" .
Unlike the Pharaoh, the average Egyptian had to work for their food. The Egyptian prosperity was dependent on the Nile River, and many reliefs found in tombs depict harvest of the various crops grown along the riverbank, the refining of these crops once harvested and then the consuming of them by the Egyptian people. Two such examples of reliefs related to aspects of food production and consumption are from the tomb of Nakht, a scribal contemporary of Menna, a land agent under Tuthmosis IV, in Western Thebes (New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1400BCE). Portrayed are a winnowing scene and a scene of servants dressing geese. .
After threshing, the grain was winnowed- lifted up in wooden scoops and tossed into the air so that the chaff blew away in the wind while the wheat fell to the ground. This relief tells us that the growing and refining of agricultural products, especially wheat, used in the making of their staple food, bread, was a hard job for the average Egyptian people, but necessary for their living all the same. The second relief of the servants dressing the geese portrays four servants at different stages in the dressing geese. The row of hanging fowls and the tall jars of oil or wine represent the abundant resources of the household- in this instance the "eternal house" (tomb) of Nakht.
c) occupations.
Like all ancient civilizations, Egypt was an essentially agricultural society. The majority of people lived and worked on the land, their seemingly simple work determining the successes of Kings and courts, armies, cities and arts. Fertile Egypt existed of little more than a narrow strip of land on either side of the Nile, which was Egypt to most of its inhabitants, the desert was disliked and distrusted, although on occasion Egyptians were prepared on occasion to exploit such resources as it offered. During the New Kingdom period of Egyptian history, Egypt reached its height of dominance and prosperity.
