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Ancient Egypt Magazine

Issue Three - September / October 2000

Plumbing the Secrets of the Sphinx

Theories regarding the age of the Sphinx seem to have been in abundance over the last few years. One that may have escaped the notices of even the most ardent Sphinx-watcher appears on the web site plumbingworld.com, a reprint of an article that first appeared in P & M Magazine in July 1989.

Fascination with ancient Egypt extends to modern day plumbers who rightly admire the ancient Egyptians’ skill in controlling and using the precious water resources of the Nile. The article describes, amongst other things, bath time in the house of a wealthy man: “Actually, a ‘bathroom’ was usually a small recessed room with a square slab of limestone in the corner. There, the master of the house stood while his slaves liberally doused him with water. The waste water ran into a large bowl in the floor below or through an earthenware channel in the wall where it emptied into still another bowl outside. Then that bowl was baled out by hand.”

More basic functions are given a somewhat coy treatment. “Remains of early earth closets with limestone seats also have been discovered, the disposal evidently in the sandy soil” ... ”Many other details of Egypt’s past are lost in obscurity”.

It is with regard to the Sphinx, however, that the most interesting hypothesis is put forward. “Located outside present day Cairo, it has lost limestone blocks to the marauding influence of underground water pollution – caused mainly by nearby villagers throwing household and human waste out into the street.” Hapy, our god of the Nile and the Internet, suggests that their aim must have been extraordinarily good and powerful to boot, but still recom­mends a visit to the pages of www.plumbingworld.com/historyegypt.html 

Surely someone, somewhere, has made an in-depth study of this important aspect of life in ancient Egypt? The Romans even had a goddess of the sewers, understanding that waste disposal was as important to the health of a city as a fresh water supply and good food.  Here at AE we await an update on plumbing, the ancient Egyptian way.

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