Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Important to Egyptians of course, right?



First off, the Nile River is very very important so boats should be important as well. The Nile is about 2-4 miles wide and is 4,189 miles long which by the way is the longest river in the world and can stretch across the United States of America. Now that's huge. So why have this enormous river without any boats? That doesn't make any sense now does it? The Nile was in fact the only way Egypt had life. Amazing, Hugh? Well, why would you walk in the desert when you could just take a boat to wherever you were going? And also think about if the workers had to carry or drag all those slabs of concrete to where they were building a pyramid. Everyday life would be dreadful without boats.!!! Egypt had no bridges to cross the Nile on because it was too long! So they had ferries instead, to go back and forth across the Nile. Or if another part of Egypt had something you wanted, how would you get it? I could go on and on about how much Egyptians needed boats and how important they are but I'm not.

what would you build a boat out of?







Some might say wood, others might say metal. But Egyptians first used papyrus material that is a paper like material made from a reed of the same name. Rafts were usually made of papyrus but would you trust it.....I didn't think so. To me, anything that is supposed to float on water should be very strong and papyrus doesn't sound very strong. To hold this material together, twine was often used to keep it together. You will not catch me on one of those boats. Then dockyards started using timber to build boats. Timber, to me, is stronger than papyrus but I still wouldn't trust it. Cedar was used to build rather big boats but I still wouldn't trust it would you? Later on, boatyards starting building wooden ships. Since Egypt was a desert, trees were hard to find. But the Egyptians managed to find wood, how, from acacia trees sometimes. Larger and heavier boats had sails because a paddle would not be strong enough. And when boats docked, they used planks for people to walk off the boat on. Well if a boat didn't have any planks, they had to dive into the water, and cross as quickly and quietly as possible so the hippos or alligators wouldn't attack them. I would not even get on a boat without a plank so I wouldn't get wet. And I would not risk my life like that.

working on an Egyptian boat is so so hard


Egyptian boats had no steering wheel so I wonder how they controlled the boat. If you have a boat without a steering wheel, you better have a backup plan on how to control your boat. In this case the Egyptians did have a backup plan. Some men had to pull the rigging to fix the sail in the direction they wanted to travel. I really would dread doing that job, it's too much work. Sitting down and watching the pretty view would be better. Some men leaned on poles to push the boat away from the shore which sounds like a job for someone with big muscles. Sailors used a plumb line to test the depth of the water while someone is controlling the boat which I wouldn't do because I might get wet and I can't afford to get my cute outfit wet. On some boats, one crew member would use a paddle to guide the boat which I would probably fall asleep. Most commonly, you would see 2 lines of oarsmen rowing the boat and you most definitely will not catch me doing any of these jobs unless you pay me 100 g's.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Kings and high powered people with private boats or not?


Well first off they were high powered people and demanded respect so they of course had private boats. Duh. If I were a pharaoh or queen, I would most definitely have me a private boat. Sometimes the highly powered people and pharaohs used their private boats for business and sometimes they used boats as pleasure. Me, oh yea, you best believe I would be riding along the Nile showing off my boat on those hot, sunny days during harvest season.Lol!!! Grand boats were used by the highly powered people which you could guess by its name Grand boats meaning beautiful and precious or valuable. Pharaoh's and high powered people also had small cargo boats to carry grain to state ships. Isn't that amazing!!! A king with a small ity bitty cargo boat. I don't believe it. Three boats to a lazy pharaoh who doesn't deserve it probably. (And adults think us kids are really spoiled!!! yea rite.) I bet a king would never ever ever ride in any other boats except the ceremonial boats to assist the king into the afterlife, a spiritual boat to transport the king throughthe underworld after his death, a grand boat, a funeral boat or possibly a ferry. The pharaoh would most likely not even ride in his own cargo boat because he would be looked at as a regular person.(Even though he is a regular person, he just thinks he is more important than anybody else and he makes everybody else think he is in power too!)

Modern boats or Egyptian boats???




Before I say anything, I am afraid to ride modern boats in the ocean but I think I'd rather ride on modern ships than Egyptian boats. Egyptians used some papyrus material to build their boats. When I hear papyrus material I think of paper, and if someone built a boat out of paper, we all are doomed and we all going down faster than the Titanic, so I hope Egyptians knew how to swim. I don't know about ya, but riding on a modern boat made of metal and/or steel would make me feel a whole lot better. Egyptian boats were not very big and it wasn't likely to have cabins or private rooms on Egyptian boats like modern boats do. Egyptians made their boats small so they could fit on the Nile but we make our boats huge to ride in an ocean. Now that's a big difference. Egyptian boats would not be able to last in an ocean but for maybe 5 minutes guessing. They depended on wind power, so if they were stupid enough to go out into the ocean, they would be going all over the place and wouldn't be able to control themselves because they had no steering wheel or anything electrical. Once they get into this situation, there is no telling when they would reach land, where they'd end up, how they managed to reach land, or if they were all alive. So you decide, would you rather ride an Egyptian boat or a modern boat?

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