Egyptian Writing

Objectives: Define hieroglyphics, scribes, papyrus. Describe the building of the Great Pyramid.

A System of Writing The pharaoh’s government communicated and kept track of all of its business details through a system of writing. This system, called hieroglyphics, was made up of about 800 picture- signs called hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs could stand for objects, such as bread, or sounds, such as s.

Sribes Scribes were writers who kept records and drafted documents for the pharaoh’s government. Since few people were taught the skill of writing, scribes were highly respected. Only boys could become scribes. Starting at about the age of 10, they learned reading and writing through repetitive exercises and the fear of being beaten.

Writing on Paper Egyptians wrote on papyrus, a river plant that grows along the Nile. Egyptians used papyrus to make a kind of paper, a word that comes from papyrus. Scribes used sharpened reeds as pens, which they dipped in red or black ink. Good penmanship and math skills were essential.

The Rosetta Stone After hieroglyphics fell out of use around AD 400, people eventually forgot their meanings. But in 1799 one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s French soldiers excavated a large, black stone near the Egyptian town of Rosetta. The stone contained a single passage translated into three different languages, one of which was hieroglyphics. The Rosetta Stone provided a key to unlocking the mysteries of hieroglyphics.