The most crazy facts about Ancient Egyptian civilization! From odd medicines to strange rituals
“Got Your Nose”- There have been many bizarre punishment for criminals throughout history but the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Aktisanes takes the cake with his sentences. During his reign over the glorious ancient empire any criminal convicted of a crime would have their nose cut off and subsequently be banished to the aptly named city of Rhinocolura which translates to “city of noseless people”. Though this may sound brutal it was actually considered a very lenient punishment for this time period. The criminal having their nose removed was probably the least horrible part of the sentence as well because Rhinocolura was a terrible place to live. Not only was it full of criminals but the inhabitants had to build their homes and facilities using leftover rubble from other settlements and the water that they used for drinking and bathing was extremely polluted.
“One Hundred Heirs”-- In ancient times polygamy and having dozens of children was the thing to do, especially among royalty. One of the most unbelievable examples of this was the family of one of the most famous pharaohs, Ramses II. Also known as Ozymandias and Ramses the Great, Ramses the II is considered to be the most powerful pharaoh who ever lived and is the ruler that is most commonly put forward as a candidate as the pharaoh in the Bible’s story of Moses. Ramses left a lasting legacy on Egyptian culture and not just because of his politics and the public works that were constructed during his time but because of his huge impact on Egypt’s gene pool. It is believed that Ramses had at least 8 wives and more just over 100 confirmed children. Though he outlived most of his issue, there is no doubt that this insane amount of children assured that his genetic legacy lived on for centuries. Ramses had so many children that he is ranked number 8 on the list of historical men with the most children.
“Job For Everyone”- The ancient Egyptians were ingenuitive in several aspects of life and one of the most ingenious aspects of their culture was a way that they found jobs for those who could be considered outcasts. Instead of ridiculing or casting out those with dwarfism or gigantism they used these people’s ability to stand out from a crowd to their advantage. In order to prevent that precious gold wouldn’t be stolen by the workers assigned to the tasks of collecting, guarding and using it, they used people with dwarfism and gigantism as gold workers. This not only gave these people jobs in a world that mainly valued physical labor, but it assured that if they tried to steal they wouldn’t be able to hide in groups of people. Adside from easily finding jobs in Egypt’s gold industry, dwarfs and pygmies were revered as people that had special gifts endowed on them from the gods, so they were treated favorably in other aspects of life.
