This wooden model from 2000 BC depicts an ancient Egyptian brewery. On one side, 13 servants crush grain on grindstones with the figures facing them sifting the flour. Three of the servants in the third row are sieving mashed barley into beer vats while others crouch in front of ovens, probably to heat the grain before fermentation.

We have a good knowledge of what the ancient Egyptians ate, from inscriptions and depictions in tombs and temples, as well as from actual food remains which have been found in tombs. The main food crops grown in the Nile Valley were emmer wheat and barley, from which bread and beer respectively were made. The beer did not have a high alcohol content but it was nourishing, and there were many varieties of bread. Other staples were fish, fowl and vegetables (especially onions, but also garlic, lettuce and cucumber), which were supplemented by fruits such as the date, fig, dom palm nut and pomegranate. Bread and beer were regarded as the basic requirements of human existence and these, together with fish, fruits and vegetables, would have been available to peasants as well as to persons of higher status. Meat was eaten, but for all except the elite this would have been a luxury, only to be tasted on rare occasions such as religious festivals. Grapes were harvested to make wine, and honey (from both wild and domesticated bees) was used to sweeten bread to make cakes or added to beer. Wall scenes and models found in tombs show how these basic ingredients were processed by bakers, brewers and butchers to make different types of food and drink.



Wooden model representing a brewery. From the tomb of Mentuhotep II, Deir el-Bahri. 11th Dynasty, c. 2050–2000 BC.

Discover more about the lives of eight people from ancient Egypt and Sudan in our exhibition Ancient lives, new discoveries, until 12 July 2015.



You can also find out more in the exhibition catalogue by Curators John Taylor and Daniel Antoine.