Editing Shoe (section)

==== Africa and Middle East ====
As civilizations began to develop, thong sandals (precursors to the modern [[flip-flops|flip-flop]]) were worn. This practice dates back to pictures of them in [[ancient Egypt]]ian murals from 4000 BC. "Thebet" may have been the term used to describe these sandals in Egyptian times, possibly from the city [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]]. The [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]] is when the first of these thebets were found, but it is possible that it debuted in the [[Early Dynastic Period (Egypt)|Early Dynastic Period]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Egypt: The Birthplace of Flip Flops? – The Sheridan Libraries & University Museums Blog |date=21 July 2017 |url=https://blogs.library.jhu.edu/2017/07/ancient-egypt-the-birthplace-of-flip-flops/ |access-date=2022-05-20 |language=en-US}}</ref> One pair found in Europe was made of [[papyrus]] leaves and [[Carbon dating|dated]] to be approximately 1,500 years old. They were also worn in [[Jerusalem]] during the first century of the Christian era.<ref name="Kendzior_Russell">{{cite book|last=Kendzior|first=Russell J.|title=Falls Aren't Funny: America's Multi-Billion-Dollar Slip-and-Fall Crisis|publisher=www.govtinstpress.com/ Government Institutes|location=[[Lanham, Maryland]]|isbn=978-0-86587-016-1|page=117|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2TzSKEvGDIoC&pg=PA117|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319011755/https://books.google.com/books?id=2TzSKEvGDIoC&pg=PA117|archive-date=2017-03-19|year=2010}}</ref> Thong sandals were worn by many civilizations and made from a vast variety of materials. Ancient Egyptian sandals were made from papyrus and palm leaves. The [[Maasai people|Masai]] of Africa made them out of [[rawhide (textile)|rawhide]]. In India they were made from wood.

While thong sandals were commonly worn, many people in ancient times, such as the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptians]], [[Hindus]] and [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]], saw little need for footwear, and most of the time, preferred being barefoot.<ref name="Frazine_Richard" /> The Egyptians and Hindus made some use of ornamental footwear, such as a soleless sandal known as a "Cleopatra",{{citation needed|date=January 2018}} which did not provide any practical protection for the foot.