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Ancient Egypt · Sports and feasts

Feast hall

A painted hall for banquets, with music, dancing, flowers and plenty to eat and drink.

Seen in
Tomb paintings, such as the tomb of Nebamun
Guests wore
Fine linen, jewelry, lotus flowers and sometimes cones on their heads
Entertainment
Harps, lutes, flutes, singers and dancers
Food
Bread, beer, wine, roast meat, figs and dates

Find it on the map

History A party in a painting

Tomb paintings show lively banquets: guests seated on chairs and mats, servants bringing food and drink, musicians playing harps and flutes, and dancers. Banquet scenes from the tomb of Nebamun, painted around 1350 BC and now in the British Museum, even show the guests chatting and offering each other flowers.

Guests, musicians and dancers at a banquet, painted in the tomb of Nebamun. British Museum, London. Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

History Cones on their heads

In many paintings, guests wear small cones on top of their heads. For a long time people guessed they were lumps of scented fat. In 2019, archaeologists described two real cones made of wax, found in graves at Amarna, the first proof that they existed. What they were for is still a mystery.

Musicians at a banquet, copied from the tomb of Nakht by a modern artist. Photo: Norman de Garis Davies, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

History Songs at the party

Musicians played harps, lutes, flutes and drums while singers clapped the beat. Some paintings show a blind harpist, and the words of harpers' songs survive. They tell guests to enjoy the day, put on perfume and fine linen, and be happy while they can.

Art In this artwork

The illustration shows a columned hall with painted walls, banners and a long table set for a feast. Egyptian guests more often sat on chairs or mats with small tables of food.

Look closer

  • Find the long table.
  • What decorations can you see on the walls?

Think about it

  1. What does a feast tell us about the people who held it?
  2. Why might people paint party scenes in a tomb?
  3. How do people celebrate together where you live?

Key words

Banquet
A large, special meal for many guests.
Lute
A stringed instrument with a long neck.
Linen
A light cloth made from the flax plant.

Sources

The history on this page is a short summary based on these sources:

  • British Museum, paintings from the tomb-chapel of Nebamun (garden pool, banquet and marsh hunt)
  • Anna Stevens and colleagues, "From representation to reality: ancient Egyptian wax head cones from Amarna", Antiquity (2019)
  • Ian Shaw (editor), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)

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