Ancient Egyptian law was based on religious principles and sought to maintain balance and order in society. Laws applied equally and protected important social institutions like family. Punishments for crimes could be severe, aiming to deter unlawful acts. Women had considerable legal rights compared to other ancient societies, including rights to own property, though their primary role was in the domestic sphere. Children received some basic education to learn ethical behavior and trades passed from parents. Hieroglyphics evolved from pictograms to a refined script used for secular writing. The Rosetta Stone helped decode hieroglyphics by providing a multilingual text. Egyptians believed in an afterlife requiring preservation of the body and provisions for the next world. The economy relied on agriculture and trade

1. What were the legal
traditions?
• Ancient Egyptian Law was governed by
religious principles
• GODDESS MA’AT represented truth,
righteousness and justice = balance and order
• Laws were applied equally to all classes;
specifically protected the family (children and
wives)
• Punishments could be quite severe- act as a
deterrent or disgrace the guilty (Examples:
minor crimes had 100 lashed; rapists were
castrated; corrupt officials had their hands
amputated; crimes that resulted in a death
sentence could have choice= devoured by a
crocodile, suicide, burning alive)

2. Social Roles
Role of Women
• Well treated and had
considerable legal rights
compared to other
civilizations
• Same legal rights as men (land,
property, divorce)
• Left women to be economically
independent
• Primary role was in domestic life
• Common title for a married
women in ancient Egypt was
“nebet per” meaning “the lady of
the house”
• Bear and raise children
Role of Men
• Head of the family
• Men could have numerous wives
but economically men had only 1
wife
• Labourers, craftsmen
• Jobs were hereditary
Jobs
• Labour required for construction
projects and was mostly filled by
poor, serfs
• Stability of Egypt thrived as
skilled trades were passed from
father to son
• Children always learned the trade
from parents; seldom could choose
occupation

3. Education
• Contributed to stability and continuity of Egypt
• All children, regardless of social class, received some
education
• Followed a moral and ethical guide “Instructions in
Wisdom”
• Goal for education was to ensure youth exhibited self
control and good manners
• At 14, young boys followed fathers in jobs, and girls
learned from mothers in the household
• Children of priests were schooled more formally
• Literacy was stressed for government jobs
• Education respected for creating a well rounded
individual

4. Hieroglyphics/Language

5. • History of Writing:
1) pictograms (sun= sun)
2) ideograms (sun = sun, daylight,
warmth, light)
3) phonograms: symbols that suggest a
particular sound; related ideas and also
sound (Sun = sun, son, Sunday)
• Each hieroglyph found in pyramids and
tombs often symbolized more than one
consonant. Not only that, but actual
Egyptian hieroglyphs were a combination
of sound-signs, pictograms, and
ideograms. No wonder it was so hard to
decode them!

6. • New Kingdom: seven
hundred hieroglyphs in
common usage, while rest
were phonograms
• One hundred were strictly
visual, while the rest were
phonograms
• Eventually scribes adapted
hieroglyphic symbols
• By 700 BCE, script was
refined to the Demotic
language (or popular
script); it would eventually
evolve to the Coptic that
was used in parts until the
17th century
• used for
secular matters
such as letters,
accounts and
record keeping

7. Rosetta Stone What is the Rosetta Stone?
• The Rosetta Stone is a stone with writing on it
in two languages (Egyptian and Greek), using
three scripts (hieroglyphic, demotic and
Greek). It was carved in 196 BCE.
Why is it in three different scripts?
• The Rosetta Stone is written in three scripts
(hieroglyphs for religious documents;
demotic- common script of Egypt; Greek-language
of the rulers of Egypt at that time)
• The Rosetta Stone was written in all three
scripts so that the priests, government officials
and rulers of Egypt could read what it said.
When was the Rosetta Stone found?
• The Rosetta Stone was found in 1799 by
French soldiers who were rebuilding a fort in
Egypt (in a small village in Delta called
Rosetta (Rashid)
What does the Rosetta Stone say?
• The Rosetta Stone is a text written by a group
of priests in Egypt to honour the Egyptian
pharaoh. It lists all of the things that the
pharaoh had done that were good for the
priests and the people of Egypt.

8. Life and Death
• Life and death was measured in accordance to Ma’at: the goddess
and symbol of equilibrium of the universe and the king had to rule
according to her principles
Death viewed as a new beginning
• Afterlife common to all, regardless of social status
(preparation varied as well as goods stored in tombs)
• 2 Common Principles:
1) body preservation in a lifelike form
2) the deceased must have items necessary for life in the afterworld
MA’AT
-symbol of
the equilibrium
of the universe
• Personal belongings were usually placed in the tomb to make the Ka more at
home and to assist the dead in their journey into the afterlife.
• Text was read from the 'Book of the Dead' which was a collection of spells,
charms, passwords, numbers and magical formulas for the use of the deceased
in the afterlife.

9. This scene depicts what occurs after a person has died, according to the
ancient Egyptians.
• panel of 14 judges
• Ka (soul /spiritual duplicate), ba (personality) ankh (form mummy took in
afterlife / the key of life)
• Weighing of the heart vs Ma’at
• Judgment of scale
• record of the outcome

10. • Mummification focused Mummification
on Egyptian belief of the
importance of
preserving the body
• Afterlife would be spent
enjoying best of life
experiences
• Body covered with
natron and dried for up
to 70 days
• Body wrapped in linen
coated with resins and
oils
• Middle Kingdom
became customary to
place a mask over the
face
• Removal of organs (lungs, stomach,
intestines, liver) in Canopic Jars
were closed with stoppers fashioned
in the shape of four heads -- human,
baboon, falcon, and jackal -
representing the four protective
spirits called the Four Sons of Horus.
• brain was sucked out of the cranial
cavity and thrown away because the
Egyptian's thought it was useless.

11. Ancient Egypt’s Economy
What made Ancient Egypt wealthy?
• Food Supply made up most of Egypt’s wealth
(grain, vegetables, fruit, cattle, goats, pigs
and fowl).
• Storing and Managing the Food Supply:
this measured an Egyptian dynasty’s wealth;
having full granaries, plenty of wildlife and fish,
and thriving herds were the signs of prosperity.
(These were the images used in the tombs of the
Pharaohs to illustrate the wealth of their reigns).
What else made up the Ancient Egyptian Economy?
• Mostly based on food production and minerals from desert
• Access to the Mediterranean Sea and routes that extended trade as far as Northern Europe,
subtropical Africa and the Near East
• Trading was done by bartering goods (grain, oil, wheat)
• Taxes, salaries and loans were all paid entirely on goods
• Extensive trading made Egypt a powerful influence on culture, art, ideas and technology (ie.
Western calendar was taken from the Romans who had borrowed it from the Egyptians)
• Trade eventually grew and expanded, bringing new ideas and goods into Egyptian society