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Photo by R-E-AL (talk | contribs | Gallery This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. |
When I think of a bed, my thoughts go to a soft memory foam that I can sink into as I lay down, covering myself with warm blankets. Today, rich or poor, most of us sleep on a mattress and foundation of some kind. But that wasn't always the case. Where you lived on the planet and your station in life all played a part in how comfy, dry, bug, rodent and snake free your bed was. Let's take a look back at some of the early beds and how they evolved.
Tutankhamun's gilded bed from the 14th century BC, photo by Hans Ollermann This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. |
Well before Christ, over 1000 BC, the Egyptians were already hard at work with their inventions. They designed a solid wood bed that was raised off the floor with legs. Imagine a cot, only wood. On top of that would be a woolen mattress and if you were wealthy, sheets and a stone pillow. You might be asking yourself how can this be an improvement. It was, because it made it a little harder for all the creepy crawly things of the night to crawl across your body. You have to remember houses weren't nearly as bug and snake proof as they are today. The wealthier you were the more elaborate your bed might be.
If you lived in Rome around 500 BC and you were upper class, you might sleep on a weaved bed. Think of some of the lounge chairs of today. The ones with woven metal strips that hold a cloth covered foam cushion. Just imagine it flat. The woven metal held up feather stuffed or straw stuffed mattresses. Once again, this bed was cot size. We were able to see one of these when we went to the Vatican Museum. Now if you were a middle-class citizen, you couldn't afford the metal bed so yours might still be raised and off the floor, but it would be wooden legs and the woven metal would be woolen strings to hold up the mattress. And like every society there is the poor. If you were poor, you got to sleep on the floor with your mat and all the little creepy crawlies.
Now, contrast that with beds found in Northern Scotland in a small village dating back to possibly 2200 BC. These too were raised beds, and if you lived in Scotland at this time, you'd find yourself sleeping on a raised bed of stone. But on an up-side, it was topped with something comfy...they think.
Or contrast it with Africa in 3600 BC. If you lived then, you'd find yourself sleeping in a cave with flowering grass topped with more grass, topped with big shrub leaves. Nothing like inviting those creepy crawlies!
Photo by Hchc2009 This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. |
However, if you were a peasant, and you had about a 90% chance that you'd be in born into that class, your sleeping arrangements wouldn't be quite so grand. You likely would sleep on leaves mounded on the ground and covered in animal fur, or if you were lucky, you had a mattress stuffed with hay that laid on the floor. To stay warm, you too get a woolen blanket but not the fine wool of the rich, you get the itchy rough wool. But look on the bright side, on those real cold nights you and your whole family can snuggle together to stay warm because you all just may share the same bed.
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Photo by Wolfgang Sauber license |
Well, that's about it for beds. Makes me appreciate what I'll be sleeping in tonight. Thanks for stopping by our history blog and be sure to come back tomorrow to learn another tid-bit of history.
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Debbie Lynne Costello is the author of Sword of Forgiveness, Amazon's #1 seller for Historical Christian Romance. She has enjoyed writing stories since she was eight years old. She raised her family and then embarked on her own career of writing the stories that had been begging to be told. She writes in the medieval/renaissance period as well as 19th century. She and her husband have four children and live in upstate South Carolina with their 4 dogs, 4 horses, miniature donkey, and 12 ducks. Life is good!
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ReplyDeleteThank you for posting today. Oh my goodness, this made me appreciate my own bed, but mostly bug-free sleeping quarters!
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