Writing in Ancient Egypt

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The Egyptians had the greatest veneration for writing, which they regarded as the gift of Thoth, and the foundation of all learning.

Their system of writing, while very complex, is not difficult to read. Originally the signs were all pictures, each standing for the thing pictured. In time some signs were used to denote a different word having a similar sound; thus a goose (sa) is the word (sa), a son, and never means a goose, and a house (fig1) denotes (fig1) the verb, to go out.

A great advance was made when certain signs came to be used as syllables, and the final step was when some became letters standing for the sound with which their name began; thus (fig2) the mouth (fig3) is the letter r. Vowel signs were not written, hence the correct pronunciation of a word is frequently in doubt. Signs denoting the class to which a word belonged were much employed as aids to the reader; thus the picture of a man is always attached to a word denoting a person, and a king's name is always enclosed in a cartouche (fig5). When the hieroglyphics instead of being carved were written upon papyrus, they assumed simpler and more rounded forms, resulting in a cursive script.

fig1

fig2

fig3

fig4

fig5

Notes:

- Some scholars regard the Egyptian alphabet as the original of the Phoenician from which ours is derived, but it came more likely from the Babylonian through the Aramaeans. - The famous Rosetta Stone which gave the key to the decipherment of the Egyptian writing is a basalt slab containing a decree in honour of Ptolemy V inscribed in three characters, the ancient hieroglyphs, the cursive writing and Greek.

Skilled Labor in Ancient Egypt

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The Egyptians were fond of beautiful things, and the mechanical arts attained to a high degree of perfection. There are many examples of work in the hardest stones except the diamond, ruby, and sapphire. Beads and amulets of precious stones beautifully cut, pierced and polished, were common. Within the last few years some ornaments have been found which give a revelation of the delicacy of jeweller’s work. Metals were of two classes, noble and base. Iron was reserved for weapons and tools. Lead was comparatively useless, but was sometimes employed for inlaying temple doors or for small statues. Copper was too yielding to be much used alone, but a few years ago there was discovered a statue of Pepi and his son over life size, entirely wrought in hammered copper of beautiful workmanship and artistic skills Bronze is the most common metal. From it domestic utensils, often of artistic form, are made. The custom of inlaying gold and other precious metals upon bronze, stone and wood, dates back to the times before the Pyramids. In ancient times silver was more precious than gold, and down to the eighteenth dynasty silver objects are rare in tombs.

The Egyptians were proficient in gilding, even large objects being frequently covered with the thinnest of gold leaf. They also made much use of electron, a metal of a fine, light, yellow colour composed of gold amalgamated with 20 per cent, of silver. The obelisks of Hatshepsut were coated with electron, so that "when the sun shone between them, the two Egypts were flooded with their dazzling rays," Chains and rings have come down in great numbers, as also some beautiful jewelled pectorals, or breast ornaments. Ivory and ebony were much employed in fine work, and especially for inlaying. Glass was known from very early times and some pieces are yet as perfect as ever. The glazing of pottery in the time of the eighteenth dynasty has never been excelled, or perhaps equaled; but the secret of its manufacture has been lost. The favourite colours were two shades of blue corresponding to the colours of the most prized stones, the lazuli and the turquoise. The leather- worker’s craft flourished, and beautifully stamped and decorated leather was in common use. The Egyptians were proud of the products of their looms, and with reason. The garments of the wealthy were sometimes so fine that their limbs show through, and portions of the winding-sheet of Tahutmes III are as fine as the finest India muslin.

Mathematics and Astronomy in Ancient Egypt

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When the overflowing Nile reduced a fertile field to a marsh or a gravel bed as it frequently did, the lord gave the farmer a piece of equal size in reclaimed land. This necessitated exact measurements very early, as the extent of each holding had to be accurately known, and its boundaries marked out. Geometry was an Egyptian invention, but no great advance was made in it in spite of many formula. The area of the circle was calculated but not that of the triangle. The methods were cumbersome, and used for practical purposes only. Addition and multiplication tables have been found, but while fractions were used it was with difficulty.

Greater advance was made in astronomy which was introduced with astral worship from Babylonia. In the clear air of the Nile valley stars are visible to the naked eye, which are only seen through a telescope in other lands. There were thirty-six constellations named, and charts and lists prepared, giving the names and positions of the stars. At least five of the planets were known from a great antiquity, and were carefully studied, their colour and appearance being noted. The priestly colleges maintained schools of astronomy, and every important temple was also an observatory. Eclipses were caused by a ferocious sow attacking the moon, when it found its guardians inattentive. The stars do not seem to have been regarded as themselves gods, but rather as the abodes of blessed souls, or as angels of the sun. Thoth, the moon, taught the measuring of time by months, and the inundation marked out the year, which was divided into three seasons, called respectively Inundation, Growth, and Harvest. Each month was in the care of a god, whose name it bore, and each day had also its tutelary deity. The year was of twelve months of thirty days each, and when this was found to be too short, five days belonging to no month were added. The remaining error was never rectified in the practical calendar.

Architecture of Ancient Egyptians

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The houses of the very poor were, as they are to-day, mere huts of wattles plastered with mud. Better class houses were built of rude, sun-dried bricks made of Nile mud mixed with straw. In the erection of more pretentious buildings, the expensive kiln-dried bricks were employed for exteriors, while stone was used for temples and tombs. The mansions of the rich presented a great blank wall to the street, while within were a small town laid out with gardens, avenues, ponds and summer houses. The inner walls, when not covered with matting, were decorated with drawings of animals, or geometrical patterns. The arch was employed in very ancient times, the scarcity of wood probably leading to its discovery. Pillars and columns much employed in temple building, for ornament as well as for use, were often flower-shaped. The temples seem generally to have been orientated to some particular part of the heavens. Huge stones were sometimes used, but generally the blocks were no larger than those employed by modern builders. In the ruins of Karnak there are blocks thirty feet long weighing sixty-five tons.

Notes:

- A favourite column was made like four lotus-stalks tied together. This eveloped into the fluted or proto-doric.

- Lockyer thinks the temple was always placed so that through the door he deity, star or sun, to whom it was dedicated could be seen on a certain day from the adytum. Thus the temple of Amen-Ra was turned to the point of sun-set at the summer solstice. From the shrine to the outside, a distance of about 500 yards, there was a clear way, through which at setting, on that day, the sun would shine for a couple of minutes right through to the image in the dark shrine This was the manifestation of Ra. The temple would also be thus of great value in determining the exact length of the year.

- The ruins of the temple of Amen-Ra at Karnak are the most majestic ruins in the world. The temple consisted of: (1) a long avenue of crio-sphinxes; (2) two pylons 135 feet high (one now in ruins); (3) courtyard 275 X 329 feet, with a small temple 80 X 160 feet at one side; (4) two pylons; (5) Hypostyle Hall, or Great Hall of Columns, 328 X 170 feet, supported by 164 columns, the central twelve of which are 66 feet high and 33 in circumference (a number of these have lately fallen); (6) long aisle; (7) open court, with two granite obelisks ; (8) cloistered court with roof supported on square piers, each with a colossus in front of it; (9) sanctuary, severely plain, with no obelisks, colossi or pillars (except those put in to support falling roof), and consisting of three parts, ante-room, outer and inner sanctuaries, with two granite steles before the latter; (10) chambers for priests, offerings, etc,

Ancient Egyptian Literature

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Ancient Egyptian Literature is disappointing; it contains so little of real value. In the Book of the Dead there are a few passages of great excellence. Some of the hymns to (Ra) and (Hapi) are beautiful; for the Sun and the Nile were realities. But most of the hymns are full of stereotyped phrases suitable for any king or god, and contain nothing devotional. Their songs were much better. There are several love songs surviving. A drinking song, known possibly to the Greeks, was a great favourite, and seems to have been sung at feasts when the mummy was brought in, as it points out the fleeting character of life, and expresses the moral, “Enjoy life as long as thou canst”. Two songs of the fellahin have been preserved, one of Dynasty V, sung by the shepherd to the sheep while driving them to and fro in the field to harrow in the seed, and the other of the XVIIIth, sung to the oxen on the threshing floor. The epic of Pentaur, which is the only example of an attempt to relate the deeds of a Pharaoh in poetic form, was not of high literary merit, although it was used in the schools. Correct letter writing was regarded as important, and there are many examples of schoolmasters’ models.

The choice literature of the new empire makes great attempts at elegance, one sign of culture being to use many foreign words. Egyptian lore is full of proverbs, many of them very old. Puns are of frequent occurrence; fairy tales and stories of the marvellous were much relished; one especial favourite was the story of a shipwrecked sailor who finds himself on a magic island where dwells the great sea-serpent, by whom he is kindly treated and sent safely home to Egypt. Wonderful tales of magic abounded: the most famous magician of all time was Dede, who could restore beheaded animals to life. The tale of the two brothers, Anep and Bita, is interesting, because of the very close resemblance to the experience of Joseph in the house of Potiphar. Bita the younger, coming in from the field for seed grain, is tempted by Anep's wife but resists. In the evening she denounces him to his brother with false accusations, and Bita has to flee for his life.

Ancient Egyptian Art

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Art is much more satisfactory; in spite of many shortcomings, it was really great, both in the range of its subjects and in its treatment of them. Painting in the modern sense did not exist, the pictures are simply coloured drawings, no surface being ever completely covered. The artist was grievously hampered by conventionalisms. The people of the pictures are impossible creations, the face being profile, chest full front, legs side view with both feet seen from inside, and the hand often having an impossible twist. In several periods attempts were made to break away from these modes, but without any lasting results. In representing the lower classes much more freedom was allowed, and some of the pictures of these are very graphic. Pictures of animals are much more successful. Caricatures are common, and some are very clever.

In colouring no attempt was made at shading, but the colours harmonised well, and the effect is good when seen in the dim interiors for which it was intended. In sculpture the same limitations are seen. The statues in wood and bronze are superior to those in stone, although even modern stonecutters scarcely understand the treatment of stone better than the ancient Egyptians who had to work with the most primitive tools. In statuary there are a few masterpieces, but the work is generally the production of artisans rather than of artists. In the wooden statues a peculiar life-like expression was imparted to them by inserting eyes of stone, as in the famous Shekh-el-Beled of the fourth dynasty which has eyes of opaque white quartz, with pupils of rock crystal, and framed in plates of bronze. Where poor material was used it was covered with stucco and painted.

Notes:

- This statue of Shekh-el-Beled received its name from workmen who saw a resemblance between it and a neighbouring shekh.

- Statues were kept in stock like tombstones in modern times. By a little work any one could be given some resemblance to the person for the accommodation of whose Ka it was needed.