Ancient Egyptian Writing

Notes from the British Museum Website

ancientegypt.co.uk

There were three main ancient Egyptian scripts. In order of their appearance, they were: 

Hieroglyphic

Hieratic and 

Demotic

Hieroglyphic was the earliest Egyptian script. The Egyptians believed that Thoth, (god of writing, wisdom, and knowledge), had given to mankind the gift of Medu Netjer, or “God's Words”. Since they believed hieroglyphic to be the sacred script of the gods, they reserved it only for writing the most important religious and government-related things, and restricted its learning to the privileged class of scribes. Everything written in hieroglyphic was supposed to show honor to the gods, so it had a fairly limited use. This most sacred form of writing was the last script a student would have learned in scribe school. In this way the form was protected, in a sense, from the unworthy hands of the unlearned and unrefined. This was also the script used on the temple and tomb walls—definitely places where the gods should be honored.

Hieratic was eventually created as a script for writing more ordinary things not specifically relating to the gods or pharaoh. This script was a simplified form of hieroglyphic—the “pictographs” were simplified into forms of lines, with much less detail.

Demotic was also developed as an “everyday” script. The Egyptians called it “sekh shat,” or “writing for documents.” It was basically hieratic that had been simplified even further.

Scribes kept their reed pen(s) and ink in a palette similar to a modern set of watercolors. They also carried a sort of “briefcase” to hold their rolls of papyrus and extra pens and ink. And there were small chest-like containers for holding used papyrus rolls and other records.

A student might study in scribe school for four to seven years. Typical entry age was around ten years old.

A first job would have been something like working out in the fields, recording the amount of livestock and produce for tax and other purposes. With connections, a graduating student could probably have gotten a better job. Military and government leaders were always trained as scribes so that they could read letters, instructions, etc, that were delivered to them. Out of all the jobs in ancient Egypt, training as a scribe was the only one that offered real chances of advancement. Not only could a scribe grow to become a master of his trade (as could a craftsman), but he could also be promoted into the religious, military and governmental fields.