ANCIENT
EGYPTIAN WRITING MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES
Joseph L. Thimes
From earliest times, scribes performed important functions in ancient Egypt. An important government official, he produced documents on papyrus, stone walls and columns. In the Old and Middle Kingdoms (2600–1785 BC), scribes also served as painters and draftsmen. They wrote dispatches to foreign governments, provided accounts for administration of both state and temple matters, and penned reports for the flourishing civil service bureaucracy.
As most officials in ancient Egypt, the office of scribe was only open to men, and often scribe’s sons followed their father’s profession. Among the few in the kingdom who could write, scribes were usually assured of prosperity and a relatively easy life, even exempted from manual labor and taxation! So respected a position, other officials often had statues of themselves depicted sitting in the scribal position.
The Scribe’s Toolkit
The earliest depictions of scribal equipment comes from the second dynasty. In the Tomb of Hesire the Scribe, Hesire is seen carrying scribal equipment (including a very small palette, tubular pen case, linen bag or water pot and shoulder strap) in his right hand and holding the scepter and staff of his high offices in his left. Called both chief of the king’s scribes and chief of physicians and dentists, Hesire served Pharaoh Djoser.
The scribal kit was practical, efficient, complete and portable. During the Middle and New Kingdoms, a complete kit included a palette, rush pens, tubular pen containers, small water pot, ink grinding kit, pigment supply, linen thread or strips, seal, small knife and inkstand box (see the author’s “For Young Archaeologists” article in this issue).
Burnishing instruments, often a large smooth pebble or block of ivory or wood with a short rod-like handle, smoothed irregularities
A full view of the painting on the north wall of the inner chamber of the 19th century BC rock-cut tomb of a provincial governor named Khnum-hotep III at Beni Hasan, Egypt, 160 mi south of Cairo. Probably the work of scribes, the full-color scene is famous for the Asiatic traders visiting Egypt on the right side of the third panel. They are approaching Khnum-hotep, the large figure on the right side of the scene. Heiroglyphic explanations appear in each panel. A group of seated scribes is seen working in the lower right. For a full treatment of this painting, see Bible and Spade, Winter-Spring 1983.
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in the papyrus. The palette, usually a narrow wooden piece about 12 inches long and two inches wide, had a central slot for rush pens and two cavities for the black and red ink cakes. Also serving as measuring rods, surfaces to mix colors and even miniature writing boards, palettes have been recovered from the tombs of both Tutankhamen and Ramses II.
Thin six-to-eight inch long rush pens were made from the stalk of Juncus maritimus (Latin = sea reed). Actually, more brushes than true pens, the tip was cut at a slant and the scribe chewed it into individual fibers producing a brushlike end. Tubular pen cases, made from large hollow reeds, held 10 to 30 rush pens. To trim his brushes and cut papyrus sheets, the scribe used a bronze knife.
Statue of a sitting Egyptian scribe, in his normal working position. So respected were ancient scribes that other Egyptian officials often depicted themselves in the sitting scribal position.
The heiroglyph for a scribe, while changing in character over the centuries, always contained three main elements of a scribes toolkit. From left to right: a small rectangular palatte with two cavities for Ink cakes, a small bag carrying extra supplies to make ink or small bowl to hold water, and a tubular case for brushes.
Ink pigments were kept in small cakes; carbon (often soot) produced black ink, ochre produced red ink. Pigments were ground in mortar and pestle-type devises along with Arabic gum from acacia trees (Acacia nilotica and especially Acacia senegal), which bound the small ink cake together. Extra pigments were stored in a small linen or leather bag.
Slate or basalt saucers, small ceramic water pots, small tortoise shells or bivalve shells served as inkwells to hold water and mix substances. Linen threads and strips tied, rolled or folded documents, some of which were secured with a lump of Nile mud and imprinted with the scribe’s seal. The shoulder strap kept the scribe’s equipment compactly together and made transport easy.
Inkstand boxes sometimes served as a storage box for the scribe’s equipment and a writing tablet during the Middle Kingdom. Often made from sycamore or tamarisk trees, these square or rectangular wooden boxes had sliding or swivel lids.
Papyrus
In ancient Egypt, papyrus was the main writing medium. In fact, the English word paper comes from papyrus (Cyperus papyrus hadidii). Papyrus was also known by the term Byblos hieraticus
The heiroglyph for rushes (Latin = juncus maritimus), represents the plant from which the small thin rush pens were made.
The heiroglyph for reeds (Latin = phragmites aegyptiaca) which grew in the Nile. True ink pens were was made from these reeds, introduced to Egypt in the fourth century BC, and used for Greek documents. Not until the first century AD were Egyptian documents written with reed pens instead of rush brushes.
The heiroglyph for seal depicts a seal attached to a necklace to be worn around the neck.
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The most common type of seal from ancient Egypt is the scarab (Latin = beetle). In the smooth bottom of the scarab was carved a design or message which made an imprint in wet clay. Created from various precious or semi-precious stones, they were thumbnail sized and on the top were shaped like a beetle, sacred in ancient Egypt.
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The papyrus heiroglyph pictures a clump of papyrus stems growing together. It was the symbol for Lower (northern) Egypt.
Papyrus Stalks as they grow in marshy sections of the Nile River in Egypt. Once grown all along the Nile, papyrus disappeared from Egypt hundreds of years ago. Only in the late 20th century was papyrus reintroduced to the region under the direction of Dr. Hasan Ragab, Egypt’s former ambassador to China. Ragab also rediscovered the technique of producing papyrus sheets suitable for writing and drawing. Today, papyrus paper production is again alive and well in Egypt, specializing in items for tourists (see Bible and Spade, Autumn 1997).
(priestly books), as the main material on which ancient religious texts were printed. Papyrus grew up to 15 ft high, with a mop-shaped umbel head, and developed a stout, triangular stem 3.5 to 5 in in diameter. The stem had a green outer rind and an inner, white, spongy pith.
In ancient Egypt, papyrus was used in ropes, mats, boxes, rafts, boats, sandals, mummy cases and floral funeral collars. Papyrus roots and the umbel heads were also eaten. Papyriform pillar capitals decorated temples, and goddesses often held papyrus stalk scepters. A symbol of Lower (northern) Egypt, its earliest portrayals were on the limestone mace head of King Scorpion and the famous slate palette of King Narmer (ca. 3100 BC).
Papyrus Manufacture
Papyrus harvesting is depicted on a wall painting in the tomb of the priest Puremre in Thebes (18th dynasty). A three man crew in a small skiff included an oarsman and one cutting and gathering papyrus. A third man tied the stems into bundles. The painting shows another man carrying the bundles to a shop where an additional man stripped the outer green rind from the papyrus stems.
When the outer green rind was trimmed away, that left the white inner spongy pith. The pith was sliced into long narrow paper-thin strips which were slightly overlapped and pressed together into a single layer. Another layer of strips was pressed perpendicular on top creating one sheet of papyrus. Pounded by wooden mallets and pressed together by weights, if the starchy papyrus juices were not sticky enough, a flour paste was mixed with vinegar for glue.
What was created was a pliant durable sheet of white paper, up to 20 in x 16 in. Scrolls of up to 20 ft long were formed by joining sheets together. The horizontally-grained side was less likely to crack and generally the most favorable writing surface.
Papyrus was a hard-wearing resilient substance capable of withstanding much handling and even reusable. Regularly in use by the fifth dynasty (ca. 2500–2350 BC), one papyrus document is known from the first dynasty (ca. 3000 BC).
Writing Techniques
Scribes took the finished papyrus and smoothed any irregularities with a burnishing tool. They dipped the chewed-tipped rush pen into the water container and then into the desired colored ink cake on the palette. Errors were erased with small lumps of sandstone erasers. Offending texts also were erased by wiping them clean with a damp cloth. Single sheets and scrolls were often rolled up, tied with linen thread and closed with a clay seal.
The earliest writing in ancient Egypt, called hieroglyphics (Greek =
The heiroglyph for a finished papyrus roll or book is a side view of a papyrus sheet rolled up, tied and sealed on the top.
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One of the earliest depictions of papyrus, slightly different than the hieroglyph for papyrus, appears on the right center of the front side of the Narmer Palette. King Narmer is credited with uniting upper and lower Egypt as the first king (ca. 3100 BC).
sacred/carved) was used mainly on monuments and tomb drawings. In use as early as the beginning of the Dynastic Period (ca. 3100 BC), the last known inscription dated August 24 AD 394. Over the 3500 years of its use, the script changed enormously in both the number of signs and the character of each sign. Scholars can often date a hieroglyphic inscription by the form of the individual symbols.
Hieratic was an early cursive form of hieroglyphic used for everyday purposes and in religious rituals. After falling out of popular use in about 600 BC, it was reserved for religious writing.
A derivative of hieratic, demotic (Greek = of the people) replaced it as the everyday script in ancient Egypt (about 650 BC). It was the written language of business and trade, lasting until as late as AD 452.
Thus, by 650 BC, hieroglyphics were chiefly used on monuments and temples. Hieratic was reserved for mainly priestly use and demotic was the language of business, trade and everyday life.
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Tell el-Amarna cuneiform tablets. Some ancient Egyptian scribes worked with Egyptian hieroglyphics, as well as the lingua franca of the day – cuneiform (Latin = wedge-shape) script of Mesopotamia. In 1887, hundreds of clay tablets were found by a peasant woman digging in the ruins of Tell el-Amarna. It was the archive of correspondence between Pharoah Ahkenaton and foreign kings and princes.
Egyptian Hieroglyphics Related to Scribes
Scribe –
While changing in character over the centuries, it always contained three main elements of a scribes toolkit. From left to right: a small rectangular palatte with two cavities for ink cakes; a small bag carrying extra supplies to make ink or small bowl to hold water; and a tubular case for brushes.
Papyrus –
This pictures a clump of papyrus stems growing together. It was also the symbol for Lower (northern) Egypt.
Reed –
Growing in the Nile, true ink pens were made from these reeds (phragmites aegyptiaca). Introduced to Egypt in the fourth century BC, they were used for Greek documents. Not until the first century AD were Egyptian documents written with reed pens instead of rush brushes.
Rush –
Represents the plant (Latin =juncus maritimus) from which small thin rush pens were made. They were only used in later periods.
Scroll –
A roll or book seen from a side view, it represents a papyrus sheet rolled up, tied and sealed on the top.
Seal –
It depicts a seal attached to a necklace which would be worn around the neck.