Ancient Egypt was located in a narrow valley of the Nile, surrounded by arid desert and bare rocks. Most of the population lived in oases and small river valleys. However, it should be noted that due to the flooding of the Nile, the Egyptians successfully and rationally used these lands for agriculture. They learned how to manage the floods of the Nile and improve agriculture. When Europe lived in the Stone Age, a highly developed ancient Egyptian civilization already existed in North Africa.
Thanks to the presence in Ancient Egypt of talented architects, artists, scribes, amazing objects, drawings, chronicles and other objects have survived, which can reasonably be called artifacts of the ancient civilization.
The art of Ancient Egypt is inseparable from the mythology and religion of the state. All the master's works were created adhering to strict canons.
The ancient Egyptian master of writing was obliged to know the language of hieroglyphs, hieratic and demotic writing, and also know arithmetic. Men from wealthy families have always been scribes. Their main place of work was the courtyard of the pharaohs, temples and military units. Work skills were inherited by scribes. Sons in such families from an early age were brought up and trained with the expectation that they would soon take the place of their father.
Scribes' schools were organized at the palaces of nobles, at temples. Children from the age of five studied in them. At first, the student was taught to write correctly and beautifully, then to draw up business documents and religious texts. A small child had to memorize about 700 hieroglyphs and master all writing styles (fluent, classical and simplified). The main teaching aids for the pupils were a small water cup, an ocher and soot paint pad, and a reed stick used for writing.
The education process was quite difficult for the kids. Classes ran from early morning until evening. Those who failed were severely punished. Children sacrificed ordinary worldly pleasures to achieve academic success. In one of the papyri, instructions for students were found: “Get up in your place! The books are already in front of your comrades. Read the book diligently. Love the scripture and hate the dance. Write with your fingers all day and read at night. Do not spend your day idly, otherwise woe to your body. Ask for advice from someone who knows more than you. They tell me that you abandon learning, you indulge in pleasures, you wander from street to street, where it smells of beer. And beer seduces the soul. You are like a prayer house without God, like a house without bread. You are taught to sing to the flute. You are sitting in front of a girl and you are anointed with incense. Your wreath of flowers hangs around your neck. I will tie your legsif you wander the streets and you are beaten with a hippo whip."
Only thanks to the work of the scribes of Ancient Egypt we have samples of decrees and economic documents, stories recorded from the words of representatives of different strata of society, stories of wanderers and foreigners.
The scribe's profession was highly respected and prestigious in ancient Egyptian society. Most of the scribes were close to the government of the country. And, of course, they had privileges: they were exempted from military service and from paying taxes. Together with artists and artisans, they decorated houses, statues, tombs, furniture and much more with inscriptions. The following entry was found in one of the papyri: “Look, there is no other position except the position of a scribe, where a person is always the boss” or “Be a scribe! This will free you from taxes, protect you from all kinds of work, remove you from a hoe … and you will not carry a basket … You will not be under many rulers and numerous leaders."
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Scribes were the intellectual elite, participating in the administration and economic activities of the state. Many of them performed the functions of librarians, preserving and enhancing the literary monuments of the ancient civilization. The keeper of the pharaoh's library was also the mentor of the heir to the throne.
At the court of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh, there was also a school for training future officials. The youths practiced rewriting business papers and writing essays concerning management practices and glorifying the benefits of an official's career and belittling other professions.
Here is how an author from the school of officials writes about the work of a farmer: “They tell me that you throw away your books, indulge in dancing, turn your face to agriculture, and not to the word of God. Do you not remember the position of the tiller during the harvest? Worms steal half of the grain, hippos devour the other, mice multiply in the field … ". And here is how the future official describes the officer's misadventures: “He has a lot of troubles. From childhood, they bring him to the barracks. Turn your heart to become a scribe, you will rule over people."
Pupils of the school of officials also practiced in the literary genre: they wrote odes to the tsars, greetings, complaints, business letters, orders, and also performed mathematical calculations - for example, they calculated the material resources needed to supply troops or the number of workers required for construction. Future officials were trained in official and court etiquette. The best mentors taught the pupils of the school of officials to keep themselves in the company of rulers and priests, in the family, on a visit, with the authorities and subordinates. Here is what Pharaoh's adviser wrote to his heir: “If you have risen from nothingness or have become rich after poverty, do not be exalted and do not force, relying on your treasures. Bend your back in front of your boss, then your house will be in order, and your salary will be in good order. It's bad for someone who resists the boss, but it's easy to live,when he is pleased. The sage is fed up with what he knows. Good speech is above gems. Be attentive to what you say. Repeat word by word, without missing, without replacing one word with another."
Despite the seemingly lofty goals set before the officials of Ancient Egypt, ordinary people were afraid of them, since any of their appearance announced either the confiscation of modest property or beating with sticks. Of course, not all officials were so cruel towards the poor. So the vizier Ptahmes left the following note: “I did what people praise and whatever the gods want. I gave bread to the hungry. I fed the one who had nothing."
In ancient times, it was believed that the Egyptian administration was the most literate and professional. Scribes often left their names with their titles listed on many objects using cylinder seals. In Egypt, there were many positions and titles, a list and description of which have come down to us thanks to the reference book of the Egyptian hierarchy, written during the time of the Ramessids.
Important tasks solved by the officials of the pharaohs were the conduct of a population census (it was carried out with a strict periodicity), the compilation of land cadastres, the implementation of accounting for all material resources. In one of the documents found, the duties of a scribe were described as follows: “Takes into account the whole country before his majesty [and] creates reviews of the eye of everyone (ie, all people) and the number of the army, the priesthood … the king's hemu (royal workers), the masters of all the country, the whole (as well as cattle) livestock, poultry [and] small livestock in total, the scribe of the army …"
The census had another meaning - during it, the young men who received a good education were distributed according to types of activity: some became officials (scribes), some became masters, some became warriors, and the rest turned into tsarist landowners.
The school of ancient Egyptian architects is also well known in the world. In the ancient Egyptian civilization, the profession of an architect was one of the most respected and was inherited. The future architects received their primary education in the schools of scribes, and then improved their skills by working in the family. Many ancient architects were also priests or advisers to rulers. Unfortunately, it was believed that architectural structures are always mystical in nature, therefore, during wars or changes of dynasties, they tried to completely destroy them.
Ancient Egypt is considered the cradle of the most ancient civilization on Earth. It was here that the very first state in the world arose, mathematics, writing, medicine, astronomy were born. The majestic ruins of temples, the buildings surrounding them, are fraught with mysteries and are surrounded by a mystical halo. Each touch of the ancient Egyptian chronicles is a journey to the origins of culture and civilization, which has passed on its heritage to us as a priceless gift.