This is Nejum, and the year is around 1450 BCE.
Nedrum wakes at dawn in a mud brick townhouse with several rooms, better than most Egyptians will ever own.
Breakfast is bread and mild beer, with onions, dates, and sometimes a little fish, because his family can afford variety, and yes, beer, even for a teenager.
In ancient Egypt, beer was often safer and more nutritious than plain water.
The brewing process removed harmful microbes, and the drink itself was packed with grain, yeast, vitamins, and calories.
It was so essential that workers received it as part of their wages.
Clean water matters here because Nejum's village sits away from the Nile, and water must be carried in.
That river is everything.
Most of Egypt receives very little rain.
It is desert, except for a ribbon of green along the Nile.
