Daile Life Sample Poster 09

Writing and Education Matthew Ripley-Moffitt World Cultures Period Inundation Sept. 9, 2009

Scribes were official record keepers: • Scribes were near the top of the social order • Imhotep was trained as a scribe o Famous vizier to King Djoser • Had authority to be government officials • Did not pay taxes

Hieroglyphs – important writing system • Designed a complicated system of 700 signs • Used as inscriptions on tombs, temples, palaces • Hieratic was a form of script used for business and literature • Some women learned to read and write School – sun up to sunset • Schooling was very strict • Students spent 4 years copying signs • Wrote on clay tablets before allowed to use papyrus • Papyrus was made from plant fibers • Brushes were made from rope fibers Students – keep learning • Priests supervised and taught scribes •