The wealthy of ancient Egypt lived in splendid villas that o…
The wealthy of ancient Egypt lived in splendid villas that opened onto fragrant gardens and shady groves. Their meals included many kinds of meat, poultry, cakes, fruit, wine, and sweets. They ate from vessels of alabaster, gold, and silver, and adorned themselves with costly jewels. However, the life of the poor was wretched. Laborers in towns lived in mudbrick hovels whose only furnishings were stools, boxes, and a few crude pottery jars. A surviving verse from the Middle Kingdom tells of the “weaver in the workshop, with knees against his chest,” who “cannot breathe air,” and who is “beaten fifty strokes” if he does not keep up with his work. The main organizational pattern of the paragraph is: