10 Disturbing Practices That Were Considered Normal in Ancient Egypt

From burning people who disrespected the sun to dying hair with rotten donkey liver.

Sal
Lessons from History
8 min readDec 17, 2021

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Photo Credits: Grunge

The history of Egypt is rich and culturally diverse. The people of Ancient Egypt built a civilization that continues to amaze the world even today. Their grand pyramids and buried treasures, their obsession with life after death, and the mountains of evidence they left behind of their work in areas of architecture, culture, and religion.

Behind the veneer of historical grandeur and captivating mysticism, however, some of the practices in Ancient Egypt would be considered disturbing, and maybe even horrifying, by most people today. For example, their devotion to their gods could often reach concerning levels, their justice system could be unjust and cruel to members of the lower classes, and many of their medical practices would shock medical practitioners and patients today.

1. Servants Would Often Accompany Their Masters Into the Afterlife

Because of their strong belief in an afterlife, the Ancient Egyptians were dedicated to ensuring that they carried the things they would need into their afterlife. In the case of pharaohs, who were considered to be the most important…

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Sal
Lessons from History

I am a History Educator and a Lifelong Learner with a Masters in Global History.