Ancient Egypt was located along the Nile River in northeast Africa. The Nile was the source of much of Ancient Egypt’s wealth. The civilization was one of the greatest and most powerful civilizations in the history of the world. It lasted for over 3000 years, from 3150 BC to 30 BC.
However, they also had traditions that are no longer practiced today, proving that they relate to the modern world and know more about anatomy and life than we thought.
1. Baby Gender Test
The ancient Egyptians were the first to detect the gender of unborn children. Traditionally, women urinated on wheat and barley seeds. If the grain barely grew, the baby was a boy; if the grain grew, the baby was a girl. This test was thought to be highly accurate.
2. Preventing pregnancy
Women in ancient Egypt seem to have known a lot of methods to prevent pregnancy. For example, they used the excrements of crocodiles and sometimes elephants and mixed them with honey and herbs to cover the genitalia. This method is believed to have effectively worked with them.
3. Death Penalties
In ancient Egypt, death penalties were ferocious. They used to have both fatal punishments and non-fatal punishments, along with imprisonments. The Pharaohs set the laws and implemented the disciplines and their officials –both fatal and non-fatal. Deadly punishments included impalement that was executed by Ramses III and also included burning alive.
4. Mummification
The concept of mummification originated in ancient Egypt. They believed in the afterlife, and those souls would seek out their bodies, so they had to make the bodies recognizable so that the souls could reclaim them. Artificial preservation was a time-consuming process that could last up to 70 days.
5. Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun was born with several genetic flaws and physical deformities because his parents were siblings, which was common in ancient Egypt. Despite this, King Tut was one of Egypt’s most prominent and influential rulers. According to a study made in 2014 that researchers did to help quell a religious revolution started by his father. Scientists discovered his body and found that he was mummified with an erect penis. An investigation revealed that he was buried in this manner to resemble Osiris, the god of the afterlife.
