Discover 10 interesting inventions of the ancient Egyptians

Over thousands of years, the ancient Egyptians flourished, and ushered in the most advanced civilization the world has ever recorded. They were also known as great inventors, whose achievements changed everything from fashion to agriculture, so much so that we still see their influence today.

1. Eye makeup

To be sure, eye makeup might not line up with fire or the wheel as one of the most important discoveries in human history. Still, it gave the Egyptians a "race to life". Since they first invented eye makeup around 4,000 BC, it has never gone out of style.

According to records, the ancient Egyptians combined soot with a mineral called 'galena' to create a black ointment, which is still popular today. They were also able to create green eye makeup by combining a mineral called 'malachite' with 'galena' to color the ointment.

Some cultures interested in aesthetics today still create makeup using the same techniques that the Egyptians pioneered thousands of years ago.

2. Handwriting

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs adorn the walls at the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut near Luxor, Deir El-bahri, Egypt.

The use of drawings to tell stories is certainly nothing new. But drawings and paintings would not have developed into the first written language for thousands of years, when the first writing systems appeared in Egypt and Mesopotamia.

According to documents, the Egyptian writing system began with hieroglyphics, the first of which dates back to 6,000 BC. 

Over time, the Egyptians added other elements to their writing system, including alphabet-like characters representing certain sounds and other characters, allowing them to write out names and abstract concepts.

Today, everyone knows the Egyptians created hieroglyphs - images that represent whole words - which are found in abundance in Egyptian tombs and elsewhere.

3. Papyrus

A woman places thin strips of papyrus soaked in water to form sheets, before compressing and drying them at a workshop in the village of al-Qaramous, in Egypt's northern Nile Delta.

There is no denying that the Chinese changed the world forever with the invention of paper around 140 BC.

But what many people don't know is that the Egyptians planted a plant with similar uses thousands of years ago, which is sedge.

This hardy, reed-like tree grows in the marshy areas along the Nile. Inside it is a hard, fibrous material that cannot be eaten, but is ideal for making writing plates, and many other essentials of ancient Egyptian life such as slippers, carpets, etc. sail.

4. Calendar

Ancient Egyptian calendar carved in stone.

Today, calendars help us to remember important appointments and to recognize the passage of time. But in ancient Egypt, the calendar was far more important, when it could be the difference between survival and starvation.

Specifically, without a calendar, the ancient Egyptians had no way of knowing when the annual flood of the Nile would take place. Without that knowledge, their entire agricultural system would be at stake.

The Egyptian calendar was so closely associated with agriculture that they divided it into three main seasons: flooding, planting, and harvesting. Each season has 4 months, each month is divided into 30 days. Add it all up, and you get 360 days a year - a bit short compared to an actual year.

5. Plows

The plow has revolutionized agriculture in Egypt.

Evidence suggests that the Egyptians and Sumerians were among the first societies to use plowshares around 4,000 BC.

Initially, plowshares were designed to be quite light and inefficient, when it was necessary to use human power to pull them across the field through a mechanism attached to the elbow.

In 2,000 BC, the Egyptians hooked their plowshares to the bull for the first time, and that changed all that.

The concept of the "plow" was conceived, which revolutionized agriculture in ancient Egypt. When combined with the steady flow of the Nile, it enabled the Egyptians to farm more than any other society at the time.

(To be continued)

 

According to Howstuffworks