Foot care : uncommon scenes in ancient Egypt

Abstract EN

The heritage of Ancient Egypt reflects many continued and still existing habits and traditions.

Among these habits are body, hand, foot, face and hair care.

The Ancient Egyptians were particularly concerned with cleanliness and grooming.

Personal cleanliness was not only a source of good health but a sign of rank and social class.

There are few scenes expressing personal grooming in Ancient Egypt; those displaying foot care were even more rare and uncommon.

The aim of this paper is to explore the nature of the scenes expressing foot care in Ancient Egypt, identify and describe the routines of foot care, recognize the people involved and mention the implements used.

This paper employs a descriptive and analytical methodology.

Through studying the very few scenes from various periods and sites, this study concludes that there are thirteen scenes of foot care in Ancient Egypt from Abu Seir, Saqqara, Beni Hassan, El-Hammamiya, Thebes and Abu Simble.

The findings reveal that there are three actions of foot care, namely, foot washing, foot massage and reflexology, as well as a pedicure that is very similar to what is practiced in modern times.

There are specific people involved in foot care in Ancient Egypt and they are varied according to the person who received the service of foot care.