Everything Was Invented In Ancient Egypt 1 Quiz

Answer: Scroll

It is believed that the ancient Egyptians began to use papyrus for writing as early as the 4th century BC. Made from the stem of the papyrus plant, the outer part was removed to reveal the inner pith, or tissues, which was then cut into strips. While the strips were wet, they were placed side by side, slightly overlapping. More strips were played on top at a right angle, and then the two layers were beaten into a single sheet, dried, and buffed. Each sheet could be made to whatever size was needed. The nature of the material, however, made it impossible to fold the pages without breakage; sheets were, therefore, typically attached at one edge and rolled into a scroll. Prevalent in many ancient cultures, including Greece, Rome and China, the scroll, which was made of many different materials, was eventually replaced by the codex.

Clay tablets were used in Mesopotamia for the writing of cuneiform, and wax tablets were popular in schools because they could be melted down and used again. A codex was made much like modern day books, out of sheets of parchment or other materials, with the pages stacked and bound on one edge. In the modern sense, one of the differences between a codex and a book is that the codex was hand-written.

Answer: 12

Believed to have been based on the appearance of the star, Sirius, the Egyptian civil calendar, which was a solar calendar, dates back to the time of the Old Kingdom. With twelve months of thirty days each, and an additional 5-day or 6-day (leap year) period, the Egyptians essentially devised the calendar that people in the Western world still use today.

The months were further divided into three ten-day periods called decans, which were called first, middle, and last, with the last two days of each decan serving as the equivalent of the modern weekend. One of the items Julius Caesar brought back from Egypt after following Pompey the Great there during the civil war, was the idea for a new Roman calendar, which was based on the one the Egyptians used.

Answer: Obelisk

Considered to be the world's oldest sundial, a shadow clock dating to approximately 1500 BC was found in the Valley of the Kings. It is believed that obelisks, normally thought to have been built as monuments, were also used in public places as a type of shadow clock as early as 3500 BC. Markers would be placed in the area around an obelisk to show units of time using the length and position of the shadow. Because it was so important for priests to perform rituals at the exact right time of the day, keeping track of time in ancient Egypt was especially important.

Answer: Water Clock

Egyptian water clocks (the oldest of which there is evidence in the 1400s BC) were essentially instruments from which water leaked from a receptacle with a small opening into a bowl. The bowl would be marked to show hours and the time of day was marked by how much water was in the bowl. A wheel would be turned to show the time that had passed when the bowl was emptied, which was, of course, the main drawback to the clock - the receptacle had to be refilled and the bowl had to be emptied. It was, however, a very efficient way of telling time.

The use of merkhets were also used to keep time in ancient Egypt, however, they appeared much later than the water clock. Pendulums and the hairspring were introduced in Europe much later in the 1600s.

Answer: Shadoof

The ancient Egyptians, knowing that the annual flood would be their only additional source of water that was so desperately needed for irrigating crops, would dig basins to catch and store the floodwater. Having done that, however, it would have been quite some feat to move all of the water without the invention of the shadoof, which was essentially a long pole attached to a frame.

The bucket at the end of the pole would be used to draw the water from the basin, and with very little effort, the pole could be swung and lifted, dumping the water into channels that would take the water to irrigation ditches. Similar devices are still used in Egypt today to distribute water.

Answer: Imhotep

Imhotep must have been some guy! Not only was he the pharaoh's vizier, or advisor, he was also the architect who was given credit for designing Zoser's step pyramid, and the world's first doctor. The famous Edwin Smith Papyrus, which contains medical text, is believed to have been written by Imhotep, who also appears to have been a medical professor, opening a school for doctor's in Egypt's first capital city of Memphis.

He was so revered by the ancient Egyptians that he was worshiped as a minor deity, associated with the god Thoth, who was the god of wisdom, writing, and learning.

Answer: Redrawing boundary lines after the annual flood

The Nile River flooded annually; the ferocity of the flood varied from year to year. While sometimes the flood waters would be out of control, other times there was scarcely enough water to irrigate crops. One thing was for certain, though. Every year after the flood property lines would have to be redrawn. Think about what the word geometry means - "land measure".

In addition to creating geometry to redraw property lines, the Egyptians also created a device called the Nilometer in order to study and record the annual flood over time.

It was used primarily to link that year's harvest to the flood and determine what would be owed in taxes.

Answer: Hieratic

Even though they are glorious and impressive to view, writing hieroglyphics was a bit of a nightmare for ancient Egyptian scribes to write and read. In addition to providing a message, the arrangement of the pictures - that stood for sounds and syllables - could be done in a variety of ways considered by the scribe to be the most aesthetically pleasing. Even after the development of hieratic writing, hieroglyphics was used for formal writing. Hieratic, considered to be a cursive script, was typically the written language used for temple accounts, recipes, and poems.

A later, more abbreviated form of writing, demotic, was used as a shorthand for merchants and traders.

Answer: Sugar

Ancient Egyptians were plagued by dental problems; the grains of sand in their food caused their teeth to become extremely worn at a young age, leading to abscess formations and other severe problems. It wasn't just worn teeth that caused the problem.

The staple diet of all classes, mostly bread and honey, promoted tooth decay, and tooth decay, of course, promotes bad breath. The breath mints they manufactured were made of a mixture of cinnamon, myrrh, frankincense and honey that was added to a boiling blend of herbs and spices, and then formed into pellets that could be chewed or sucked. Just how widespread was dental disease in ancient Egypt? A study of 4800 mummified remains, published in 2009, showed that ninety percent suffered some sort of dental disease.

Answer: It was a status symbol.

Ancient Egyptians from every walk of life and all ages appear to have used eye makeup. Its use went beyond the decorative, however, they all wanted to look beautiful. Two types of kohl were used, with udju being made from green malachite, and mesdemet, which was made from stibnite or galena.

The goddess Hathor had domain over the region where malachite, which is called kohl today, was mined, so wearing udju would evoke her protection. It was believed that an unadorned eye left a person vulnerable to evil; this belief becomes more apparent when considering the extensive use of the Eye of Horus in Egyptian art.

There is also evidence that the ancients believed the use of eye makeup protected their eyes from the glare of the sun, and the use of galena indicates that it was used as a disinfectant to keep bugs and flies out of the eyes.

The use of eye makeup was not a status symbol, however, the tools for putting on the makeup and receptacles for storing it were.