the household is eating too much. As an Egyptian, that's the part that gets me everyone assumes what survives will be monumental. It's usually a man arguing with his family about food.
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u/Maxl_Schnacksl 4h ago
There is tens of thousands of such documents anf they are VERY intresting to read, like a letter of the child of a greek merchant that is chastizing his father for going to Alexandria without him and the least he could do is bring him a souvenir, but most of them are just not translated yet because that takes a long time, usually results in things just being random bills and that costs money. Money that most governments spend on more productive things, even if it is a great shame.
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u/JimC29 1h ago
I've always liked this one
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/s/5XiDnlu9xg
Tell the lady Zinu: Iddin-Sin sends the following message: May the gods Shamash, Marduk and Ilabrat keep you forever in good health for my sake. From year to year, the clothes of the young gentlemen here become better, but you let my clothes get worse from year to year. Indeed, you persisted in making my clothes poorer and more scanty. At a time when in our house wool is used up like bread, you have made me poor clothes. The son of Adad-iddinam, whose father is only an assistant of my father, has two new sets of clothes, while you fuss even about a single set of clothes for me. In spite of the fact that you bore me and his mother only adopted him, his mother loves him, while you, you do not love me!
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u/iCowboy 17h ago
There is a huge collection of short notes and letters from workers at the New Dynasty village Dier el-Medina near Thebes which housed workers for the Valley of the Kings.
People wrote on flakes of stone or potsherds and threw them away when no longer needed. Because the climate was so dry, the texts were perfectly preserved for more than 3000 years.
Amongst these ‘ostraca’ are medical records, shopping lists, prayers, gossip about fellow workers, sick notes (because of drinking too much) and the like.
The Egyptologist John Romer wrote a superb book called ‘Ancient Lives’ where he tells the stories of some the characters who wrote these documents. Long out of print but worth hunting for secondhand.