Amazing stone pillows of the ancient Egyptians (8 photos)

Sleep is an important part of human life. In a dream we we spend a lot of time. The researchers calculated that in on average, we sleep for about 24 years in our life, this is just huge amount of time.





Nevertheless, sleep is essential for any species. In during sleep, many processes take place that have a beneficial effect on the entire organism. Agree, sleep is a rather strange thing, sometimes it is difficult for us lie down in the evening and it is even more difficult to get up in the morning. And the softer and more comfortable bed, the more difficult it is for us to get out of the arms of Morpheus.



In the modern world, much has been done for the convenience of man, including including for his comfortable sleep. In addition to soft mattresses and warm blankets, a special place is occupied by a comfortable pillow. Today, no pillows release. There are special fillers with soothing smells, special orthopedic ones with memorization of body curves, etc. but all of them are united by one property, they are all comfortable and enough soft, which cannot be said, for example, about ancient Egyptian pillows. The ancients Egyptians with pillows were not easy. For example, fall face down into a pillow and sob, in ancient Egypt it takes on a different meaning, because to sob it would have turned out not from sad thoughts, but from pain, since about an ancient Egyptian pillow could easily be crushed into blood, and and get a serious concussion.





This is such an interesting pillow.

In ancient Egypt, people preferred to sleep on stone pillows, and sometimes carved from ivory, wood and other hard materials. Peasants slept mainly on simple, stone pillows, where special recesses were made for the head. People richer preferred pillows made of ivory, marble and other valuable materials. Ancient Egyptian pillows for the nobility were real masterpieces of art. After all, they were decorated not only with elegant carvings, but also often precious metals and stones.



pharaoh pillow

And that's why the ancient Egyptians preferred to sleep on such hard and not very comfortable pillows are not known for certain. There is speculation that there were several reasons for this. The first one is hot climate. If you lay your head on such a pedestal, then it will be cool, the bed will be cooled by the flows of circulating air. The second reason is protection from insects. Indeed, it is known that in the sands are home to a lot of rather unpleasant living creatures. A similar pillow during sleep protected from crawling these insects into the mouth, ears and hair, if present.



ancient pillow



ancient egyptian pillow



Egyptian stone pillow



And this is what the dream looked like

The third reason has to do with the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. They are believed that the head is by itself an important part of the body, not only in physically, but also spiritually. Therefore, pillows often had images of amulets, gods and other sacred attributes that protected a person from evil spirits during sleep. By the way, even now many they store small icons under a pillow or mattress in the area of u200bu200bthe head, believing that in this way they will be protected, and sleep strong and healthy.