The palette of King Narmer is the earliest record of a king wearing the short kilt, called the Shendyt, with its two ends crossed over and tucked under a belt tied at the front.

The dress of the Egyptian pharaohs changed little over time. In addition to the Shendyt kilt, they wore the Nemes headdress. The headdress was a piece of linen cloth gathered at the back of the head. The false beard was also worn to distinguish the pharaoh and associate him with the gods, who were believed to wear straight beards.

Along with the kilt, high officials of the Old Kingdom wore ornaments such as necklaces and pendants. Important men also wore a shoulder cape. Sem priests and others who performed priestly functions wore a whole leopard skin, including head, paws, and tail. By the New Kingdom, those in high ranks wore a longer tunic that reached the ankles. This fit under the arms and was held up by a ribbon around the neck. Other high officials wore a pleated kilt or a kilt with an apron over it and a pleated shirt. A short, wide sleeveless cloak was also worn. Sandals were made from leather, papyrus, or palm leaves.

Women's dress in predynastic times probably covered the whole body. A long, sheath-like tunic held up by shoulder straps with the upper edge either above or below the bust was the typical garment in the Old and Middle Kingdoms. In cooler weather, wealthy women put on a long-sleeved gown that hung in folds. During festive occasions, they would wear nets of faience beads across the middle of their tunics. By the New Kingdom, women's clothing was made of two or more pieces, usually in white, but sometimes in pastel shades. Women began to wear over their tunics sheer outer garments, pleated or straight, that were pinned over the bust or tied in decorative ways. Shoulder-length cloaks with a knotted fringe were added to the costume.

Common people wore simple garments, or in the case of boatmen, fishermen, and papyrus gatherers, no clothing at all. Servant girls wore only a skirt or apron. Farmers and other workers wore a simple apron. They wore a kilt when bringing produce to town or visiting relatives or temples. By the Middle Kingdom, the kilt became daily wear in the countryside, sometimes topped with a loose-fitting shirt or tunic.

During the Greco-Roman period, clothing was influenced by the conquering Greeks and Romans. Men and women both wore garments made of large pieces of material, intricately draped to create folds, pleats, and wide sleeves. The cloth was held in place by pins and belts. The chiton, himation, and chlamys are several Greco-Roman styles adopted by the Egyptians.

During the Coptic period, both men and women wore a tunic, a rectangular shirt-like garment fastened by a belt. Made of plain wool or linen, they were either decorated with a single band that ran down the center of the garment or two vertical bands over each shoulder that ran down to the knee or bottom of the tunic. These bands were intricately woven and colored. Coptic priests wore loose robes that covered their whole body. Over their robes, they wore a Patrashil, a vest of white linen decorated with religious images on the chest.

By the Islamic era, Egypt was famous for its beautiful textiles. The fabrics that Islamic rulers wore or had their names inscribed on signified their power. When the sultan took power, he was given a ceremonial robe called a "Kulah." To gain the appreciation of their people, caliphs and sultans began a tradition of distributing robes among the population on special days.

Sports and Entertainment :

Ancient Egyptians enjoyed games of strategy and chance in which pieces were moved on specially designed boards. One game involving six lions and six sets of balls, played from the predynastic to early Old Kingdom, was called "mehen." Another game, called hounds and jackals, appears to be a race between a team of five jackals and five hounds around a palm tree. Little is known about the rules for these games.

The most popular game was senet. A precursor of checkers, senet was played on a checkered board of three rows of ten squares. The object of the game was to move the pieces around a snaking track to the finish. Specially marked squares indicated good or bad fortune. Dice was played in the Roman and Byzantine periods into the Islamic era.

Scenes from tombs and temples in all periods show musicians and dancers. Musical performances were important to the cults of the deities and kings and the Egyptians used a variety of instruments, including drums, flutes, harps, tambourines, and trumpets. Dancing was considered an honorable career for a woman and probably required a great degree of grace and athleticism to perform the acrobatic movements depicted in temple scenes. Dancing was performed at funerals, festivals, banquets, and other events in ancient Egyptian life. Singing was another popular form of entertainment as well as a means of honoring the gods, as indicated by the title "Chantress of Amun," held by women of the elite class. Few written lyrics of ancient Egyptian songs have been found, except for some texts of love songs from the Ramesside period found in Deir el-Medina.

Ancient Egyptian royalty and high officials enjoyed attending sports competitions. Boxing, wrestling, and fencing with sticks were favorite events. The ancient Egyptians also held a form of early Olympics featuring field hockey, handball, gymnastics, weightlifting, equestrian competitions, swimming, rowing, archery, spear throwing, long distance running, high jump, and tug of war.

Children played less organized games involving balancing, wrestling, and racing as well as ball games with balls made from papyrus. Children had many toys to play with, usually made to resemble animals and people.

After the Greco-Roman conquest, theater became a popular form of entertainment. Parts of plays were discovered on the scrap papyri used to make cartonnage mummy covers. Sporting competitions were still important; Ptolemy the Second established a festival called the Ptolemaieia that occurred every four years and was intended to rival the Olympics.

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3.20 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."