Most times, when we think about ancient inventions, we probably focus our minds on foreign lands or other continents.
We tend not to remember that there are so many practices and inventions that originated in Africa.
Egypt, a North African country is one of the countries on the African continent that is full of ancient inventions. Some of these inventions are still in existence today and are very relevant to our day-to-day lives.
The pharaohs of Egypt presided over a huge kingdom for thousands of years, taming vast stretches of wilderness, erecting monuments that have stood the test of time, and creating stories that have since become legends.
Over the thousands of years ancient Egyptians thrived, they are known to have ushered in perhaps the most advanced civilization the world had ever known, and many of the fixtures of their society are still commonplace.
For instance, Egyptian women donned ornate jewellery and wigs, the men boxed, fenced, and wrestled for sport and the children played with board games, dolls, and other toys.
They also thrived as inventors, and their creations changed everything from fashion to agriculture so drastically that we still see their influence today.
We are taking a look at some of these inventions from Egypt that are still in vogue today and would still be relevant in the many more years to come.
The Calendar
Imagine what the world would be without a calendar.
Most, if not all of us would be lost without a calendar to help us book important meetings, appointments, and so on, so, thanks to the Egyptian people for this.
In ancient Egypt, a calendar could mean the difference between feast and famine. Without a calendar, ancient Egyptians had no way of knowing when the annual flooding of the Nile would begin. Without that knowledge, their entire agricultural system would be put at risk, so a few thousand years before the common era, they started using one.
Ink and Paper
Paper and ink are ancient Egyptian inventions. Though it was not known as paper as we call it today, it was a precursor called papyrus. It was named after the grassy reeds that grew along the Nile, from which the material was made, although the invention of writing pre-dated the Egyptians.
For many years, historians have been trying to determine the exact methods used by the Egyptians for turning this plant into a writing surface.
It is thought, however, that the first step involved cutting the stem into strips, after which they were soaked to expand the fibres, and laid down in overlapping layers.
The Mesopotamians had carved their letters into clay, stone, and wax, but the Egyptians came up with the less strenuous method of using ink. They made this by grinding several different pigments and ores together with water to form a thick liquid that could be applied to papyrus with a brush or stylus.
By combining different natural substances, such as copper, iron, quartz, and malachite, the Egyptians were able to produce ink in a variety of colours, although black, red and blue are the most common.
The Police
The first ever Police Force was founded in ancient Egypt, with the expansion of urban living and centralized power came the emergence of organized law enforcement.
When the Egyptians introduced the Police around 2500 BC, its initial purpose was to patrol and regulate the ships and boats travelling on the Nile, to protect them from thieves, and ensure that trade and the economy continued to prosper.
Around 1500 BC, the Egyptians developed an elite paramilitary police force known as the Medjay. Medjay was originally used to refer to nomadic people from Nubia, who were employed as the first policemen, but the name soon became synonymous with the force in general.
The Medjay were charged with protecting the Pharaoh’s most valuable areas and possessions, including his capital city, the borderlands, and the palace.
The Egyptian police were not responsible for any detective or investigative work, unlike the modern force. Their job was purely to preserve the order and stability of the regime by punishing law-breakers and rebels, often cruelly.
They carried out their duties and tasks in several ways, like using animals such as dogs, and even monkeys, to capture criminals.
Medicines
Before the Egyptians invented medicines, the people of old had treated physical and mental illnesses as the work of the gods and attempted to treat them using religious and magic remedies performed by priests or even exorcists.
The medicines we know today were first developed in ancient Egypt.
Though we still believe that the supernatural played a large role in their understanding of health, the Egyptians had a far more scientific approach to curing sickness, creating medicines from natural resources, such as minerals, herbs, and animal products, and also performing early forms of surgery.
Aside from medicines, Egypt was also responsible for the world’s first public health system.
So far, the progress made in hygiene, diagnosis, and cures shows that much of modern medicine is indebted to the innovations and understanding developed by the ancient Egyptians.
Aside from the inventions mentioned above, there are so many other things that are very relevant to us today that were invented in ancient Egypt.
The likes of tables, chairs, and other furniture, makeup and wigs, Toothpaste and Breath Mints among so many others whose origins can be traced to ancient Egypt.
