10+ Curious Facts About Ancient Egypt You Wouldn’t Learn at School

Tutankhamun didn’t look like his golden mask at all.

Perhaps Tutankhamun is considered the most famous and powerful pharaoh of Egypt. In reality, he took the throne as a child at the age of about 10, and ruled the country until his death at the age of 19. Studies showed that Tutankhamun suffered from a variety of genetic diseases.

So, he had a severe disease of the foot bones. This is why he was depicted seated while engaged in physical activities like archery. Other pharaohs were always depicted standing in similar situations. According to scientists, Tutankhamun had a partially cleft hard palate and scoliosis. He was thin and approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall.

When the researchers made a 3-D model of Tutankhamun, they found out that he was a fragile teenager of an ordinary appearance, and not at all the handsome man whose face we usually see on the golden mask.

Cleopatra’s beauty was very much exaggerated. Also the queen wasn’t Egyptian.

Along with Tutankhamun, Queen Cleopatra is considered one of the most famous Egyptians in the world. However, in reality she was not an Egyptian. She belonged to the Ptolemaic dynasty, the Macedonian Greek royal family. Another myth associated with her was about her incredible beauty — no wonder Elizabeth Taylor and Vivien Leigh played her in the movies. Alas, according to scientists, the beauty of the queen was only a product of propaganda. In reality, she had a large, pointed nose, narrow lips, and a sharp, protruding chin.

But Cleopatra had a high self-esteem — she believed she was a living goddess and often used clever stagecraft to win the trust and love of her potential allies. For example, Cleopatra arrived to meet Mark Antony on a golden barge adorned with purple sails and oars made of silver. The queen was made up to look like the goddess Aphrodite, she sat under a gilded canopy, and attendants dressed as cupids fanned her and burned sweet-smelling incense. Antony was instantly charmed.

And Cleopatra was very smart and well educated. She was versed in mathematics, chemistry and medicine, and also spoke 5 to 9 languages.

Ancient Egyptians invented sugaring and loved cosmetics.

Ancient Egyptians were pioneers in the use of cosmetics. Both men and women were known to use a lot of makeup. At the same time, they used it not only to improve their appearance but also to protect their eyes from the sun and infections, it had ritual functions or symbolic meaning. The main makeup colors were black, green, red and brown.

The black paint used as eyeliner was made from galena, a mixture of lead sulfide and manganese oxide. Modern scientists believe that the use of lead in cosmetics was deliberate. The fact is that lead, in combination with salts produced by the body, forms nitric oxide which makes the immune system stronger. This helped the Egyptians prevent infections such as conjunctivitis.