Chapter I:

Tools used in the Kitchen

of Ancient Egypt
The Egyptian kitchen:
The kitchen was an essential element in the construction of an Ancient Egyptian
house, palace and temples as proved by many archaeological finds. 1 Its shape and size
differ from place to another and from house to another. Its tools were known and
important to use for cooking and preparing all kinds of foods and drinks.
The tools needed for preparing foods and drinks, such as (hearths, ovens, mortars,
metal blades, vessels, pottery, metal, basketry, and many other things).
The kitchen would contain pots and pans for cooking and vessels for storing water.
Sometimes an alcove in the kitchen wall would hold the statue of a protecting
household god. Tools used by the Egyptians were fairly basic. If there was no fixed
oven, a portable one would be used. This would take the shape of a circular pottery
disc with a hole in the bottom where the fire was lit, if that was not available, ancient
Egyptians would simply use a canon, a small campfire surrounded by a few stones
used to hold the cooking vessel.
Although there is much that we do not know about ancient Egyptian ways of cooking,
the depictions, wall paintings, tools, and cooking vessels discovered over the years
have left us a general picture of the methods used. In addition to ovens and burners,
there were also various pots with two handles for cooking, as well as plates, pans,
pitchers, stone and clay urns, baskets to hold food, sieves, and pestles for grinding.
Other implements used included knives to cut meat and butcher hooks. 2 (Fig 1. 1)

Fig 1. 1: Different types of ancient mortars, on display at the Museum of Agriculture,

Cairo; Mehdawy M. & Hussein A., The pharaoh's kitchen, Cairo, 2010, p.7

Kitchen utensils:
At the left are a wickerwork tray on a stand, a whisk, a strainer, a bowl used as a
lamp, and a brazier. In the center is a bronze sucker with a strainer at its lower end;
its rounded bottom id steadied by a ring stand.
The brewer’s vat at the right has a spout placed so the clear liquid could be poured off
without disturbing either the impurities that rose to the top or the dregs at the bottom.
In front of it are three parts of a fire drill. The bow, which is missing, was used to
rotate the charred, pointed stick, which was set in one of the holes in the other piece of
wood. The friction caused sparks that ignited tinder placed below. 3 (Fig 1.2)

1
Enany A. M. Z., “The Kitchen in Ancient Egypt from the Archaic Period till the End of the New
Kingdom”, unpublished Thesis, p. XXIII.
2
Mehdawy M. & Hussein A., The pharaoh's kitchen, Cairo, 2010, p. 6.
3
Scott N., "The Daily life of the Ancient Egyptians", MMA 3 (3), p. 126.

2
Fig 1. 2: Kitchen utensils; Scott N., "The Daily life of the Ancient Egyptians", MMA 3
(3), p. 126.
The Kitchen Ovens:
The features designated as ovens can be divided into two sub-varieties based on size
and shape: large, ovoid or sub-rectangular ovens and small, circular ovens. In the case
of the sub-rectangular variety, the sides, in most instances, appear to be bounded by a
single course of mud brick. The interpretation of these structures as ovens has been
suggested by their positioning within rooms of houses and by comparison with similar
(although not identical) features within modern peasant dwellings. 1
In the city of Amarna, small households were self-sufficient in bread production based
on the frequency of ovens in small houses 2 (Fig 1. 3)

Fig 1. 3: A cylindrical oven from the Amarna Workmen's village; Samuel D., "Bread
Making and Social Interactions at the Amarna Workmen's Village, Egypt", World
Archaeology 31 (1), p. 133.

Pot-hearth:
One example of a conical jar, imbedded in earth, and surrounded by a small, irregular
fired patch was found. Two other pots were found in direct association with the
feature, although neither was adjacent to the fired area itself (Fig 1. 4).
The jar was partially covered by a broken lid of crude ceramic composition which
resembled a "bread pot." The feature was located on the floor of room 1. The exact
function of the "pot-hearth" remains a mystery, although, based on the juxtaposition
of the jar and the fired area, an admittedly tenuous comparison can be made with the
grain kilns noted at Abydos.
Perhaps a somewhat more realistic comparison would be with the small jars or pots of
tea or coffee one sees today in the countryside of Egypt, where the coals of the day's

1
Hoffman M., "Preliminary Report on the First Two Seasons at Hierakonpolis: Part III: Occupational
features at the Kom El-Ahmer", JARCE IX, p. 35.
2
Samuel D., "Bread Making and Social Interactions at the Amarna Workmen's Village, Egypt", World
Archaeology 31 (1), p. 134.

3
fire are banked around the container every night to in-sure a warm drink in the
morning. If such were the function of this feature, then the contents of the jar may
have been some type of food rather than drink. 1

Fig 1. 4: “Pot Hearth” and associated pots; Hoffman M., "Preliminary Report on the
First Two Seasons at Hierakonpolis: Part III: Occupational features at the Kom El-
Ahmer", JARCE IX, p. 36.

Pot Basins:
Pot basins appear in the soil as shallow, clay-lined holes of roughly conical cross-
section. From comparison with various in situ pots found during excavations, with
ancient Egyptian house models and with modern receptacles for storage pots the
function of these clay-lined basins became apparent. Pot basins may occur either
singly or in clusters (Fig 1. 5), and the variation in their cross-sections often suggests
the particular type of vessel that each hole formerly accommodated. A suggestion of
the multitude of kitchen functions represented by clusters of pots set into the ground
or the floor is provided by the 11th Dynasty household models from the tomb of
Meket-Re at Thebes. 2

Fig 1. 5: Cluster of pot Basins; Hoffman M., "Preliminary Report on the First Two
Seasons at Hierakonpolis: Part III: Occupational features at the Kom El-Ahmer",
JARCE IX, p. 38.

Water Stands:
Two features were found and have been classified as water stands. One of these
consists of a clay-built pothole and ad-joining clay basin (Fig 1. 6) and the other, of a
series of large, flat stones set upright in the ground upon a mud brick base to form a
roughly square receptacle. The clay feature was probably datable to Old Kingdom
times, although possibly later. The stone counterpart was found the topmost level. The
dating is unsure but probably is later than Old Kingdom.
The interpretation of the function of the stone water stand is more tenuous, since no
direct evidence of a clay-lined pot basin was found in association with it.

1
Hoffman M., "Preliminary Report on the First Two Seasons at Hierakonpolis: Part III: Occupational
features at the Kom El-Ahmer", JARCE IX, p. 35.
2
Ibid., p. 37.

4
Nevertheless, the portion of it which survives is reminiscent of the modern public
water jars often found at crossroads underneath a cluster of palm trees.
An 11th Dynasty inscription of one Samentuser "intendant and chief of the kitchens in
the domain of Montu," states that, among his good works, was the organization of a
city water supply. The clay pot and basin are more obviously connected with the
storage and allotment of a liquid (probably water); although the particular function it
served may have been washing rather than consumption. 1

Fig 1. 6: Clay "water stand"; Hoffman M., "Preliminary Report on the First Two
Seasons at Hierakonpolis: Part III: Occupational features at the Kom El-Ahmer",
JARCE IX, p. 38.

The condiment shelf:

The most basic of diets may be enlivened and varied by the careful use of condiments.
Certain of these, such as salt, oil and vinegar are also essential to some common
methods of food preservation. 2

Ladles:
Spatha cailliaudi, were used as scoops, or ladles, being frequently found stacked
together, either in pottery vessels or in hearthside rubbish with sherds, fish bones, and
splintered animal bones. The first stage of the Merimda settlement are such
sophisticated forms as footed vases, carinated vases, pottery ring-stands for jars, and
pottery ladles. They were used as scoops or ladles in the kitchens of the settlement
and are occasionally serrated around the edges for use as fish scalers in much the
same fashion as they were in the Fayum. In wood there are, besides a number of
handles for bone and copper punches and the domical jar-cover mentioned above, a
crude, short-handled spoon or ladle. The shells of river mussels trimmed around the
edges to serve as ladles or scoops are among the rare examples, aside from jewelry, of
the use of this material in the Maadi settlement. 3
Clay ladles occur in Egyptian culture, a type found at Merimdeh (Fig 1. 7, 1) has a
shallow bowl and a long, blunt- ended handle. Badarian ladles were found at
Mostagedda. A rough brown example from village has a pushed-up handle (Fig 1. 7,
2). A smooth brown ladle with a short broad handle rising vertically from the rim (Fig
1. 7, 3; from grave 2020) and a small bowl with a projection at the rim (Fig. 1.6, 4)

1
Hoffman M., "Preliminary Report on the First Two Seasons at Hierakonpolis: Part III: Occupational
features at the Kom El-Ahmer", JARCE IX, p. 38.
2
Ibid., p. 39.
3
Hayes W. C., "Most Ancient Egypt chapter III. The Neolithic and Chalcolithic Communities of
Northern Egypt", JNES 23 (4), p. 217.

5
that site does produce two rough ladles with deep circular bowls and broken, vertical
handles (Fig. 1.6, 6 and 5). 1

Fig 1. 7: ladles; Kantor H. J., "The Early Relations of Egypt with Asia", JNES 1 no. 2,
p. 175.
Shallow Pan in Form of Goose's Neck (Fig 1. 8):
This object may have served as a ladle or cooking pan. The graceful handle
reproduces the curved neck of a goose and recalls similar forms on stone vessels and
spoons of the period. It is made of Bronze, was excavated in (Tomb D154), Abydos. It
dates to the 18th Dynasty. 2

Fig 1. 8: Ladle;
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/3104/Ladle_or_Shallow_Pan
_in_Form_of_Gooses_Neck.
Very few spoons were found dating back to pre-dynastic times. Yet a few examples
prove their existence and use in cooking during this period. A few examples dated
back to the Badari period. Another good example is a wooden stirring spoon that was
found by some hut remains at Maadi. (Fig 1. 9)

Fig 1. 9: A Predynastic wooden spoon; Menghin, & Amer, The Excavations of the
Egyptian university in the Neolithic site at Maadi, 2nd Preliminary report, Pl. LXI.

1
Kantor H. J., "The Early Relations of Egypt with Asia", JNES 1 no. 2, p. 174.
2
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/3104/Ladle_or_Shallow_Pan_in_Form_of_G
ooses_Neck, 01/04/2012.

6
Knives:
Ancient Egyptians used knives for food cutting during Predynastic times. They were
mostly made of a single piece of flint each. In some cases the knife is only worked on
one side (Fig 1. 10), a & c, or worked on both sides which will give it two cutting
edges. These tend to be more like cutting blades than knives while some other
Predynastic knives had slightly curving backs, rounded or pointed tips and gently
curving blades. 1 Fig 1.11

(a) (b) (c)

Fig 1. 10: Predynastic knives, Abydos; Ikram S., "Choice cuts: Meat Production in
Ancient Egypt", OLA 69, 1995, p.63.

Fig 1. 11: A Predynastic curved knife; Needler W., Pre-dynastic and Archaic Egypt in
the Brooklyn Museum, Cairo, 1984, p. 265; Petrie-museum, no. UC 15797. Online
catalogue in www.kahun.ucl.ac.uk.main/knives.

- Flint knife: (Fig 1. 12)

From El ‘Adaima no. 51, Naqada I (?)
From the settlement, this roughly flaked bifacial implement has a narrow butt and a
double-pointed, slightly concave working end which is retouched on both faces
around all three edges. This has a relation with fishtail knife from Badari.

Fig 1 .12: Knife; Needler W., Pre-dynastic and Archaic Egypt in the Brooklyn
Museum, Cairo, 1984, p. 266.

1
Ikram S., "Choice cuts: Meat Production in Ancient Egypt", OLA 69, 1995, p.63.

7
- Flint “Fishtail knife”: (Fig 1. 13)
From El Ma’mariya (Ma’mariya no. 83), Naqada II:
The knife was repaired in 1960 from 4 fragments; it is complete except for a few
missing splinters. This concave type of fishtail knife, distinct from the V-shaped type
that superseded it in Naqada II, is well attested for Naqada I. 1

Fig 1. 13: Fishtail Knife; Ikram S., "Choice cuts: Meat Production in Ancient Egypt",
OLA 69, 1995, p. 267.
Cooking:
The chef worked on a wooden bench, either standing or croughing-in this latter case;
the tray must have been down quite low. He was surrounded by numerous pots,
skewers and dishes, as well as various sorts of ladles and hooks on long handles.
Meat was usually boiled in large caldrons, carefully watched over by the servant who
was fanning the flames and by another whose job it was to stir the stock pot and the
forth.
A third servant mixed the salt, pepper and the numerous spices in a mortar; many
kinds of liquid, wine, oil, beer and vinegar were also placed near the chef, to be
poured into the pot. The ingredients were arranged on large trays hanging from the
ceiling on strings a wise precaution against the perpetual uninvited guests. 2
An interesting scene of cooking once decorated the tomb chapel of a certain Keti
located at Herakleopolis, modern Ihnasia.
The cooking method most commonly depicted was boiling. Egyptian terminology,
however, indicates that roast “meat” was more common than its portrayal would
suggest. It is most difficult to determine the reasons that would account for the
practices of roasting fowl, as opposed to boiling beef and “meats”.
In concluding remarks on cooking, one might mention that a new interpretation is
now given by some archaeologists to a scene usually cited as “An Egyptian Kitchen
from the tomb of Rameses III”. 3

Cooking vessels:
They were of many sizes and shapes, usually of pottery, sometimes of metal; they
were placed directly on the fire or in clay ovens. The guests at an Egyptian meal did
not sit down around one table. Important personages were given individual stands
with their own supplies of food and drink. The less important laid their dishes on the
floor beside them. 4

1
Ikram S., "Choice cuts: Meat Production in Ancient Egypt", OLA 69, 1995, p. 267.
2
Romant B., Life in Egypt in Ancient times, Genève, 1978/81, p. 58.
3
Darby W. J., Food: the Gift of Osiris II, New York, 1977, p. 758-759.
4
Scott N., "The Daily life of the Ancient Egyptians", MMA 3 (3), p. 123.

8
No cutlery was used at meals. The vessels in which food and drink were served ware
of a wide variety, but the different shapes had definite uses.
Pottery vessels were the most usual; they were often of elegant shapes and sometimes
were decorated with painted designs. Copper and bronze dishes were abundant since
they were also used as a form of currency. 1 Bright blue and green faience, glass of
countless hues, and dazzling alabaster contrasted with gold and silver at the banquets
of the wealthy. At meal times servants took around pitchers and basins to wash the
hands of the guests and “Turkish” towels to dry them.
Quantities of flowers were always to be found in Egyptian homes. Bowls and vases
had special contrivances to keep the heavy blossoms of the lotus in place. Guests were
presented with formal bouquets, and garlands were placed around their shoulders;
sometimes these were made of brightly colored faience instead of real flowers. (Fig 1.
14) 2

Fig 1. 14: A little maid carries two jugs of the sort that held the strong essences added
to food and drink as it was being served. The lady she is helping holds a dinner plate,
and the footed dish shown below is of the type used to hold the cones of scented
ointment worn on the head on festive occasions; Scott N., "The Daily life of the
Ancient Egyptians", MMA 3 (3), p. 126.

Fat in cooking:
Were used to make from milk and still used to make from milky materials. There are
different oils and fats used in cooking, oil and fat is mostly used for frying meat and
vegetables, though food is also cooked in milk or butter. 3

Animal fats:
Positive information on animal fats is available in some tomb finds like the 91 jars
labeled and found in the temple of Amenophis III, who judging from the invariable
determination of this word on the labels by a closed jar, stated that the material had
been poured into these jars in a liquid state.
Four kinds of fat were found in a list of offerings; undefined fat, probably ox fat 4;
goose fat 5; white fat 6; and a type that breasted translate as butter 7, and that Harris
surmised was molten butter which on being melted, separated from the remaining

1
Scott N., "The Daily life of the Ancient Egyptians", MMA 3 (3), p. 124.
2
Ibid., p. 125.
3
Hunt N. B., Living in Ancient Egypt, New York, 2009, p. 25.
4
Breasted J. H., Ancient Records of Egypt III, Chicago, 1906, p. 208, 413; Breasted J. H., Ancient
Records of Egypt IV, p. 286, 344.
5
Ibid. IV, p. 322, 376.
6
Ibid. IV, p. 233, 239.
7
Ibid. IV, p. 233, 301, 376.

9
 components and resulted in a product which, like ghee or Arabic masly or samna,
keeps better. 1

Cooking of meat:
Despite considerable evidence relative to all aspects of cattle, beef and butchering,
little is known about cooking of beef in Ancient Egypt. But representations of roasting
beef are rare; one example known to us is from the tomb of Ukh-hotep, son of Ukh-
hotep at Meir. The cooking method most commonly depicted was boiling. Egyptian
terminology, however, indicates that roast "meat" was more common than its
portrayal would suggest. 2
Bedouins from northern Sinai boil all meats (lamb, goat, desert game or beef when
available) but roast fowl as ancient Egyptian was doing.
In concluding these remarks on cooking, one might mention that a new interpretation
is now given by some archaeologists to a scene usually edited as "an Egyptian kitchen
from the tomb of Ramses III". 3 (Fig 1. 15)

Fig 1. 15: An Egyptian kitchen, from the tomb of Ramses III at Thebes:
1- Killing and preparing the joints, which are placed at a,b,c.
2- Catching the blood for the purposes of cookery.
3- 4and 5 employed in bolting meat and stirring the fire.
4- 7 preparing the meat for the caldron, which is taking to the fire.
5- F. h. apparently siphons.
6- I. J. ropes passing through rings and supporting different things, as a sort of safe.
7- S. probably plates; Wilkinson J. G., The manner and customs of the ancient Egyptians
II, New York, 1878, p.32.

The chief of household consisted of an old "superintendent of the supervision house",

who had the charge of the storerooms, supervision of the bakery, slaughter house and
grew so stout in the exercise of his duties that at the funeral festival.
At the head of the kitchen stood the "superintendent of the dwelling;" the serfs were
subject to him; the superintendent of the bake-house" governed the bakery. And the
scribe of the side board was originally appointed to take charge of his master's
drinks. 4
In the kitchen of Ymery, superintendent of the domains of king Shepseskaf, the hearth
is replaced by a metal brazier with pretty openwork sides. In the same kitchen we see
how the meat is cut up on low tables and cooked; the smaller pots have been placed
on a brazier, the large ones stand on two supports over the open fire.
When we come to the time of the New Kingdom, we find in the representations of the
kitchen of Ramses III; a great metal kettle with feet standing on the fire; the kitchen
1
Darby W. J., Food: the Gift of Osiris II, New York, 1977, p.758-759.
2
Darby W. J., Food: the Gift of Osiris I, 1977, New York, p. 160.
3
Ibid. I, p. 160.
4
Erman A., Life in Ancient Egypt, New York, 1971, p. 187.

10
boy is stirring the contents with an immense two-pronged fork. The floor of the whole
of the back part of the kitchen is composed of mud and little stones, and is raised
about a foot in order to form the fire place, above which, under the ceiling extends a
bar on which is hung the stock of meat. 1
The ceramic assemblage from the excavation of HK25 suggests that this area was
used for food preparation, probably brewing and baking, on a large scale. One of the
surprises finds among the fragments of large rough-ware vats, shale-tempered hole-
mouth jars and bowls. 2

Sieve: (Fig. 1. 16)

Fig 1. 16: Collection Museum of Agriculture ancient Cairo - Inventory No. 1955;
http://museum.agropolis.fr/pages/expos/egypte/fr/museum_cairo/items/tamis.htm.

Bread: (Fig. 1. 17)

Fig 1. 17: Mock loaf pans stacked to preheat before baking Giza - Old Kingdom,
Collection Museum of Agriculture ancient Cairo - Inventory. No. 4526;
http://museum.agropolis.fr/pages/expos/egypte/fr/museum_cairo/items/model_oven.ht
m.

Bread hole: (Fig. 1. 18)

(1) (2)

-
Fig 1. 18: Collection Museum of Agriculture ancient Cairo - Inventory No. 2585; (1)
http://museum.agropolis.fr/pages/expos/egypte/fr/museum_cairo/items/bread. (2)
http://museum.agropolis.fr/pages/expos/egypte/fr/museum_cairo/items/pain_trou.htm.

Cake: (Fig. 1. 19)

Fig 1. 19: Collection Museum of Agriculture ancient Cairo - Inventory No. 2575;
http://museum.agropolis.fr/pages/expos/egypte/fr/museum_cairo/items/cake.htm.

1
Erman A., Life in Ancient Egypt, New York, 1971, p.189.
2
Pyke G., "An Enigmatic Bird from HK25", Nekhen News 18, p. 6.

11
Cake: (Fig. 1. 20)

Fig 1. 20: Collection Museum of Agriculture ancient Cairo - Inventory No. 2578;
http://museum.agropolis.fr/pages/expos/egypte/fr/museum_cairo/items/cake2.htm.

Basket cookies: (Fig. 1. 21)

Fig 1. 21: Collection Museum of Agriculture ancient Cairo - Inventory No. 4273;
http://museum.agropolis.fr/pages/expos/egypte/fr/museum_cairo/items/basket_biscuit
s.htm.

From Abu Roash: (Fig. 1. 22)

Fig 1. 22: Pottery plates that have food;

http://www.rmo.nl/collectie/zoeken?object=F+1961%2f1

Limited evidence is available about meal times. Probably, the wealthy would have
eaten two if not three times a day: a light meal in the early morning, followed by a
large lunch, and an evening dinner. Peasants would probably have eaten a simple
breakfast of beer, bread, and onions, with their main meal being late in the afternoon.
Bread and beer were consumed by all levels of society, probably as a basis for all
meals, while wine was drunk by the wealthy or on special occasions. Meat of some
type would have been available to most of the population at least once or twice a
week. Beef would have been available to the poor only on feast days, when the meat
of scarified animals was distributed to them. 1

In a tomb at Tell El-Amarna, belonging to the close of the 18th Dynasty, a

distinguished priest called 'Ey has caused his house to be represented. (Fig 1. 23)

1
Redford D. B., The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt I: (Diet), Oxford, 2001, p. 390-394.

12
After passing through the servants' offices, the store rooms, the great dining hall, the
bedroom room and the kitchen, at the further end of a piece of ground in the tomb of
Ymery, a superintendent of the royal property, part of the inside of a house is given.
Ymery has caused himself to be represented there seated in a pillared hall receiving
the funerary offerings. 1

Fig 1. 23: House of Ey'; L.D. III, 106,a.

The room is filled with tables of food and jugs of liquid, and from a bar, which runs
the whole length of the room below the ceiling hang pieces of roast meat. This is
evidently the great dining-hall, which then, as well as a century later, constituted the
chief room of an Egyptian palace.
One of these houses is a low two storied building. In the open porch before the house
are the vessels of wine, while the food is on tables adorned with garlands; numerous
jars, loaves and bowls stand close by, hidden by a curtain from the guests who are
entering. Whilst the latter greet their host a jar of wine with its embroidered cover is
carried past, and two servants in the background, who seem to be of a very thirsty
nature, have already seized some drinking bowls. 2
The house which represented in the tomb of the high priest Meryre (Fig 1. 24 – 1. 25),
passing through the kiosk we enter the most important room in the Egyptian House,
the great dining-hall supported by pillars.

Fig 1. 24: Meryre House; L.D. III. 93a.

1
Erman A., Life in Ancient Egypt, New York, 1971, p.153.
2
Ibid., p. 154.

13
 Fig 1. 25: Another part of Meryre house; L.D. III. 96b.

The large dining table stands in the middle covered with dishes, bowls of fruit, and
loaves of bread; roast meat and other articles of food are placed upon smaller tables;
there are also flowers and gay necklets, the requisites for an Egyptian dinner-party. In
the back part of the hall a row of immense wine jars are built into the wall. On either
side of the table stand one or two arm-chairs, and close to one of them is a basin with
a jug of water, evidently the present Oriental custom of pouring water over the hands
after eating is no modern innovation. 1
Behind the dining-hall, but separated from it by a small court are the storerooms. Two
large rooms filled with jars serve as kitchens, in each room there is a low earth. Two
doors is in the middle of the dining-hall, and is evidently destined for the company
and for the servants when waiting at meals. 2
At the tomb of Meryre, there was one chair at the dining-hall; the great lord ate his
dinner alone. The stately building beyond is the dining-hall, which is arranged in the
usual manner. A door from the back of the dining-hall into a court, through which we
reach the kitchen. A second smaller dining-room adjoins the bedroom; it contains as
usual two arm-chairs with footstools, a large dining-table; and jars of wine; the jug
and wash-basin have also not been forgotten.
Apparently Ey and his wife Tey only used their great dining-hall on festive occasions.
At the house of Ey, at the further end of the piece of ground, are the other kitchens,
apparently intended for the servants, several of whom are squatting round this
building, busily intent on eating their dinner from small tables. 3
Private dwellings of the New Kingdom, which belong to the complete town house of
the 18th Dynasty. There was large dining-hall behind a great vestibule with an ante-
room for the porter. The kitchen and store room at the left of a small court (all large
private houses). In the palace, behind three ante-chambers are two immense dining-
halls, and adjoining one of these in the kitchen. 4

Eating and drinking customs:

Ancient Egyptians ate while seated at small tables laden with different kinds of meat,
poultry, vegetables, fruits, and loaves of bread. Peasants would sit on a straw mat
while the nobles would generally sit on stools or chairs, both eating with their fingers.
Ladies and children would sit on cushions placed on the ground. 5 This is why we
found the dead depicted sat and yet the men also depicted at the beginning of the 18th
1
Erman A., Life in Ancient Egypt, New York, 1971, p.157.
2
Ibid., p. 158.
3
Ibid., p.159.
4
Ibid., p.153-182.
5
Mehdawy M. & Hussein A., The pharaoh's kitchen, 2010, Cairo, p. 11.

14
dynasty sat in the banquets paintings, while the women squatting. This has been
changed under the reign of Thutmosis IV.; since this time women also were depicted
sitting in the banquet scenes. 1
Under the Old Empire the Egyptians squatted(*) for their meals, two people generally
at one little table, which was put half a foot high, and on which was heaped up fruit,
bread, and roast meat, while the drinking bowls stood underneath. 2 Stereotyped
scenes of funeral banquets occur repeatedly on stelae in noblemen’s Mastabas from
the Old Kingdom and in tomb paintings of later date. The deceased is shown in front
of a table piled with various vegetables and fruit, meat dishes, slices of bread and
cakes, usually with jugs of beer or wine standing underneath. 3 They ate with their
fingers, and afterwards water was poured over their hands from an ewer into a basin
kept on a stand in the dining room.
The dining has been put on small table. Worm dining has been served to the dead on
clay plates keep the heat. Liquids were drunk from bowls, and they were eating with
hands, there were no spoons or knives for eating. 4

At the table:
The arrangement of the table was not left to chance. Table decoration was a fine art.
large lotus flowers were used for the dining tables; and under the New Kingdom the
jars of wine and beer were always adorned with covers of embroidered work;
"wreaths of flowers for the wine-jars". In the same way as the tables were decked with
flowers, the guests at the banquet were adorned with sweet smelling flowers and buds;
just as the guests amongst other nations pass glasses of wine to each other at the
present day 5. There were distinct rules of etiquette; and, even if there were no masters
masters of ceremonies at banquets or receptions, then master or mistress of the house
took in hand the smooth running of the evening. 6
At an Egyptian party, the men and women were frequently entertained separately, in a
difficult part of the same room, at the upper end of two chairs, or on a large armchair;
the separation of the sexes was not intended as a kind of official segregation; instead,
it was felt that the conversation, being about different subjects in either case, would be
livelier that way.
The master and the mistress of the house would rise to greet their guests and usher
then into the room. Invitations were issued to both lunch and dinner. Each guest
would sit at his appointed place. On a chair or a stool, or a simple cushion. Or perhaps
on the floor as the case may be. 7Some dinner parties were very large indeed. The
guests sometimes came with their pets-dogs, cats or monkeys, who remained at their
feet during the meal.
During such receptions, the pleasures of the table were always accompanied by other
sorts of entertainment, in the form of a floor-show. The musicians and dancers would
how before the guests, we know that this part of the evenings fun was always popular.
The table itself was quite rudimentary, and in no sense a fine piece of furniture in its
own right. It was hardly a table at all, but merely a kind of round tray on which dishes
1
Wolfang, H. H., LÄ II, Eß- und Trinksitten, Wiesbaden, 1977, p. 33-34.
(*)In the New Kingdom these traditions continued for the poor, but wealthy people now sat on high
chairs and were waited on by their servants.
2
Erman, A., Life in ancient Egypt, New York, 1971, p. 143.
3
Strouhal, E., Life of the ancient Egyptian, Cairo, 1996, p. 125.
4
Wolfang, H. H., (Eß- und Trinksitten) LÄ II, Wiesbaden, 1977, p. 34.
5
Erman A., Life in Ancient Egypt, New York, 1971, p. 193.
6
Ibid., p. 164.
7
Ibid., p. 165.

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could be put. Sometimes, as in Rome, the table was brought in by the servants fully
laden, and then taken away again after dinner. 1
More often than not, however, the dishes were brought in separately and there were
many of them; several dishes of roasted or boiled meat, poultry, fish, numerous
vegetables, dairy products, fresh chesses, and at the end, fruit and pastries which,
were as use have been, varied and of high quality.
Table-cloths and napkins were not used, and each guest helped himself directly out of
his plate. Without knives, forks or even sticks, in the Chinese style, the guests had to
used their fingers secure the morsels of food for their own consumption. It was
considered stylish to use only three figures, and only of the right hand. The guests
often used bread to mop up the sauces. 2
Yet they were entitled to a spoon, which was more or less concave, when soup was
served. These soups were usually very thick and made from a lentil base. Whenever
the drinks were passed around and after the guests had drunk, a serving girl would
offer them napkins to wipe their mouths something like the mahrama still in use
basins for this purpose.
The act of serving wine at table the ritual varying according to the sex of the guests.
Special servants, usually under the chief female servant, were in charge of serving
wine. She was a white slave and had a black assistant. The former carried the vase
containing the precious beverage, and the second the vase which was to be filled. 3

The Egyptians originally had no tables, at least not of the shape, which has come
down to us from classical times. Under the Old Kingdom high or low stands of the
above shapes were used. These were often made of colored stone.
On each was placed a jug or cup, or e.g., as a preparation for meals, a flat basket
which then served as dinner-plate; a low frame-work of this laths was also in use,
especially as a stand for jars. These lath-stands in later times constituted the only form
of tables that was used; in the houses of Tell El-Amarna we see them of all sizes in
the dining-hall of the master and the kitchens.
It is but rarely that we find the old stands for jars and baskets, and then as a rule only
in representations of offerings. The stands of the tables of offerings are higher than
those of the Old Kingdom. 4

In ancient Egypt table decoration was a fine art. Large lotus flowers were used for the
dining tables; and under the New Empire the jars of wine and beer were always
adorned with covers of embroidered work; “Wreaths of flowers for the wine-jars”. In
the same way as the tables decked with flowers, the guests at the banquet were
adorned with sweet smelling flowers and buds; just as the guests amongst other
nations pass glasses of wine to each other at the present day. 5

1
Erman A., Life in Ancient Egypt, New York, 1971, p. 166.
2
Ibid., p. 167.
3
Bernard Romant, Life in Egypt in Ancient times, Genève, 1978/81, p. 61-62.
4
Op. Cit., p. 186.
5
Ibid., p. 143.

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