Illustrated Sketches from Ancient Egypt
Energy stands at the very foundation of all our achievements! For thousands of years, until the invention of steam engines at the beginning of the 18th century, human strength—complemented by the power of domesticated animals—was the primary source of energy. Those who control the sources of energy rule society.
For millennia, the survival and strength of both individuals and communities depended exclusively on bread. Bread was the staple, and often the only, food available, and as such, it was the fundamental source of energy for the hands that built pyramids and temples, and wielded tools and weapons.
In many social processes and events, the Egypt of the pharaohs (Kemet) does not differ significantly from later societies and cultures. For 6,000 years, it has been evident that the foundation of the timeless social matrix was established precisely during the pharaonic era. This matrix has not changed drastically; while technological development, knowledge, and religious norms have evolved, we, the human beings, constitute the core of this matrix—and we change with great difficulty and slowness.
These are eternal anthropological questions and universal principles that concern all of us, regardless of the era in which we lived, live today, or will live in the future. Throughout those turbulent millennia, there was only one constant that signified life—bread.
It may be an exaggeration to say that ancient Egypt is the father of history and the mother of civilization, but then again, it might not be. Bread and “liquid bread”—beer—were the staple food for all inhabitants of ancient Egypt, from pharaohs to peasants. As the essential core of sacred ritual offerings, bread symbolized life and the continuation of life. The quantity of bread signified wealth or poverty and directly influenced social, economic, and political relations.
The eternal question remains: what enabled the rise and development of a great state, and what ultimately led to its disappearance? The answer is never simple, but we will not be mistaken if we call ancient Egypt the beginning of the “civilization of bread”!
