A northern Egyptian farmer heads to his field on his donkey. While agriculture is important throughout the world, for the people of Egypt it has always been a matter of working closely with the seasons and understanding their change. Throughout history, Egypt has celebrated the relationship between the land they farm and the Nile.

When we today think of ancient Egypt and its glories, we usually think of the treasures and monuments of kings, the wealth and grandeur of noble tombs, and the texts left by scribes. But it was the farmer and laborer, the "peasants" of the time, who formed the backbone of the Egyptian way of life.