Bean

The Bean in Ancient Egypt


 * Egyptian Names:**

//Iwry//

A vital source of protein, Faba Beans and Lima Beans were known to the ancient Egyptians since very early times. Beans were a common staple food, eaten by the rich and poor alike. Beans were one of the many foods considered taboo to the priestly class, although not to ordinary people or the gods - Ramses III offered 14,396 jars of shelled beans to the Temple of Hapi. Beans ground into flour, added to bread dough, and mashed with sesame oil made hummus, a dish still enjoyed in Egypt today. Bean meal (//pwr//) was used in remedies against constipation, in a remedy for a "sick tongue," or as a treatment for male urinary complaints. On the stela of Ramses II, the pharaoh states: "Lower Egypt rowed to Upper Egypt for you, with barley, wheat, salt, and beans without number." Faience models of beans were buried with the dead. An Arab saying is "Beans have satisfied even pharaohs."

Vegetables of Ancient Egypt