After the season of the flood, the fields were covered in fresh black mud. Now the farmers got to work. Most Egyptians were farmers, and their crops fed the whole country.
Key idea
Farmers grew wheat and barley (for bread and beer) and flax (for linen cloth) in the black mud. They dug canals to bring water to the fields and, in later times, lifted water with a shaduf, a bucket on a long pole.
Why it works
Crops grew only where water reached. The flood soaked the fields once a year, but plants still needed water while they grew. Canals carried river water farther from the banks. The shaduf had a heavy weight on one end of the pole, so lifting a full bucket took little effort.
Worked example: A farmer's year
Put the farm jobs in order: harvest the grain, wait for the flood to go down, plant the seeds.
- First the flood covers the fields (Akhet), so farmers wait for it to go down.
- Then they plow and plant in the mud (Peret).
- Last they cut the ripe grain (Shemu).
Answer: Wait for the flood to go down, plant the seeds, harvest the grain.
Common mistake
Thinking Egyptians farmed in the sand. Look at the map: farms were only on the green strip the flood reached. One step past it, the desert began.
Oxen pulled wooden plows. At harvest, people cut the grain with sickles, and animals walked over it to knock the grains loose.