Writing in Ancient Egypt

Throughout the 3000 years of Ancient Egyptian civilization, the recording and transcribing of history, observations and transactions were paramount. The wealthiest ancient Egyptians employed scribes to record information about religion, government and commerce. Some of these texts can still be found today on the walls of temples, inside tombs and on papyrus scrolls.

History

According to Egyptian myth, Thoth was the god of writing and knowledge and it was he who gave man "Medu Netjer" (or god's words) in order to record the history of the gods. It is one of the world's oldest known alphabets. While the original written Egyptian language was reserved only for sacred writings, scribes created other scripts based upon the sacred script that was used to keep more mundane records.

Function

Writing was originally used to transcribe the wills and acts of the gods. Certain words were associated with the power to help bring people into the afterlife. However, more practical applications quickly gained popularity, especially as simpler and more common scripts were developed. For instance, writing was used to record the possessions of noblemen, including the number of crops or animals owned. Military leaders were trained as scribes in order to read and write messages to other units and communicate more effectively. Almost all government leaders had been scribes at some point, since the knowledge to read and write were considered essential to running the country.

Types

Throughout the history of the ancient Egyptians, at least four different types of scripts were used. The most well-known of these today is the script of the gods, known as hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics were typically only used in temples, but a formal script called hieratic was based upon it. This was a simpler script helpful for administrative functions because it had less decorative elements and was therefore faster to use when recording information. Sekh shat and demotic were both even more simple than hieratic, and developed as common scripts.

Identification

One of the primary tools used to identify and decipher ancient Egyptian writing was the Rosetta Stone, a tablet that was carved in 196 B.C. and discovered in 1799. The Rosetta Stone was a significant discovery because it was written in two different languages--Greek and Egyptian--and used two different Egyptian scripts (hieroglyphics and the more common demotic). The Rosetta Stone was probably written in all three alphabets to allow priest, government officials and the rulers of Egypt (who spoke Greek at the time) to read it. Because Greek was a known language, it helped to break both the "code" of hieroglyphics and demotic.

Literacy

Few ordinary people in ancient Egypt could read or write--most of the literate were upper class citizens who had studied under professional scribes. Eventually the literacy rate began to rise slightly as the Egyptian nation became part of the Greek and then the Roman empire, both of which promoted literacy more than the ancient Egyptians. Hieroglyphics were largely replaced by the Greek alphabet rising to prominence, and the more common Egyptian scripts have these influences.

References

• Discovering Egypt: Hieroglyphics
• Omniglot's Writing Systems and Languages of the World
• The British Museum: Ancient Egyptian Writing