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# **The Egyptians: 1500BC to 500BC** ## **Houses and Furniture** In Egypt, only temples and tombs, which were built to stand for ever, were made of stone. All other buildings were made of sun-dried bricks. Rich people had their houses plastered and painted. * Very few Egyptian cities can be e...

# **The Egyptians: 1500BC to 500BC** ## **Houses and Furniture** In Egypt, only temples and tombs, which were built to stand for ever, were made of stone. All other buildings were made of sun-dried bricks. Rich people had their houses plastered and painted. * Very few Egyptian cities can be excavated because modern cities are built on top of the old ones. However, models and paintings from tombs show us what ancient Egyptian houses looked like in both town and country. * Models show that in cities, where land was scarce, the Egyptians built houses up to five storeys high. ## Furniture * The Egyptians buried furniture with the dead for use in the Next World, so archaeologists have been able to find many pieces of actual furniture. The greatest find of all was from the tomb of King Tutankhamun. The rich inlaid furniture shown here is of the type owned by noblemen. Some items are based on Tutankhamun's design. ## **Bedroom** * The Egyptians used stone or wooden head-rests on their beds instead of pillows. They kept their clothes in chests and their jewellery and cosmetics in small boxes. ## **Bathroom** * Rich people had bathrooms and lavatories in their houses. The bathroom walls were lined with stone to stop the splashes damaging the mud bricks. * The hard dry earth was broken up with digging sticks and piled into baskets. * Water and chopped straw were trodden into the mud, and then the mixture was put into moulds. * The bricks were left to dry in the hot sun. It took several days for them to dry hard. ## **Country Houses** * This house belongs to a wealthy farmer and his family. They do their cooking outside to avoid the risk of fire and get rid of smoke. * People spent a lot of time on the roofs of theirhouses because it was cooler there and they could enjoy the evening breeze. Sometimes they slept on the roof too.