The Humorously Dull History Of Ancient Egyptian Sleep

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The Humorously Dull History Of Ancient Egyptian Sleep

by Stephen Dalton

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Fall asleep as we explore the funny (and rather boring) history ancient Egyptian sleep. You won't believe some of the norms and standards for sleep in ancient Egypt. We'll learn a lot. What were the sleep habits of ancient Egyptian royalty and peasants? What were Egyptian beds made of? Did they have pillows, and were they even comfortable? Did the pharaoh have a bedtime?

Sleep Preparation Ritual Sleep History Humor Ancient Egypt Dream Interpretation Cosmic Order

Meet your Teacher

Ireland

Meet your Teacher

Ireland

Transcript

Hello my friend, Welcome to humorously dull history for sleepers. My name is Stephen Dalton, And it is my hope that as I tell you lots of different facts about particular periods in history tonight, You find me so incredibly boring that you fall asleep very quickly. And maybe. . . Even with a smile upon your face, It is humorous history after all. Tonight I'll tell you. The Humorously Dull History of ancient Egyptian sleep. Yes, Ancient Egyptian sleep. A world of mud-brick houses and royal palaces. Quiet lamps. Linen. Dream Books. Night Watchers. And head rests so firm. They make a budget airline seat look indulgent. So, Just before we get started. . . Allow yourself to settle into this moment. Leave the day that was behind. Feel the support. Of whatever you lie upon. If your eyes aren't closed yet. Allow them to close. Whatever has been. Has been. It's history now. Whatever will be. Will be. All you have is this moment. And my voice. So allow your curiosity to be a part of this pleasant experience. As I tell you, The humorously dull history of ancient Egyptian sleep. Part one. In which night falls on the Nile. Before we go anywhere near an Egyptian bed. We need to deal with one fairly important problem. Ancient Egypt. Lasted an absurdly long time. When people say the ancient Egyptians It can sound as though everybody lived at roughly the same moment. Pharaoh. Pyramid. Hieroglyphics. Done. In reality. The civilization we call Ancient Egypt. Stretches across roughly 3, 000 years. That is such a ridiculous amount of time. That's asking. How did ancient Egyptians sleep? Is a little like asking. What did Europeans do in the evening? Between the Roman Empire and the iPhone. Well. Several things happened. So. There was no single Egyptian bedtime. No standard bedroom issued by the ministry of pharaohs. And certainly no surviving document entitled The Official Egyptian Guide to Getting 8 Hours What we have instead are bits of evidence from different periods. Houses. Furniture. Paintings. Texts. Objects found in tombs. And some extraordinarily useful records from particular communities. One of the best is Deir el-Medina. A village near ancient Thebes. Were highly skilled workers and their families. Lived during the New Kingdom. These were the craftsmen involved in making and decorating royal tombs. In what we now call the Valley of the Kings. And they left behind an unusually rich collection. Of everyday written records. This is extremely helpful. Because Egyptian history as an understandable tendency. To preserve things belonging to people called Ramesses the Great. It is less reliable at preserving what Kevin did on Wednesday evening. Kings built stone monuments. Kevin puts his cup somewhere. And dies 4, 000 years before archaeology is invented. Throughout this story. We have to distinguish between what we know what the evidence suggests. And what would merely make a lovely scene if I invented it. I sure try not to invent it. Egyptologists have suffered enough. Let us choose an evening. Not one precise evening. We are not going to claim it as 7. 18pm on the 14th of March, 1274 BCE. And a man called Ori. Has just taken his sandals off. This would be. . . Suspiciously specific. Instead. Imagine Egypt during the New Kingdom. Roughly the period from about 1550. To 1069 BCE. The great pyramids at Giza. Are already ancient. That is worth remembering. To somebody living under Rameses II. The building of the Great Pyramid. Was already something from the distant past. Even ancient Egyptians. At Ancient Egypt. Presumably there were older Egyptians, Saying, You should have seen the pyramids when I was young. Proper pyramids. None of this modern nonsense. The sun begins to go down. And immediately. The ancient world becomes very different from ours. Today. Sunset is mostly decorative. We notice it through a window. And say. That's nice. Then someone switches on 17 lights. And the sunset loses all administrative authority. In ancient Egypt. Darkness actually arrive. There were lamps, Of course. There were flames. There was moonlight. But there was no button that turned nice back in to day. No illuminated supermarket. No television gluing in another room. No neighbour across the street who has somehow installed lighting powerful enough to land aircraft in his kitchen. Night meant a genuine reduction in light. And that alone. Must have changed the rhythm of life. Many Egyptian houses were built from mud bricks. Although their size and layout varied enormously. Depending on wealth, Place and period. Archaeologists have found everything from relatively simple three-room houses to larger homes arranged around courtyards. Were divided into reception and private areas. We should not imagine an Egyptian house as one standard. Little square building. Some families lived modestly. Some comfortably. Some very comfortably. And the royal family. As we will discover later. We're operating on an entirely different budget. The Egyptian housing market was already doing what housing markets do. One family. We have three rooms. Neighbor. We have a core chart. First family. We've always preferred three rooms. They have not. They want the courtyard. By evening. Whatever sort of house you lived in. Daylight was disappearing. Small lamps could extend the useful hours. And here. The records from Deir el-Medina give us one of those wonderfully dull details. That makes history. Certainly feel real. Documents survive. Recording the distribution of linen fibre. For lump-wicks to the royal tomb-working crews. Wix. Four thousand years of Egyptian grandeur and bureaucracy. Eventually leads us to. Who has received the string for the lumps? Which I love. Because this is what functioning civilisation actually looks like. Someone must build temples. Someone must command armies. Someone must maintain irrigation. And somewhere. There is always a man with a list, Saying I'm still waiting on twelve lamp-wicks. Nothing has changed. Any modern office could lose an entire afternoon because nobody ordered printer toner. The Egyptians, Importantly. Always had ways of thinking about and measuring the night itself. Their daily cycle. Was divided into 12 hours of daylight. And twelve hours of night. But these were not our neat 60-minute hours. The Egyptians divided whatever daylight they had into twelve parts. And whatever darkness they had. Into another twelve. So an hour. Could actually get longer or shorter. Depending on the time of year. Which is an extremely attractive system if you are late for work. You're 20 minutes late. By who's hour? At night. Groups of stars known today by the term. Dickens. Could be used to reckon the passing hour. Later. Particularly from the New Kingdom onward. There is evidence for devices such as water clocks. And there is one wonderful difference from modern life. As I said. There is no evidence. That ancient Egyptians systematically measured minutes and seconds as we do. Which means the evening was blissfully free from things like It's 1047. I need to be asleep by eleven. Nobody was lying awake looking at a glowing rectangle. Thinking. If I fall asleep now, I can still get 6 hours and 13 minutes. The ancient Egyptian could not perform this particular act of self-torture. He could, However, Look at the stars. Which seems healthier. Although probably less useful if he had an early meeting. The sky itself mattered enormously in Egyptian culture. Stories were not simply background decoration. Egyptian religion, Calendars and timekeeping all paid close attention to the heavens. Star clocks appear on coffin lids from around 2100 BCE. And astronomical imagery. Survives in tombs and other monuments. Imagine how different the sky could feel. No electric city glow. Spreading over the horizon. No car headlights. No enormous illuminated sign announcing that a petrol station is open 24 hours. Darkness overhead. And a sky being watched carefully enough. That stars could help tell you. Where in the night you were. Modern person. What time is it? Checks phone. Ancient Egyptian. What time is it? Looks at the universe. We have lost a certain amount of style. Of course, We must be careful not to make ancient Egyptian night too poetic. People were still people. Somebody was tired. Somebody wanted food. Somebody at work tomorrow. Some child somewhere. Was almost certainly refusing to settle down. Despite the fact that the entire family was exhausted. But we do not have an ancient Egyptian papyrus recording a child saying I'm not tired. Shortly before falling asleep sideways across the bed. But I would be amazed if it never happened. Humanity has shown remarkable consistency in some areas. And bedtime itself probably did not happen at one official hour. Daily life varied between farmers, Craftsmen, Officials, Priests, Servants, And royalty. Season mattered. Work measured. Status mattered. Where you lived mattered. An agricultural household near the Nile. Did not necessarily follow the same rhythm. As a royal palace. Or the community of specialist craftsmen at Deir el-Medina. That is important for this whole episode. We are not going to build one imaginary Egyptian family and quietly pretend they represent three thousand years of civilization. That is how documentaries end up with a man saying, The Egyptian would now eat his evening onion. Which Egyptian? Which century? Why have we all agreed he owns this onion? Instead. We will move through what survives. And what survives. Is surprisingly intimate. Bits. Head rests. Lennon bedroom furniture. Dream texts, Records of workers, Royal objects so beautifully made that they still look luxurious. Thousands of years later. And other objects that look luxurious. Write up until somebody explains. You were supposed to put your head on that. Because that is where we are going next. For now. Night has fallen. The lumps are burning. The day's work is ending. Somewhere above. The stars are quietly performing the function, Later taken over by a clock on the bedside table. And people across Egypt are preparing to sleep. Rich people, Poorer people, Craftsmen, Officials, Children. Servants. Eventually even pharaohs. And in the next part. We finally reach the ancient Egyptian bedroom. Where we discover that a civilization capable of building the Great Pyramid looked at the soft pillow. And decided. Let's make it out of wood. Part two. In which the pillow is made of wood. And now we can finally enter the ancient Egyptian bedroom. Although immediately. We have to be careful with the word bedroom. Not every Egyptian had a separate room whose sole purpose was sleeping. Houses varied enormously. Wealth varied enormously. And for many people, Sleeping arrangements were considerably simpler than the modern idea of bedroom, Bed, Two bedside tables, Lamp, Wardrobe, Chair, Covered entirely in clothes that are neither clean nor dirty. Ancient Egyptians had not yet developed the chair of uncertainty. For many ordinary people, A sleeping place could simply involve a mat or a folded material. Actual raised beds were possessions and surviving examples naturally tend to come disproportionately from wealthier contexts and burials. But Egyptians certainly did have beds, And they had them remarkably early. Evidence for raised bed-like furniture. Goes back into the earliest periods of Egyptian history. Surviving examples show wooden frames with woven plant fibre or cord stretched across them to create a sleeping surface. So, Already we have something recognizably bed-like, Wooden frame, Something with a little give stretched across it, Sheets or padding on top, Four legs. This is reassuring. For a moment there. Ancient Egypt. Feels almost modern. You could walk into the room and think. Oh yes. I understand this. Then you notice the legs, Because some Egyptian beds were made with legs carved to resemble animal legs. Bull legs. Lion Legs. Things like that. Which is a level of bedroom decoration we have largely abandoned. Today, If you walked into Ikea and discovered that the new Maum came standing on four carved cow legs, There would be questions. Is there a normal version? No, Sir, This is the royal range. I see, And if you look underneath, It has hooves. Of course it does. Some Egyptian beds also had a footboard. And on earlier beds, The sleeping surface could slope, With the head end higher than the foot end. The footboard helped stop the sleeper gradually sliding downward during the night. Which is another wonderful little detail. We tend to think of ancient Egyptian furniture as tremendously elegant. Museums present it beautifully. Spotlights. Glass case. Tiny label. DYNASTY XII. WOOD AND COURT what the label does not immediately convey. Is that part of the design problem was apparently How do we stop the customer slowly leaving the bed through the bottom? Ancient Egyptian Carpenter I've raised the head and Lovely. There is one issue. Wash. You move south during the night. So, Footboard. Problem solved. Mattresses as we know them. Were not necessarily part of the arrangement. Evidence suggests sheets, Folded linen or other padding could provide softness over the woven support. And linen, Of course, Was one of Egypt's great materials. The Egyptians became extremely skilled at producing it from flax. Fine linen could be beautifully made, And the quality varied according to wealth and purpose. So an affluent Egyptian bed could be a very elegant object indeed. Beautiful woodwork, Carefully joined frame, Fine woven surface, Clean linen, Possibly decorative animal legs. And then we arrive at the head of the bed. Where something has gone terribly wrong. Instead of looking for a large, Soft pillar. Many Egyptians used to headrest. And the basic design is extraordinary. There is a flat base. A vertical support rises from it. And across the top. Is a curved piece shaped to support the neck. They survive in wood, Stone, And fire. And other materials. And we know they were genuinely connected with sleeping, Not merely decorative objects. Imagine a tiny table. Remove the tabletop. Replace it with half a drain pipe Now put your neck on it. Bedtime. And I know exactly what many people listening are thinking. That cannot possibly have been comfortable. Thus we should be fair to the ancient Egyptians. Because the headrest was designed to support the neck. While a person lay on their side. At roughly shoulder height. Some surviving examples also show evidence that linen or padding could be attached to make them more comfortable. So. We should not picture somebody. Simply placing their skull onto a block of granite and saying, Lovely. Night-night. There was logic to it. And soft pillows did exist. That is important. The Egyptians did not somehow spend three thousand years waiting for someone to discover stuffing. They simply continued to make extensive use of headrests as well. Which makes it even more interesting. Because somebody had apparently already invented it. Soft sing forehead. And Egyptian society replied, Yes, Very clever. We are keeping the stand. There is even a wonderful line in an old Metropolitan Museum publication. Saying that a member of staff actually tried sleeping with one of these headrests. And maintained that it was comfortable. Want. The publication specifically says. Once. I enjoy that enormously. Somebody at the Metropolitan Museum. I have tested it. And comfortable. Would you like to use it again tonight? No further questions. But perhaps we are being unfair. Comfort is partly what you are accustomed to. If you grew up sleeping with your neck supported by one of these things, The modern pillow might seem ridiculous. Ancient Egyptian arrives in a modern hotel, Looks at bed, Six enormous pillows sorry what are these? Um they're pillows Sorry, All of them. Yes. Why? We don't know. This is actually true of modern hotels. You book a room for one person and someone has placed nine cushions on the bed. You cannot sleep. Until you have conducted a small furniture removal ritual. Decorative cushion, Another decorative cushion, Long cushion, Small square cushion with absolutely no function Everything transferred to chair. Chair now unusable. Bed finally operational. Ancient Egyptian. You see? One headrest. Efficient. And some of the headrests themselves were beautifully made. The standard basic shape could be adapted in all sorts of ways. Some had simple column-like supports, Others were more elaborate. Some were decorated with protective imagery. There are examples associated with both everyday life and funerary contexts. That last distinction is important. Because ancient Egyptian tombs preserve enormous quantities of material connected with daily life. But an object found in a tomb. Was not necessarily something its owner had actually used every night. Some objects were specifically made for burial. For example. A stone headrest belonging to an official named Kentika. Appears to have been designed for the afterlife. Rather than everyday use. Its construction would not have worked like the more practical wooden examples. If an Egyptologist discovers an enormous ceremonial object in a tomb, We should not immediately conclude. His pillow. Very firm mattress preference. This is one of the traps with ancient Egypt. The tombs survive beautifully. The ordinary house often does not. Which can leave us with a slightly distorted image of daily life. If civilization ended tomorrow. And archaeologists in the year 6000 reconstructed our lives entirely from wedding photographs. They might conclude that 21st century humans spent most of their existence wearing formal clothes beside carefully arranged flowers. They would ask. When did these people go to work? Apparently never. They were permanently attending receptions. Egypt is similar. The dead often left us better evidence than the living. But enough ordinary furniture survives, Alongside paintings and texts, For us to know that Egyptians cared about beds and sleeping equipment very much indeed. Beds could also be sophisticated pieces of carpentry. Ancient Egyptian woodworkers used techniques including mortise and tenon joints and other forms of skilled joinery. Timber could be locally sourced, While desirable imported woods also reached Egypt. So, This was not crude furniture. A skilled Egyptian carpenter could look at a bed frame and understand forces, Joints, Weight, And materials. No screws. No electric drill. No little plastic bag labeled A by 16, B by 4. And most importantly, No, Alan Key. There was probably an ancient equivalent of the flat-pack argument, Though. There should be another leg. There isn't. There are four in the picture. We have three. Have you checked the box? Yes. Check again. I have checked the box. Four thousand years pass. We're still checking the box. And birds could also indicate status. A raised, Finely made bed. Obviously required more resources than a mat on the floor. As we move towards the wealthy. And eventually the royal household. The furniture becomes more elaborate. One thing I like about all of this. . . Is Sasha bad? Remained an intensely practical possession. However elegant it was. Somebody still had to get into it. Somebody still turned over. Somebody woke up. Somebody probably hurt one leg outside the linen. Because it was too warm. An Egyptian official might spend his day surrounded by scribes, Servants, And elaborate ceremony. Then night comes. Sandoz off. Closed, Arranged somewhere. Get into bed. Add on to wooden support. And for eight hours, Or however long he happened to sleep. Government proceeds without him. There is something very democratic about unconsciousness. Varrow may technically be a divine king. But at three in the morning. . . Pharaoh is just a man who has rolled into a strange position. And we will get to the pharaohs because they're surviving pets. Give us some of the most spectacular furniture from the ancient world. Before we go into Royal Bedrooms. There is another question worth asking. What did all of this look like for ordinary Egyptians? Because most people in ancient Egypt did not own golden furniture. They did not live in palaces. Nobody was carving lion feet onto their bed while they waited. They were. They raised families. They lived in towns and villages. And when night came Somehow. Somewhere. They had to find a place to lie down. Which is where we go next. Part 3 In which most Egyptians do not have a golden bed. Most ancient Egyptians, Of course. We're not pharaohs. This may seem obvious. But ancient Egypt has suffered rather badly from its most successful people. Walk around a museum, And you would be forgiven for thinking the country consisted mainly of kings, Queens, Priests, And beautifully dressed officials standing sideways. There must have been millions of other people somewhere. Farmers. Craftsman. Laborers. Fishermen. Children. People carrying things. People looking for things they had only just put down. They simply had the historical disadvantage of not covering their belongings in gold. And placing them inside stone chambers designed to survive 4, 000 years. And this creates a problem. When we ask how ordinary Egyptians slept. We know far more about wealthy Egyptians. Than we do about everybody else. The British Museum makes this point quite explicitly. Expensive tombs preserved the possessions and idealized images of richer people. While the lives of most Egyptians are much harder to reconstruct. So, We have to proceed carefully. There is no archaeological survey saying Forty-three percent of Egyptians slept here. Twenty-seven percent slept there. 6% fell asleep on the sofa while insisting they were still watching. There was no sofa survey. But archaeology does give us houses. And some of the best evidence. Comes from places like Dare El Medina. The community of skilled workers we met earlier. These were not average Egyptian labourers. They were specialist craftsmen connected with the royal tombs. So we should not simply take their lives and announce that everybody in Egypt lived exactly like this. But their houses are wonderfully useful. At Deir el-Medina, Homes were built closely together from mud-brick, Often with three or four relatively small rooms and stairs leading upward to a terrace or possibly another level. And suddenly. We are somewhere much more recognizable than a royal tomb. Brooms. Stairs. Neighbours. People living extremely close together. The family next door. Another family beyond them. Someone else's domestic life happening approximately six feet away. Ancient Egypt had already discovered one of the fundamental principles of urban housing. You may own the house. But you also own part of your neighbour's evening. What was that? Next door. What are they doing? No idea. This conversation. Is older than civilization. Other settlements show houses with a central room used for gathering, With more private rooms or workspaces farther back. At the workmen's settlement at Amarna. Archaeologists think sleeping may sometimes also have taken place on the roof. And roof-sleeping makes immediate practical sense in the right conditions. Egypt can be extremely hot. A flat roof or terrace could offer more moving air than the interior of a mud-brick house. But I want to be careful here. We cannot say ancient Egyptians slept on their roofs. Some probably did. In particular settings and circumstances. Archaeology suggests the possibility at Amarna. That is different from declaring that every evening the entire civilization climbed upstairs carrying a blanket. History loves doing this. One archaeologist finds evidence of an activity. 30 years later. The ancient Egyptians always did this. Possibly while wearing eyeliner. Nevertheless. Imagine the appeal. The day has been not. The walls have absorbed heat. The roof is open to the night. You take your bedding upstairs. No air conditioning. No fun. No app. Telling you that tonight's real feel is somehow five degrees warmer than the actual temperature. You simply go. Where the air is better. Today, This would be sold as luxury rooftop sleeping experience beneath the stars. $240 per night. Breakfast not included. An ancient Egyptian family. We live here. Modern Travel Company Authentic. As we saw in the last part. Actual raised beds seem to have been comparatively uncommon. The Metropolitan Museum's survey of Egyptian domestic life notes that beds were prized possessions, And that many people would have had much simpler sleeping arrangements. Which means the floor mattered. Muts muttered. Folded textiles matter too. The difference between having a proper raised bed and not having one. Was noticeable enough. That it appears in Egyptian literature. In the famous Middle Kingdom story of Sinuhe. A fictional Egyptian who spends years abroad eventually returns home. Among the luxuries marking his return to Egyptian life is the fact that he can once again sleep on a proper bed, Rather than on the ground or sand. I love this. Sinuhe has been away for years. He returns to Egypt. There are important political developments. Royal favor. Status. Fine linen. Elaborate preparations for his future. And somewhere in all of this is essentially Oh, Thank god. A bed. Which may be the most relatable sentence ancient Egypt ever produced. Anybody who has spent a week sleeping somewhere uncomfortable. Understands. First night. This is fine. Second night. Light firm. Forest Night. I can feel my own skeleton. Then you get home. Your mattress has never looked more magnificent. You forgive it for everything. Even ordinary household textiles were valuable enough to be cared for and reused. Surviving linen associated with an Egyptian woman called Atnefer shows wear, Laundering, Pressing, And reuse Textiles could serve as clothing, Bedding. Curtains. Or other household material. Rather than being casually discarded. An Egyptian household did not live in our world of Oh, That sheet has a tiny mark on it. Throw it away. Linen required work. Flax had to be grown, Processed, Spun, Woven, Washed, Maintained. A piece of cloth had a career. This must begin with aspirations. Fine linen. Important household. Beautifully folded. 20 years later. You are now the thing we put under the other thing. Remarkably modern. Everyone has a towel like this. Ish began life as a towel then became Dogtowel. Lower it down. Painting Tao. Mysterious towel kept under sink. Nothing is thrown away until it has completed every possible stage of social decline. And the ordinary Egyptian home was not merely a place for eating and sleeping. It could also contain religious images and small shrines. At Deir el-Medina, Household religion was deeply woven into daily life. With deities such as best. And Turwaret. Invoked for protection of the household and family. Will come back to protection, Dreams, And the night-time world later. But it is worth remembering that going to sleep in ancient Egypt did not necessarily mean entering the completely secular little bubble that bedtime can be today. The night had religious meaning. Dreams could have meaning. Protection mattered. The household existed in a world where divine forces were considered part of life. Today we protect ourselves at night with locks, Alarms, Smoke detectors. Possibly a small camera that sends a notification every time a leaf moves. Ancient Egyptian. Yes. Modern person. Your security system appears to be a small protective guard. Ancient Egyptian. Anduris keeps announcing that someone is at the door, But nobody is there. Family life itself is harder to reconstruct in intimate detail. We should resist inventing exact bedtime routines. We do not know that Mother Egyptian tucked Child Egyptian into bed at precisely sunset, Told one story, And then turned out the lamp. We cannot say what time every family ate. We cannot say exactly where every member of every household slept. And frankly. I am relieved. Because, Otherwise. . . Someone would eventually produce a program called the perfect ancient egyptian bedtime routine 6 15 evening meal 637 WASH 651 Apply oil 702 Contemplate Ra People are not timetables. They never have been. A household containing several generations. Children work. Food preparation. And limited space. Would have adjusted itself according to need. Somebody was awake before somebody else. Someone needed the lamp. Someone wanted quiet. Someone had to get up early. And I think this is where ancient domestic life began. Becomes most familiar. The objects change. The architecture changes. The gods change. But a house full of humans remains a house full of humans. Someone wants to sleep. Someone else is still doing something. Are you finished? Nearly. You said that half an hour ago. I am nearly finished. Or a thousand years later. Still nearly finished. And then eventually. The household becomes quiet. The lamp goes out. The room darkens. Maybe someone lies on a woven mat. Maybe someone has a raised bed. In certain places and seasons. Perhaps someone sleeps higher up, Where the air is cooler. There may be linen beneath them. A headrest beneath the neck. And tomorrow. Work begins again. No golden palace. No ceremonial bedroom. No divine king. Just the overwhelmingly common human experience of finishing the day finding somewhere comfortable enough. To stop moving for a while. Which brings us. . . Naturally. To the people who had absolutely no intention of settling for comfortable enough. Because next. We finally enter the royal world. Where the beds become grander. The furniture becomes extraordinary. The craftsmanship becomes. Almost ridiculous. And we meet a young Pharaoh. This tomb. Preserved enough sleeping furniture. To suggest that even eternity required several options. Part four. In which Pharaoh as several beds. Now we reach the people who could afford to make bedtime unnecessarily magnificent. Royal Egypt. And before we enter the royal bedroom, One warning. We know a great deal about royal furniture. We know considerably less about what a pharaoh actually did at 9. 30 in the evening. There is no surviving palace document saying His Majesty brushed his teeth, Complained that the room was too warm, Then asked whether anybody had seen his charger. So, We are not going to invent a bedtime routine. What we can do is look at the extraordinary furniture that royal Egyptians left behind. And some of the earliest spectacular evidence comes from Queen Hetepheres, Who lived more than 4, 000 years ago. Atphiris was the mother of Khufu, The pharaoh responsible for the great pyramid at Giza. Her burial contained the remains of an astonishing collection of royal furniture. Cheers. Carrying chair. A bit. A headrest, And even a large canopy that could be erected around the bed. And her bed was not subtle. It had a wooden frame. It was covered with gold sheeting. It stood on legs, Shaped like those of lions. The head-end was higher than the foot-end. There is a footboard to prevent the sleeper gradually sliding off the bottom, As we mentioned earlier. This is royal furniture announcing itself. Modern bed. Four legs, Mattress. May be drawers underneath. Royal Egyptian Bed. Goal. Lions. Architectural assistance to prevent departure during sleep. And then above it. Potentially a canopy. The surviving canopy frame, Associated with Hetepheres, Was enormous. Over three meters long. And was constructed using multiple pillars and crossbeams. Even four and a half thousand years ago. Wealthy people had already discovered the bedroom principle. If something works perfectly well. Put a structure around it. Modern luxury hotel. You'll notice the bed has four decorative posts Do they do anything? No. Excellent. Etaphiris's Furniture also shows just how skilled royal craftsmen could be. This was not somebody attaching bits of gold to a plank and hoping the Queen would be polite. The original wooden parts of much of the furniture decayed. But the surviving gold, Ebony, Copper and other fittings. Allowed archaeologists to reconstruct how sophisticated the pieces had been. And this is an important point. A royal Egyptian bear. Was not merely somewhere to sleep. It could be a demonstration of wealth. Craftsmanship. And status. Which seems excessive until you remember the modern world. We have mattresses with names like the Imperial Cloud Supreme 9000. There are adverts in which a woman lies down and immediately appears to enter another dimension. Ancient Egyptian Royal Family. I'll bet. Is covered in gold. Modern Mattress Company. Ours has seven zones of spinal responsiveness. Humanity has simply changed departments. But the most famous royal bedroom furniture. Comes much later. About 1300 years later, In fact. From Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun became Pharaoh as a child. And died while still very young. Probably around 18 or 19. His tomb was discovered. In 1922. With an extraordinary quantity of furniture. And other objects still inside. And among those objects were multiple beds and bedsteads. Howard Carter's excavation records list several different bedsteads from the tomb, Alongside chairs, Stools, Boxes. Chariots. And an almost unreasonable quantity of possessions. Tutankhamun apparently arrived in eternity with options. This is something I respect. One bet. What if you don't like it? Better bring several. There is always one person on a weekend away who packs like this. How long are you staying? Two nights. Why have you brought four pairs of shoes? I don't know what I'll feel like. Tutankhamun. Same, Just with beds. Some of the furniture was richly decorated with gold. And among the most interesting pieces. Was a folding bed. Constructed. So that it could fold into roughly a third of its normal size. Carter described it as being made specifically for travelling. A folding travel bed. More than 3, 000 years ago. Let's forget the folding bed for a moment. Because I think there is a more interesting question. What might an actual knight in the life of a pharaoh have looked like? And we do need the word might. Anyway. Let's get back to imagining an evening in the new kingdom. And imagine the Pharaoh going to bed. And let's make our Pharaoh a woman. At ship suit. Ruled Egypt in the 15th century BCE. She took on the full role and titles of Pharaoh. And although Egyptian art sometimes represented her. Using the traditional male imagery of kingship. Inscriptions could still refer to her in feminine terms. Perhaps tonight. Our Pharaoh is at Shepsut. Not because we know exactly what Hatshepsut did on a particular evening. We absolutely do not. There is. No surviving document. Thursday. A chipsuit washed hair. Watched something. Bed by ten. But we can build the evening from things we do know. About wealthy Egyptian life. And royal surroundings. The sun has gone down. Inside the royal residence. Lamps are being lit. And the palace need not have looked like the beige stone world we often imagine when we think of ancient Egypt. New kingdom royal palaces could be brightly painted. At one palace, Archaeologists found painted floors, Walls and ceilings including elaborate patterns close to the King's own bedchamber. At shipsuit. Is not necessarily wandering through fifty shades of sandstone. There may be color everywhere. Painted surfaces. Textiles Furniture flickering lamps throwing moving light across the rooms. And people. Lots of people. Because being Pharaoh must have made it extraordinarily difficult to ever be properly alone. Officials, Attendants, Servants, Scribes, Guards, Priests, Members of the royal household. Someone, Somewhere. Always needs something. You can imagine the end of the working day. Hatshepsut has spent hours being pharaoh of Egypt. Just when things finally seemed to be winding down. Your Majesty. No. Just one very small matter concerning the southern provinces There is no such thing as a small matter concerning the southern provinces. Tomorrow. Tomorrow has been invented for exactly this purpose. Eventually the formal part of the day has to end. Jewelry can come off, Elaborate clothing can be changed. Hair or wigs can be attended to. And washing and personal care were important parts of wealthy Egyptian life. We know that better-off Egyptian homes could contain shallow bathing places. Where a presson stirred while water was poured over them. Cleaning substances were used. And oils or unguents could then be rubbed into the skin, Partly to counter the drying effects of the climate. Cosmetics, Mirrors, Razors, And containers for oils. Survive in abundance. Now, We cannot say. . . At 8. 17 every pharaoh was washed and then rubbed with scented oil. That would be television history nonsense. But it is entirely reasonable to put personal washing and oils into the world around a royal evening. So perhaps water is brought. At shipsuit washes. Perhaps an attendant helps. Than perfumed oil on the skin. And suddenly. This feels much more like an actual human evening. Not, Behold, The Divine Queen of Upper and Lower Egypt. More. Can you do my back please? And after that, Well, This is where we have to admit that history becomes annoyingly quiet. Did a pharaoh sit and read before bed? Possibly. But I would not tell our audience that a chepsuit definitely curled up with a papyrus. Literature certainly existed. Papyrus scrolls were the books of the time. Some pharaohs were literate, Although we cannot simply assume that every Egyptian pharaoh personally read and wrote. And in the royal court important correspondence could be read aloud by scribes. Which actually gives us something better. Because Hatshepsut does not need to read her own paperwork. She is fairer. Reading can be delegated. Modern person at eleven at night. I should really answer these emails. A chip suit. Feed me the important ones. A scribe begins. Is majesty. The ruler of Is this important? He wishes to assure your majesty of his eternal loyalty. And would also like several hundred measures of grain. There it is. Ancient email. Long respectful introduction. Request at the bottom. Nothing has changed. Maybe there was conversation. Maybe music on particular evenings. Music. Singing and dancing. Were certainly part of elite Egyptian entertainment. Board games existed too. Sanat was played in Egypt for centuries and was popular enough to appear repeatedly in surviving objects and images. Did Hatshepsut occasionally play in the evening? Maybe. I hope she did. Because the idea of being Pharaoh all day and then losing at a board game to one of your own officials is very appealing. Official. Your move, Your majesty. A chip suit moves. Official stares at board. Long pause. Excellent move. Did I win? Another long pause. But spiritually. Very strong. This must be one of the difficulties of playing games with an absolute monarch. You want to win, But not in a way that affects your career. Eventually the palace grows quieter. Some attendants withdraw. Others remain on duty. Guards certainly do not get to announce. Well, The Pharaoh's gone to bed, So we're all off. Somewhere beyond the palace rooms. The city is darker now. Great quantity of human activity that surrounds a ruler. Begins to shrink. And this, I think, Is the interesting part. A chapsuit has spent the day occupying one of the grandest roles a human being could occupy. Arrow. Ruler. Religious figure. Her name belongs on monuments. Her commands matter to an entire kingdom. At the end of the evening. The scale contracts. Water. Oh yeah. Clothing put away. Conversation. Perhaps somebody reading aloud. Perhaps a little entertainment. Then fewer voices. Fewer footsteps. And eventually Silence. And then. . . One such chapsuit finally closed her eyes. Ancient Egypt gave us another subject entirely. Because Egyptians were fascinated. By what could happen. After you fall asleep. Dreams. And unlike us. They did not always wake from a completely ridiculous dream and say, Well, Apparently I was at school again, Except the school was also my grandmother's house, And for some reason Tom Hanks was there. Then carry on with breakfast. Sometimes. They sought the dream. Might be trying to tell them something. Part five. In which dreams become official business. And sometimes. According to one of the most famous royal inscriptions in Egypt, The gods did indeed come in. One of the best examples involves a prince called Thutmose. Who would later become Sootmose the Fourth. According to this story, He later had carved onto a great stone monument. The young prince was out near the pyramid at Giza. When he stopped to rest in the shadow of the Great Sphinx. And fell asleep. Which is already an excellent start to a royal career. Some people inherit power through careful political maneuvering. Thutmose apparently had enough. While he slept. The Divine Sphinx appeared to him in a dream. And the message was essentially I am buried in sand. Clear me out. And you will become king. Thutmose later did become pharaoh, And during his reign he had the Sphinx cleared and restored. The huge dream Stella recording the story. Still stands between the Sphinx's pores today. Historians generally treat the inscription as royal propaganda. As well as a religious statement. Rather than as a neutral diary entry. About what objectively happened during one afternoon nap. But imagine waking up from that dream. Most of us. I had the strangest dream. What happened? I was back at school. But somehow I was also 42. Suit must. The Sphinx has given me a public works project. And possibly Egypt. Different level. And this tells us something important. For ancient Egyptians. Dreams could be more than random night-time nonsense. They might contain warnings. Omens. Messages. Information about what was going to happen. Not every Egyptian necessarily treated every dream as a divine communiqué. And we should not imagine an entire civilization waking each morning and submitting a report. But there was a serious tradition of interpreting them. And fortunately. One of their actual dream manuals survives. It is known today as Papyrus Chester Beatty III and it dates to around 1220 BCE. During Egypt's 19th dynasty. It came from Deir el-Medina, The community of royal tomb workers we have already visited. And on one side of the papyrus. Is a guide to interpreting dreams. This is wonderful. Because humanity. Had already reached this stage. Where somebody could wake up after a baffling dream. And think. There must be a book for this. Ancient Egyptian search history. What does dream about large cat mean? What does dream about monkeys mean? Was weird to dream that sign. No internet. But same panic. The surviving manual contains more than 200 interpretations. The entries follow a beautifully efficient formula. Something happens in the dream. Then the text tells you whether it is good or bad. Or bad? And what it supposedly predicts. No discussion. Now. Dreams are deeply personal and may reflect your subconscious relationship with Monkey God. Change coming. Next. In fact, One surviving example says that if a man dreams of looking after monkeys, This is bad because a change awaits him. Which seems a little unfair on the monkeys. You wake up. I dreamed about monkeys. Ancient Dream Interpreter That's bad. Sorry, Why? Change. What kind of change next. This is customer service with extraordinary confidence. Another dream says that seeing a large cut is good, Because it means a large harvest will come to you. Now imagine trying to work this out yourself without the manual. Large cat. Obviously. Agriculture. Of course. How did I not see it? Some of these interpretations. Probably relied on puns or associations in the Egyptian language. That disappear when translated into English. Which explains why some can sound completely baffling to us. The dream itself and the prediction. Might have been connected by similar sounding words. So what looks to us like? Cut equals grain. May have had a linguistic joke or association underneath it. This is quite reassuring. Because otherwise. . . The Egyptian Dream Interpreter begins to sound like somebody making things up at tremendous speed. I dreamed I was standing beside a tree. Promotion. Yes. What if the tree was small? Divorce. Why? There are also dreams that sound unpleasant but receive surprisingly positive interpretations. One surviving entry says that dreaming of eating donkey meat is good and means the dreamer will rise in status. Again, You wake up disturbed. You explain the dream. The interpreter smiles. Excellent. Excellent. You're getting promoted. I ate a donkey. Congratulations. This is considerably more encouraging than modern dream websites. Modern dream website. Dreaming of a donkey may indicate feelings of emotional burden, Stubbornness, Unresolved childhood conflict, Financial insecurity, Or the need to reconnect with your authentic self. Ancient Egypt. Promotion. And then there are bad dreams. The manual actually groups good and bad omens separately. And in the section dealing with bad dreams. The word for bad. Was written in red ink. This is excellent graphic design. You opened a dream book. Black writing. Black writing. Black writing. Red. That cannot be good. Even before you can read it. The papyrus is already saying. We need to talk. One example says that dreaming about catching birds is bad. Because something belonging to you will be taken away. Which means the Egyptian dreamer should go to sleep perfectly content. Of a perfectly innocent dream about birds? Wake up. Consult the book. And ruin his own morning. There is something deeply human about this. We still do it. Wake at 3. 40am. Of Weird Dream. Reach for phone. Google, What does a dream mean if I'm in an elevator with a goat? And suddenly you are reading a website written by someone in Arizona explaining that your subconscious is preparing you for a major financial transition. You were fine nine minutes ago. The elevator goat has now changed your week. The Egyptians simply had papyrus instead of Google. Dreams could matter particularly when kings were involved. Because a dream might be used to support royal authority. Thutmose IV's dream at the Sphinx is the perfect example. Prince sleeps. God appears. The guard promises kingship. The prince becomes king. And then the king commissions a massive stone inscription. Explaining that the guard had wanted this all along. Politically. This is extremely convenient. Modern politician. I have a mandate from the electorate. Ancient pharaoh. A large stone lion told me. In order to fact-check but night time could also be unsettling. A bad dream. Might not simply be dismissed as too much cheese. There were religious and magical ways of dealing with threatening night-time experiences. And texts show that dreams could be placed inside a wider world of protection, Danger, And divine forces. So sleep was not necessarily a neutral blank space. It could be a place where something significant happened. Which makes ancient Egyptian bedtime rather different from ours. Although not completely. Because we too attach enormous importance. To whatever happens while we are unconscious. We just use different authorities. Ancient Egyptian wakes up. I dreamed my teeth fell out. Consults specialist text. Modern person wakes up. I dreamed my teeth fell out. Consult Google. Both receive worrying information. Neither needed to do this. And there is something I particularly like about the dream book. It turns dreaming into bureaucracy. The human mind produces one of the strangest experiences we have. You close your eyes. Suddenly your dead uncle is driving a boat through your kitchen. For some reason you are late for an examination you have not studied for. The Sphinx may be there. Nobody explains anything. Then you wake up. And ancient Egypt responds. We need categories. Meaning. Write it down. This is civilization. Eventually, Of course, Morning arrives. The dreamer wakes. The great night of signs, Gods, Cuts, Monkeys, Possible promotion ends. And somebody has got to get up and work. Because while some Egyptians were spending the night dreaming Others had been awake the entire time. Guards. Priests. Servants. Workers. People whose jobs did not politely stop because the sun had gone down. And those are the people we meet next. Part six, In which not everybody gets to go to bed. Of course, While most people were settling down for the night. Some unfortunate Egyptians were doing the exact opposite. They were working. Because civilization has always depended on a small group of people. Being awake. The precise moment everyone else has decided. That sounds like tomorrow's problem. Alice's. Temples. Towns. And important buildings. Did not simply become entirely unattended. When the sun disappeared. Their regards. Servants. Temple personnel. People responsible for lumps. People responsible for doors. People responsible for making sure. That whatever had been left somewhere important was still there in the morning. Some form of night watch was therefore part of Egyptian life. And I think guards are a particularly good place to begin. Imagine standing watch outside a royal building in the middle of the night. No television. No phone. No podcast. Just. . . War. Another wall. Occasional footsteps. And more wool. A modern nighttime security guard. Can at least look at six CCTV screens and wonder whether that shadow move Ancient Egyptian God. I have personally inspected the shadow. It is fine. The night itself was divided into hours. And in important contexts Egyptians could keep track of those hours using stars and later, Water clocks. Which means somebody could know approximately how much of their shift remained. This is useful psychologically. There is a considerable difference between I have been standing here for some time. Only for more hours. Although both ultimately mean still standing here. Temple life also continued according to strict routines. Egyptian temples were not churches in the modern sense. Where crowds simply wandered in for a service. They were considered homes of the gods. And priests carried out elaborate daily rituals on behalf of the king. Some rituals began very early. Around dawn or before it. Which meant that at least some temple personnel had to be active while much of the population was still asleep. There is something wonderfully familiar about this. The guard is about to receive an elaborate ceremonial greeting at sunrise. Somewhere behind the scenes. Somebody has already been awake for hours. Every magnificent institution has this. Luxury Hotel Breakfast opens at 7. Guess. How lovely. Kitchen stuff. We have been here since a time you would find upsetting. Priests purified themselves. Prepared offerings. And attend it to divine images as part of temple ritual. And the timing mattered, Because Egyptian religion was deeply connected with the daily cycle of the sun. Morning was not simply Oh good. Daylight. It represented the renewal of cosmic order. Which again puts rather more pressure on the early shift. Modern employee. I need to open the shop. Ancient priest. The universe requires successful renewal. Both still need to get dressed. Inside the palace. Servants and attendants also would not all disappear because the ruler was asleep. A royal household was a large organization. Licing. Security. Closing. Cleaning. And administration. All required people. There must have been moments when the Pharaoh was asleep in magnificent surroundings, While someone several rooms away. Was quietly carrying a lump. And thinking. If I drop this. . . My evening changes considerably. And lamps themselves needed attention. Oil or fat had to be supplied. Wix had to be prepared. A lamp did not simply remain bright. Because somebody wanted it to. One of the great luxuries of electricity is that have forgotten how much effort was once required to produce a small pool of light. Today. Ancient world. Container, Fuel, Wick. Lame Maintenance Modern person becomes enraged because the bedside lamp is controlled by the wrong switch. Ancient Egyptian. Sorry, What's a switch? And then there is the simple fact that some journeys continued after dark. We should not imagine Egyptian roads and river traffic operating 24 hours a day like a modern motorway. But people could travel at night. When circumstances required it. Particularly along familiar routes or by river. Boat moving along the Nile after sunset, Would have entered a very different landscape. The bank's dough. The stars above. Occasional lumps. Voices carrying unusually far across the water. And somebody on board almost certainly saying Are we there yet? There is no evidence for that exact sentence. But I am prepared to risk the Egyptologists on this one. The Nile was Egypt's great transport route. Boats carried people, Goods and officials up and down the country. By night, However. Navigation would obviously require greater caution. No illuminated signs. No GPS? No little blue arrow confidently informing you. That you have somehow left the river. And meanwhile, Ordinary homes were growing quieter. Perhaps a lump remains on in one house. Someone is finishing a task. Somebody else is asleep. A guard passes outside. Farther away, A temple prepares. For the first duties of morning. The strange thing about night time in any civilization. Is that it requires two worlds. There are the people asleep and there are the people whose entire job exists because those people are asleep. We still have them. Nurses Security Guard. Drivers. Hotel stuff. Airport workers. Emergency services. The person restocking a supermarket at three in the morning. While the rest of us apparently believe the food simply regenerates overnight. Ancient Egypt had its own version of this invisible nightmare. Not identical to ours. Much smaller. Much darker. But still there. And eventually The eastern horizon begins to brighten. The Night Watch's end. Temple rituals move toward sunrise. Ohms begin to stir. People who have been awake for hours. Finally approached the end of their work. People. Who have been asleep. Begin theirs. Which from the point of view of the night guard is always slightly insulting. Everyone emerges refreshed. Good morning. Yes. For you. And as the sun rises over Egypt. There is one final idea we need to look at. Because to the Egyptians. Night was not merely a pause between working days, Darkness itself formed part of a much larger cycle. The sun disappeared. Is travelled through the night. Then it returned. And that idea of darkness followed by renewal. Became deeply connected with something much bigger than ordinary sleep. The afterlife. Which means for our final section. Bedtime is about to become considerably more ambitious. Part seven. In which bedtime becomes eternity. And this brings us to the largest bedtime idea the Egyptians ever had. What happens when you do not wake up in the morning? Ancient Egyptian religion did not simply treat death as sleep. Their ideas about the afterlife. Were far more complicated than that. But sleep, Darkness, Waking and renewal. Fitted beautifully into the way they understood the universe. Every evening the sun disappeared. And every morning. It came back. This was not merely a pleasant astronomical fact. The sun god Ra was understood to make a journey through the night. Travelling through the hidden world, Often called the duality. Before being renewed at dawn. So, From the Egyptian point of view, Sunset was not. Sun gone. It was sun has entered the night shift. There is work at play. Ra is travelling. Things must occur. Cosmic Order has a surprisingly complicated overnight maintenance schedule. Modern person sees sunrise. Lovely. Ancient Egyptian Theology. You have absolutely no idea what he has been through. Descriptions of this night-time journey became particularly elaborate in royal tombs of the New Kingdom. Texts such as the Amduat divide the night journey into twelve stages, Corresponding broadly to the twelve hours of night. At each stage, Ra encounters gods, Beings, And obstacles. Before finally emerging renewed with the sunrise. So even the sun apparently has one of those journeys. Where every hour brings a new complication. Our One. Fine. Alright, Two. Still fine. R6, Something supernatural. Are eleven. Can we please just get to morning? We have all had nights like that. For Egyptian kings. These ideas mattered enormously after death. Royal tombs were decorated with scenes and texts connected with this solar journey, Because the dead king hoped to participate in the same pattern. Darkness. Transformation. Renewal. The sun does it every night. The king would like to be included. There is something wonderfully ambitious about this. Modern funeral planning. Flowers. Music. Perhaps reading. Ancient pharaoh. I would like to join the sun in its eternal cycle of cosmic regeneration. Funeral director. Certainly. And several beds. Of course. And this is where all that bedroom furniture we met earlier suddenly makes more sense. At rest. Closing. Containers. Cheers. And other useful objects could be placed in tombs, Because the dead were expected to require things. Not every tomb contained the same objects. And what survived depended hugely on wealth and period. But the basic idea is gloriously practical. You are preparing someone for eternity. Naturally, Back properly. Tutankhamun's tomb contained furniture, Clothing, Sandals, Games, Food, And an enormous range of equipment. Death that apparently created the longest packing list in history. Have we got the jewellery? Yes. The Sundos? Yes. The board game. Yes. The bed. Several. The headrest. Unfortunately, Yes. Even in eternity nobody is getting the fluffy pillow. And ordinary Egyptians, When they could afford funerary preparations, Also hoped for a continued existence after death. They did not expect merely to become ghosts floating vaguely around a pyramid. The ideal afterlife could involve eating, Drinking, Family. Fields. Possessions. And familiar pleasures. Essentially, The Egyptians looked at life and thought. This is good. Can we arrange another one? But preferably with fewer administrative difficulties. But the god most closely associated with death and resurrection was Osiris. According to Egyptian mythology. Osiris had died and been restored to a new form of existence. So the deceased could be associated with Osiris. While also sharing in the daily renewal represented by Ra. Egyptian religion developed over thousands of years. And these ideas changed and overlapped. So we should resist turning it into one tidy system. Ancient Egyptian theology was not a single instruction manual. It was more like opening a cupboard that has been organized for 3, 000 years by several different people. Everything is important. Some things have three names. Nobody is throwing anything out. And yet the central hope is remarkably easy to understand. Continue. Do not disappear. Wake again. That may be why some of their funerary objects feel unexpectedly domestic to us. Chair. A comb. Erephsandos Not bad. Objects belonging to ordinary human routines, Placed beside enormous ideas about eternity. And perhaps thus is the nicest place. To end our history of ancient Egyptian sleep. Because we began with people watching the daylight disappear over the Nile. We found lumps. Beds. Wooden headrests. Workers trying to sleep. Pharaohs finishing their evenings. Dreams that might contain messages. Guards standing awake. While everybody else got the better deal. And finally the greatest night of all. The darkness through which even the sun itself had to travel before morning. Nearly four thousand years later. Those people are gone. Their houses have disappeared. Their evenings are silent. But some of their beds survive. Some of their headrests survived. Their dream books survive. Their pictures of the night sky surviving. And now. Thanks to archaeology, Museums and an extraordinary amount of papyrus. We know a surprising amount. About how ancient Egypt went to bed. Although I think one mystery remains completely unresolved. A civilization built the Great Pyramid. Developed hieroglyphic writing. Created astonishing medicine. Mathematics and architecture. Attract the stars. Built furniture that survived thousands of years. And through all of that brilliance, Generation after generation, Looked at a curved piece of wood beneath the neck. And apparently so it. Yes. Perfect. Much better than a fluffy pillow.