Ancient Egypt Diary

Noble Prize winning archaeologist Gabriel Phillips has recently found an ancient Egyptian diary under a building in Giza. He found that the name of the ancient Egyptian was Iskandar and he was a peasant, he was 30 years old and lived in the 18th Dynasty. Most of the diary was found in good condition but other pages were missing or damaged beyond repair. In the diary he discovered that the Iskandar did not write the diary himself, but his companion, a scribe, wrote it down for him. This diary is one of the most valuable artifacts you could ever come across. If you want to know the untold story of an ancient Egyptian peasant, then read on...





Chapter 2

I woke up at the sound of roosters crowing. My eyes opened slowly with tiredness and I saw that the Sun was coming over the horizon bringing a light orange glow that was warming. My stomach rumbled as I sat up on the straw roof of my house. I got off the roof but on the dismount I slipped and fell on a rock the size of a jackal head and got a big cut on my chin, “@#$%!” I swore as the blood started to flow through the earth. The cut was big and could easily get infected so I went to the doctor. A few minutes later I was at the doctor. His name was Ramose,when he saw my cut he said,”Woa, that’s one big cut!” He later bandaged my chin for a trade of 2 mints. I ran home so I could quickly try and harvest my crops.

When I got to my fields I had to start quickly because the sun was coming down. I ran past my house , nearly stepping on a snake (dodge by jump). Although it was not a really smart idea, when I landed I slipped on some jackal droppings and hit my head, I blacked out. I woke up looking at the stars, for a second I thought I thought I was on my roof, but soon realised my head was bleeding. I sat up groaning and looked around for any help. Duh, of course not I’m in the middle of a farm and the doctor’s is closed. I suddenly started to think about the scorpions and snakes. Very slowly I turned my head to see if there were any snakes. When I came to see a scorpion on my shoulder. When it saw me it raised it’s sting. The only light source I had to see it was the moon, I could only see the reflection of light off its shell. I slowly got into a squat position and froze every time the scorpion made movement. I eventually got into standing position what seemed after hours. The scorpion and I locked eyes and then it pinched my cheek.

I yelled out in pain and swung my head around until the scorpion let go and flew flying at a mud wall of my house, I heard a splat. The pain in my cheek spread across the right side of my face, it felt like it was on fire. My screams woke a lot of people up, some ran to my aid most of them not sure what to do but comfort me and others ran to spit on me because they were higher in the pyramid and did not like being woken up at two in the morning, I eventually slept in pain. When I awoke I was at Ramose’s house. He was treating my head and scorpion pinch. The light was flooding into the room through the windows and I could smell the dung of animals. I was lying on a bed that was quite comfortable, but I think it was because of what I was used to, a roof of straw and rock.

Ramose was a good doctor and always made funny comments,”Hello, I see your here again.” Yes, that is how funny he is. He told me that I got a concussion and the pinch would leave another big scar. He also gave me some tips,” You shouldn’t run around with snakes like that.”
And so on so forth. He said that I should rest at his house for the night, but I refused, since I had not harvested any crops in a day. I headed to my farm thinking of how I got into all of this trouble. I came to that the gods did not like me and were showing no pity.

When I had miraclously gotten to my fields without getting physically damaged, I started to reaping. As I did this, with perspiration running down every inch of my body, I wondered why? The sun was beating down on me like a hammer of heat. Why were the gods angry at me? My legs felt weak after four hours of work. Why was I at the bottom at the pyramid and not a vizier or scribe? I had to stretch my back every two minutes because of so much bending. Why couldn’t I be like them? Why wasn’t I born higher? When dusk came I went back to my house and climbed up my mud walls to my roof. Well I guess I will never know. I lay down on the roof and tried to find a comfortable position but could not.

I awoke early and stretched my arms and sat up. I observed my surroundings. It was still dark so I had woken up quite early. I climbed down my house and yawned as I landed with a,”Ploop”, of mud. My eyes were still crunchy with sleep, I rubbed my eyes and went inside. When I got in to my house my first reaction was to go and get some breakfast. I trodded to the table and it had some vegetables. I picked one up, I don’t know what it is called but I know what it tastes like. I took a bite and shiver ran down my spine, it was the most horrible thing I have experienced, and I live off it!! It looks green and has a oval shape, I can only afford vegetables, only sometimes meat, but very rarely.




Iskander

Chapter 3

I had a dream last night about being the pharaoh. I was sitting in a large throne with a cushion eating green grapes. This amazed me because I can only eat turnips and I have never experienced such royalty before. The throne was six cubits high and painted gold with symmetrical patterns of wings. I was wearing a silk gold and silver kilt, I stroked them in wonder, and I had never felt such silk. I was in a humungous room that was like a long hallway and towering doors at the end with some thing waiting to be found. The hallway was approximately ten meters in length and four meters in width I am usually in a small house so I got agoraphobia. There were huge stone pillars approximately 37.68 centimeters in circumference, holding the ceiling up. There were 16 windows, eight on each side, which blew in air. There was a candle next to each pillar, which smelled of fragrant flowers. It must have been the throne room and it made me feel very royal and important. I got off my throne and started to walk down the hall. I noticed that there was a long carpet along the floor of the huge room, it was made of fine gold silk and it felt smooth under my bare feet. When I reached the doors, I realized they were so tall they could have fit four grown men standing on each other’s shoulders. I pushed the door open; surprisingly enough it only took a light nudge. I looked out and a blinding light burned my eyes. I sat up and I was on the roof of my house.

I had woken up staring directly at the sun. I sat up quickly and put my hands over my eyes to cool them. There were red spots in my eyes, so I could not see much. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times to try and get them out. I managed to get rid of most of them out so that I could see and coordinate myself, but there was still a big red bit on the left side of my eyes. I faced the reality of my life. Pulling myself up out of my dreams, I looked around me and saw the stone and straw roof of my brown mud made house. It smelt like cow dung and earth baking in the blistering heat. I yawned, and stretched my arms and legs as I realized to my horror that it was way past dawn.

My dream of luxury and wealth had robbed me of precious hours of work. I was no pharaoh but a wretched peasant destined to serve out long days beginning in the dark hours before sunrise so that I could tend my crops. Mine was a life of hard labor, tied to the seasons of the great river Nile. Without its inundation I would have had even less because the waters were the only reason my crops and myself could stay alive. Even with the help of the Nile River I still could not eat meat, only vegetables and bread made from wheat. I looked down and saw the body of a man used to working hard in the sun. At least I had slippers unlike many of my friends. But even so my feet were rough and covered with blisters and insect bites. My slippers were like my version of treasure; at least they protected my feet a little. Gone was the gold and silver outfit of my fantastic dream. I was now in my rags, half-naked. My life was just like so many others in my land not important like the Pharaoh’s. It didn’t matter if I lived or died just that I worked and survived.

I was thirsty and I needed to keep water for my crops and the Nile was a kilometer away. I picked up my clay barrel and started to heave it to the Nile. My muscles were aching and I was dripping with sweat when I reached the Nile. I filled my barrel with water and dragged it back to my house, sipping some when I walked. I was wheezing when I got back. I drank some of the water and went to my fields to pick lentils and dates. It was getting dark and I was still picking.

It was seven o’clock, and the stars were coming out, so I decided to get to my roof. I put my scythe against my house and started to climb the mud house. When I got to the roof I saw a rattle snaked curled in the middle sleeping. I slowly moved towards it and picked it up. I could feel the scaliness of the animal and its muscles moving around. It slowly lifted its head and looked at me. We made eye contact for a brief moment, both of us not sure what to do. Then the rattlesnake hissed and shook its rattle. I flung my arm into the air and the snake followed through, gliding through the air before I heard a thump/splat somewhere in my fields. I tried to settle down after that episode of cardio acceleration.