The information that we have about the
footwear used by the inhabitants of ancient Egypt we have learned,
above all from the study of the numerous archaeological finds we have attained:
statues, bas-reliefs, tomb-paintings, papyruses and parchments.
All this kept in good condition owing to the very dry
climate and/or to the protection offered by the sand to the materials
buried in it, also organic finds have been preserved, such as textiles,
leathers, hides and wood that, in other zones of the world have been destroyed by the
putrefaction process.
We know that the ancient Egyptians tanned the skins
with vegetable oils and animal fats; they were then cleaned with scrapers
to remove the residues of fat and meat, they were then stretched on a frame and
dipped in a bath of fatty substances for a period of times; after
having been
removed from the bath, when the fibres were nearly dry, they were beaten with wooden
mallets in order to penetrate the tannery in the fibres of the skin that assumed
a suede aspect.
They also knew the tannery technique using tannic products,
seemingly extracted from Arabic
acacia pods.
The lower classes walked barefoot while the men of high
rank wore shoes, almost always outside of the house they were also a sign of social distinction and this is proved by the fact that
there existed the
honorary office of "bearer of sandals" to the suite of the Pharaoh or the noblemen and, in the presence of those, one had to
remain barefoot;
in any case the Egyptian climate rendered the use of open shoes like sandals necessary and the common people, probably for their elevated
cost, were inclined to save the use of them and, when he had to go far away, carried them
or hung them from a stick and
wore them on arrival.
In general women may not have worn them.
Some small clay statues, dating back to the pre
dynastic period (abt. 3.500 BCE), represent a man only wearing a penis sheath and
sandals and from this period they used to place their feet in sand or in wet earth
to obtain a form of mould to take measurements of their soles.
In Narmer's palette (abt. 3.000.BCE) a schist palette
for make-up found at Ieraconpoli (modern Kom al Ahmer) and exhibited at the Egyptian museum of Cairo, in which is represented Pharaoh Narmer unifying
of the high and lows of Egypt there is also carved
the figure of a royal bearer of sandals; in this find there represents one of the
most ancient images of Egyptian footwear while early hieroglyphs meaning
"sandal "seem to appear about 2.000 BCE.
In the tomb of Rekh-mi-re, a Vizier from the 18th
Dynasty (abt. 1.450 BCE), is represented a leather-sandal maker and his
tools.
The Egyptian sandals could have had a wood sole ( see
picture n.° 1), a leather sole (see picture n.° 2), a papyrus sole, a reed sole (see picture n.° 3) or
a sole of woven palm leaves sometimes covered with burlap
(see picture n.° 4) which were secured to the
foot with the " infra finger" method in which a skin strip, fixed to
the sole, passes between the big toe and the other toes encircling the instep; in
subsequent ages to1.300 BCE,
the Egyptians began to wear
models with a turned-up toe (see pictures n.° 4 - 5).
The most commonly used material for making them was the papyrus in
the form of woven fibres, abundant and therefore not inexpensive; their model
hasn't changed much in the course of the millenarian era of ancient
Egypt.
The priests were imposed to wear only sandals
made with the fibres of this plant.
At the British Museum of London a pair of sandals is
exhibited (see picture n.° 6) found at Beni Hasan in the tomb of Sebekhetepi, probably an official of the local governor and lived in the period of
the medium reign (abt. 2.125 - 1.795 BCE). At the Kunsthistorisches Museum
of Vienna a pair of woven reed insoles is exhibited which was placed at the
level of the feet of the mummy like element of funerary outfit (see picture n°. 9
ter).
They have a cedar wood sole model similar to that of
the so-called "foot shape" with the strips of skin in the infra finger manner colored with white
chalk.
As they were part of the funeral wealth of the deceased, being
directly placed on the cover of inner sarcophagus, at the level of the feet of the
mummy
considering their lightness, not suitable for daily use and their lack of wear and tear, one thinks that, in this particular
case, their were only needed by the owner for use in the reign of the dead
men.
In the same museum there is a pair of sandals for a child found
at Thebes, dating back to new reign (abt.1.550 - 1 069 BCE) (see picture n.°7); they have the soles stitched with a string made from a
woven fibres of papyrus.
The arrangement of the little leather straps that secure
the soles to the foot, look like the symbol of the "Ankh"
symbolizing life; the ring at top of the symbol are the straps surrounding
the ankle, the transversal part are the side-straps fixed to the sole, the upright part is the strap
leading from the instep and joining to the
interstice between the big toe and following toes (see picture n.° 8).
The slippers seen on a male statue of the 8° dynasty (abt. 1.350
BCE) (see picture n.°9) are part of the
collection of the
British Museum of London; they have leather or wood pointed toes and the
straps passing around the instep seem to be stuffed.
The sandals of the elders could be finely decorated with
semi-precious stones and beads and have even a gold sole.
In the tomb of Tutankhamon Pharaoh (died in 1.359 BCE)
two life-size statues wearing gold sandals were found, while in a casket were papyrus and reed sandals.
On the soles of the sandals of the Pharaoh there were
sometimes engraved or painted images of his enemies so that he could continuously
trample them under foot.
They also used a sort of slipper with turned-up toes
manufactured from interlaced palm leaves (see picture n.° 5).
At the Musées Royaux d' Art et Histoire of Brussels a sole of
sandal is exposed date back to the Ptolemaic age (332- 30 a.C.), made from
interlaced palm leaf and rush sew on the edges with a vegetable string ( see
picture n:°. 9 bis).
From the ancient city of Antinoopolis in
Egypt (modern Shayk Abadah) dating back to 3°- 4° century CE there are the black lather slippers with purple decorations exhibited at British Museum of London (see picture
n.°10).
The Egyptian shoes were lacking in heels except for
those worn by slaughterers who had them in order to not dirty his feet with the blood of the
dead beasts.
As a lot of models of sandals had a rigid sole, in wood or precious
metals, we have information from the papyruses that deal with medicine that the Egyptians often suffered from
sore feet.
COPTIC SHOES Copts is the name with
which the Muslim Arabs called the inhabitants of conquered Egypt after 641 CE.
Historically the Coptic period extends from
Constantine's edict (313 CE) to 641; from that time onwards Copts were only Christian Egyptians.
It seems that Copts has been first to make use of the
method of assemblage of the footwear called "turned work" where the
upper and sole are sewn together reversing upper (inside-out) so that the sewing
is protected by being on the inside; they also made use of the construction on
shape. (see picture).
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in order to know something else about ancient Egyptians...
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