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Introduction 

Clocks, sports, a twelve month calendar, the U.S. Dollar these are all things that we encounter in our everyday lives, but do you know where they originated? All of these things have origins in Ancient Egypt; a past society that influences our everyday lives.

Clocks 

            Clocks help us tell time and keep track of our day, and they have had that purpose for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians were one of the first civilizations to use accurate clocks. Their clocks included sundials, obelisks, and water clocks.

             One type of clock that was used by the ancient Egyptians was sundials. Sundials were circular in shape and looked a lot like modern non-digital clocks. When they were placed in the right position and are facing the right direction, an upright stick that was in the center of the clock cast a shadow. The shadow pointed towards a symbol that had been etched on the rim of the clock, telling the user the time. One disadvantage to using a sundial was that, if it was a cloudy day, you wouldn’t be able to tell the time. Sundials are like modern clocks because they were the same general shape and the shadow that they cast are similar to the hands on a modern clock. But sundials were only an early version of Egyptian timekeeping, for they invented many other types of clocks.

            Although the ancient Egyptians’ sundials looked more like modern clocks than their water clocks, the latter allowed for time to be kept during the night, and may have influenced our modern day timers. Water clocks were simple devices that used a steady drip of water to keep time.  Water clocks were made of stone and had small ramps that lead from a large container of water to a smaller one. The water would fall from the first container, then go down the ramp into the smaller bowl, certain levels were marked on the sides of the smaller containers; indicating different times. These clocks were very efficient because the water dripped at a nearly constant rate. The fact that the water dripped at such a constant rate, such as one drop per second, makes them much like modern stopwatches, which are used in many parts of our day-to-day lives.

            The final type of clock that was created by the ancient Egyptians isn’t used in our everyday lives, but they can be seen as decorative monuments around the world. Obelisks were just like sundials, but much larger. They used a similar system of having a shadow point at a marker and could only be used in the sun. Although we don’t use obelisk-like contraptions to keep time in our daily lives, were can see them in many important places. Many people don’t know it, but one of the world’s most well-known landmarks, the Washington Monument, is an obelisk, however, it is not used to tell time. To conclude, obelisks can be seen in our everyday lives, but they don’t hold the same purpose as they did in ancient times.

To conclude, whether they are seen as timekeepers or landmarks, sundials, water clocks, and obelisks have truly impacted our daily lives.

Calendars 

Many people may not notice it, but the Julian Calendar that the majority of the world uses can be traced back to the calendar of the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptians were the first people to create an accurate calendar of 365 days, an early version of our modern clock. The Egyptian clock was based around a strong knowledge of astronomy and the seasons. The Egyptian calendar was different from ours in the fact that it was made up of three major seasons; Inundation/Autumn, Growing/Winter, and Harvest/Summer. Each season contained four months which were made up of three weeks. Much like our calendar, Egyptian months were made up of thirty days, making each of the three weeks ten days long. One major difference between our calendar and the Egyptians’ was that theirs had 360 normal days with an additional five days at the beginning of the year. And so, as it is visible, the ancient Egyptian calendar made a major influence on the order of our calendar, even though it was quite different.

Sports 

Ancient Egyptians knew how to keep fit by playing sports. Many of the sports that we play today are practiced by Ancient Egyptians. The Ancient Egyptians played variety of sports. Many sports have been depicted in separate paintings in ancient documents, adding significant information about sports. Some artifacts sometimes are found in tombs. Paintings dating back to the days of the ancient Egyptians indicate that the pharaoh and his people enjoyed playing activities like wrestling and javelin throwing. Ancient Egyptians were known to be very competitive.

The winners of the competition were given money and special large collar known as the usekh which covered the chest and shoulder. Many of the competitive sports in Ancient Egypt are feature in Olympic Games. Many of the sports that they played include:

• Swimming
• Rowing
• Archery
• Gymnastics
• Boxing
• High Jump
  
• Weight Lifting 
• Handball
• Marathon



Plus, ancient Egypt sports included marathons that were documented in variety of ancient Egyptian writing. Marathons appear to have even participate in the coronation festivities of pharaohs throughout most ancient Egyptian history.

Influence on American culture 

The U.S. Dollar 

 George Washington, one of the founding fathers of America, and the first president, was a mason, a secret society that many influential figures in society belonged to. The masons of the world claimed that beliefs and traditions are rooted in Egyptian history. The U.S. shows a Masonic way of representing the pyramid by displaying its picture on the back of the dollar bill. The pyramid is shown with an eye which is the sign of the God, and Ra, which shows the idea of light and vision, because Ra was the God of the Sun.

The Washington Monument

One of the major structures in the U.S is the Washington Monument, which is the shape of an Egyptian obelisk, the Egyptian solar symbol. Obelisks can also be found as tombstones in U.S. cemeteries.

U.S. Halls of Justice

All courts in the U.S have the same outward design. They all have columns, which are believed to have been influenced from Egyptian design, and were used in Egypt. Examples of this column design still stand in Sakkara, and other places throughout Egypt.  Also, a well known symbol of justice in North Americas is a blind-folded woman, carrying a scale. The Ancient Egyptian’s symbol of justice was also a blindfolded woman, except that the Egyptian woman is holding the emblem of truth, to make clear the main concept of Justice: ‘Search for the truth’.

Sources: 

http://www.touregypt.net/historicalessays/ancsportsindex.htm

http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa071401a.htm 

http://www.kingtutshop.com/freeinfo/Ancient-Egyptian-Calendar.htm 

 http://www.philae.nu/akhet/Calendar.html 

 http://www.kingtutshop.com/freeinfo/egyptian-boats.htm 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_architecture

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_mathematics

http://www.egypt-tehuti.org/faq-ancient-egypt.html

http://www.king-tut.org.uk/ancient-egyptian-sports.htm 

Image sources:

Washington Monument image By: yourdon at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/3842673706/sizes/s/in/photostream/

Obelisk image By: bugmonkey at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bugmonkey/3651387021/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Sundial image By: Megapixel Eyes at http://www.flickr.com/photos/megapixel/32499074/sizes/s/in/photostream/

Archery image By:midnightcomm at http://www.flickr.com/photos/midnightcomm/684563996/sizes/s/in/photostream/