Bread for every meal meant someone had to grow the grain, grind it and bake it. Egypt needed many kinds of workers.
Key idea
Most people were farmers. Others were bakers, brewers, potters, weavers, carpenters, builders, painters, fishermen, soldiers, priests and scribes.
Why it works
Food came first: without farmers, nobody ate. Because farmers grew more grain than their families needed, the extra could feed people with other jobs. Skilled craftspeople worked in workshops for temples and the king. Sons often learned the same job as their fathers, and daughters learned to run a household, weave and bake.
Worked example: Who makes it?
Who made the clay jars for storing grain and beer?
- Clay jars are shaped from wet clay, often on a turning wheel.
- Then they are baked hard in a hot oven called a kiln.
- That is the work of a potter.
Answer: A potter.
Worked example: Why so many farmers?
Why did most Egyptians have to be farmers?
- Every person in Egypt needed food every day.
- Farming was slow work done by hand, with simple tools.
- It took many hands to grow enough grain for everyone.
Answer: Growing enough food for everyone took most of the people.
Common mistake
Thinking everyone in Egypt was a pharaoh or a slave. There were slaves, but most people were farmers and craftspeople. The tomb builders of Deir el-Medina were skilled workers who were paid in grain and other goods.