Page 16 - SYTYGIB: Ancient Egypt

FANCY THAT!
King Rameses II had many wives – and over 100 children! So if you´re fed up being the middle brother or
sister, think yourself lucky!
Children started to help their parents from a young age, which was awfully nice of them.
And that doesn’t mean occasionally tidying their bedroom in a half-hearted way after being nagged for a yEaR (sound familiar?) . . .
So what are the chances I can go and hang out with my friends ... on a scale of zero to no chance?
Paintings from ancient Egypt show girls looking after younger brothers and sisters and, like their mothers, carrying them in a sling.
Can you imagine having to cart your little bro or sis around in a sling? How utterly embarrassing – so uncool, and not exactly
handy when you have to carry your schoolbag, too.
No. Thanks.
Boys had to help out the family as well. An ancient form of “schoolbook” told how a baker, when putting bread into the oven to bake, had to put his head into the oven while his son held his feet. If the boy let him slip . . . the baker fell into the bottom of the oven.
Whoops! Sorry, Dad. Pass up a doughnut while you´re down there, would you?
FANCY THAT!
To keep the royal line pure,
a pharaoh might marry his own sister as his chief wife. So his mum and dad were also his parents-in-law! Eeeuw.
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