What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the name of the country Egypt?
Of course Pyramids and Egypt civilization.
I am going to share a few lesser-known interesting facts about Egypt that will amaze you.
1. The 365 Days Calendar was invented by Egyptians
The 365 days calendar which we use today is invented by ancient Egyptians. Nile River has a big significance in the Egypt civilization and it happened on the banks of the Nile River. If there is a river nearby, then there will be floods. So, to predict the floodings of the Nile River, they invented the 365 days calendar.
2. World’s Oldest Dress Found In Egypt
The world’s oldest dress was found in Egypt. It was discovered in Tarkhan cemetery, south of Cairo in Egypt during an excavation in 1913. Historians believe that this dress is dated from between 3482-3102 BCE which is about 5000 years old.
3. Pyramids Not Built By Slaves
There are over 130 pyramids have been discovered so far till date but what if I tell you that these pyramids are not built by slaves? You heard it right. These pyramids are built by paid laborers and they built these pyramids with great honour for the pharaohs who are rulers of Egypt.
The largest pyramid in Egypt is The Pyramid Of Khufu at Giza. This pyramid weighs more than 16 empire state buildings. They do this to preserve their dead bodies with the process of mummification believing that their souls would live on in the afterlife forever.
4. Polytheism in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptians believe in polytheism. They worshipped over 2000 gods and goddesses. Few of their gods had human bodies and animal heads and were each associated with a particular event or ritual in life. Some of the gods were Isis, Osiris, and Ra – The Sun God, Anubis, a jackal god who protected graves and would judge people in the afterlife.
5. Mummification
The mummification process would use up to 1500 meters of thin strips of cloth. In between the many layers, priests would place small jewels and items to help them in the next life.
6. Makeup by Both Men and Women
Both Ancient Egyptian Men and Women wore makeup. They used either green color which is made from copper or black which is made from lead as eye paint. They believe that this will protect them from harsh sunlight and few believe that it has magical healing powers too.
7. Moldy Bread for Treatments
Ancient Egyptians used moldy bread to treat wounds. They figure this out by trial and error. The bacteria in the moldy bread acts as an antibiotic and heals the cuts.
8. World’s First Prosthetic Limb
Ancient Egypt produced the world’s first prosthetic limb, Historians found a toe which is made of leather, wood, and thread from a body dated between 950 and 710BC.
9.Hieroglyphs in Egypt
The Egyptian alphabet contains more than 700 hieroglyphs. This word comes from Greek and the meaning is “holy writings”. Hieroglyphs are basically Egyptian letters which has a pictorial representation and decoding these letters is one of the toughest jobs for historians.
Not only that, They have invented medicine, musical instruments, paper, pens, locks, keys, cosmetics, toothpaste etc which we are using today.
The Suez Canal
Egypt is located in between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. The Suez Canal which connects the two seas allowing ships to easily sail between Asia and Europe. Egypt has been a very strategic location for centuries.