![]() The left hands are placed on their chests, their right hands are resting in their laps and clasping small towels. Their posture conveys an impression of devotion and contemplation. ![]() Three people are sitting on a couch, two men and one woman. Listen to the programme or read the transcript.Group statue depicting Meriptah, Kafi and Sa-isis Outline of the structure of ancient Egyptian government Ī History of the World in 100 objects from the BBC: the Rosetta Stone Illustrates the Rosetta Stone's importance in deciphering hieroglyphs and unlocking the ancient Egyptian language. Listen to the programme or read the transcript. ĭescription of education and literacy in the ancient Egyptian community of Deir el-Medina Ī History of the World in 100 objects from the BBC : the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus Illustrates the importance of literacy and numeracy in ancient Egypt. Outline of ancient Egyptian scripts and writing, and scribal materials ĭiscussion of education and apprenticeship in ancient Egypt With extracts from instructional texts. Introduction to Egyptian language and writing From then on, he would study the specialist skills required by his job, such as accounting and record keeping for the civil service, theology and astronomy for the priesthood, logistics for the armed forces and geography and foreign languages for the diplomatic service. Discipline was strict, with beating the usual punishment.Īround the age of ten, a schoolboy would start work as the apprentice to a senior scribe. They would also practise mathematical exercises. Most writing exercises involved copying texts giving advice on proper behaviour or samples of the documents they would be producing in their work, such as letters. Their teachers wrote corrections in the margins, just as they do today. Girls stayed at home with the women, learning domestic tasks to prepare them for their future roles as wives and mothers.īoys who received a formal education were taught to read and write on wooden boards, which could be wiped clean. Most other boys followed their family’s trade, learning by working alongside their fathers and older male relatives. This was reserved for boys, usually from wealthy families, as a scribal education opened the way to a prestigious career. EducationĮgypt’s administrators came from the privileged one per cent of the population who received a formal education. In order to do their jobs, the owners of these palettes also needed a high level of numeracy and a sound knowledge of practical mathematics. Agricultural work and building projects required workers to be recruited, fed and supplied with tools and materials, while maintaining the army meant housing, arming and provisioning the troops. The Egyptians did not use money, so taxes were collected and wages paid in goods. This made it essential to have a system of record-keeping, communication and measurement. The king and his deputy ruled the country via a hierarchy of civil servants, regional governors, local officials and administrators, who collected and distributed national resources and supplies. Governing Egypt was a highly complex task. Most everyday documents were written on scraps of pottery, wood or stone. Papyrus, made from the stems of a water plant, was expensive and normally only used for writing important documents. This in turn was replaced by the even faster demotic script. Instead, a more flowing script, hieratic, was adopted for everyday use. The original characters, hieroglyphs, were very detailed and time-consuming to draw, and were soon confined to religious inscriptions. Vowels were omitted when writing to save time and space. The same principle was now applied to other words, which made it possible to express abstract ideas. Scribes were already using simple pictograms and ideograms and had begun to use the sound values of these signs to write names. The development of writingįollowing the unification of the Nile Valley and Delta into a single Egyptian kingdom around 3100 BC, the establishment of a central administration created an urgent need for an efficient writing system that would allow Egypt’s rulers to communicate over long distances. Above the ink pans is the cartouche of Amenhotep III, suggesting that Pamerihu may have worked at the royal court. Red ink was made from gum and ochre, a kind of earth rich in iron oxide it was used for headings and titles. Black ink was made from soot mixed with gum and was used for writing the main part of texts. It has a central slot to hold reed pens and two recesses at the top to hold cakes of solid black and red ink. This typical example belonged to a high-ranking scribe called Pamerihu. Wooden palettes like this were used by Egyptian scribes in their daily work.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |