Kinder, Karen Exell, Don Wilson, and anonymous readers for reading the text and improving its readability in numerous ways.
The book is a somewhat personal account based on material I have read or studied. Any omissions are a result of my own limitations and the opinions and any errors in it are my own.
This book is For Roger r nHH Dt
List of illustrations
1
Rock drawings from
7 Statues of Rahotep
Eastern Desert
4
and Nofret
42
© Mike Morrow
© The Art Archive/Egyptian
Museum, Cairo/Dagli Orti
2 Drawing of Den from
Abydos, drawn by
8 Stela of Seru
44
the author
9
Oriental Museum,
University of Durham
3 Meriotic Stela, drawn
9 Man catching fish,
by the author
36
Tomb of Kagemni,
photo by author
46
4 Meriotic cursive script,
drawn by the author
36
10
Scene from the
Tomb of Pashedu,
5 Hieroglyphs from the
Deir el-Medina,
Tomb of Amenemhet,
Thebes
47
Thebes
39
© E. Strouhal/Werner
Courtesy of the Egypt
Forman Archive
Exploration Society, London
11
Stela of Montuhotep
6 Offering scene from
from Er-Rizeiqat
54
Temple of Esna,
Egyptian Museum,
photo by author
40
Berlin/Staatliche Museen
zu Berlin-Preussischer
Kulturbesitz. Photo © bpk 2002
12
Erased names,
15
Hieratic letter of the
Luxor Temple,
scribe Butehamun
75
photo by author
59
© The British Museum
13
Crocodile hymn
16
Scribes from the
to Sobek, Temple
Tomb of Horemhab,
of Esna, photo
photo by author
79
by author
65
17
The Canopus Decree
88
© The Art Archive/Egyptian
14
Examples of the
Museum Cairo/Dagli Orti
owl sign, drawn
by author
73
The publisher and the author apologize for any errors or omissions in the above list. If contacted they will be pleased to rectify these at the earliest opportunity.
Chapter 1
The origins of writing
in Egypt
Setting the scene
The civilization of Ancient Egypt existed between around 3500 bc and 30 bc. It occupied the area of the valley and delta of the River Nile northward from its First Cataract in the north-east corner of Africa. With desert to the west, east, and south and sea to the north and further east, the Nile Valley delineated the Egyptian state. It was also incredibly rich in all kinds of resources including abundant fish, birds, wild and domesticated animals, many varieties of stone in the desert quarries, and metals, especially gold, in the eastern wastelands. Most importantly there was a flood which revitalized the agricultural lands every year with fresh mud.
The people of Egypt have left behind monuments and objects, many of them covered in the writing now known as Egyptian hieroglyphs.
They used this pictorial sign system to write down their language and record aspects of their culture. The information from the writing tells us something about how the Egyptians governed their land and people, about their beliefs, and about their hopes and dreams. Though we can read hieroglyphs this does not mean that we know everything there is to know about Ancient Egypt, partly because the writings have survived accidentally and so are a fraction of the original corpus and partly because the writings only preserve those things the Egyptians themselves thought were important.
1
This means we have to tread a very careful path in interpreting and attempting to understand the writings, for our sources are biased by chance and by design. They do, however, give us a point of contact with the minds of the Ancient Egyptians.
Ancient Egyptian is classed by linguists as an Afro-Asiatic language.
This means that it is related to North African languages such as Berber and Cushitic, and to Asiatic (or Semitic) languages such as Arabic and Hebrew. Modern Egyptians speak Egyptian Arabic, not Ancient Egyptian, which is now a ‘dead’ language. The ancient language was a mixture of words connected by a grammatical system spoken by people in the north of Africa and the Near East.
Early rock pictures
The earliest people who lived in the Nile Valley may
The book is a somewhat personal account based on material I have read or studied. Any omissions are a result of my own limitations and the opinions and any errors in it are my own.
This book is For Roger r nHH Dt
List of illustrations
1
Rock drawings from
7 Statues of Rahotep
Eastern Desert
4
and Nofret
42
© Mike Morrow
© The Art Archive/Egyptian
Museum, Cairo/Dagli Orti
2 Drawing of Den from
Abydos, drawn by
8 Stela of Seru
44
the author
9
Oriental Museum,
University of Durham
3 Meriotic Stela, drawn
9 Man catching fish,
by the author
36
Tomb of Kagemni,
photo by author
46
4 Meriotic cursive script,
drawn by the author
36
10
Scene from the
Tomb of Pashedu,
5 Hieroglyphs from the
Deir el-Medina,
Tomb of Amenemhet,
Thebes
47
Thebes
39
© E. Strouhal/Werner
Courtesy of the Egypt
Forman Archive
Exploration Society, London
11
Stela of Montuhotep
6 Offering scene from
from Er-Rizeiqat
54
Temple of Esna,
Egyptian Museum,
photo by author
40
Berlin/Staatliche Museen
zu Berlin-Preussischer
Kulturbesitz. Photo © bpk 2002
12
Erased names,
15
Hieratic letter of the
Luxor Temple,
scribe Butehamun
75
photo by author
59
© The British Museum
13
Crocodile hymn
16
Scribes from the
to Sobek, Temple
Tomb of Horemhab,
of Esna, photo
photo by author
79
by author
65
17
The Canopus Decree
88
© The Art Archive/Egyptian
14
Examples of the
Museum Cairo/Dagli Orti
owl sign, drawn
by author
73
The publisher and the author apologize for any errors or omissions in the above list. If contacted they will be pleased to rectify these at the earliest opportunity.
Chapter 1
The origins of writing
in Egypt
Setting the scene
The civilization of Ancient Egypt existed between around 3500 bc and 30 bc. It occupied the area of the valley and delta of the River Nile northward from its First Cataract in the north-east corner of Africa. With desert to the west, east, and south and sea to the north and further east, the Nile Valley delineated the Egyptian state. It was also incredibly rich in all kinds of resources including abundant fish, birds, wild and domesticated animals, many varieties of stone in the desert quarries, and metals, especially gold, in the eastern wastelands. Most importantly there was a flood which revitalized the agricultural lands every year with fresh mud.
The people of Egypt have left behind monuments and objects, many of them covered in the writing now known as Egyptian hieroglyphs.
They used this pictorial sign system to write down their language and record aspects of their culture. The information from the writing tells us something about how the Egyptians governed their land and people, about their beliefs, and about their hopes and dreams. Though we can read hieroglyphs this does not mean that we know everything there is to know about Ancient Egypt, partly because the writings have survived accidentally and so are a fraction of the original corpus and partly because the writings only preserve those things the Egyptians themselves thought were important.
1
This means we have to tread a very careful path in interpreting and attempting to understand the writings, for our sources are biased by chance and by design. They do, however, give us a point of contact with the minds of the Ancient Egyptians.
Ancient Egyptian is classed by linguists as an Afro-Asiatic language.
This means that it is related to North African languages such as Berber and Cushitic, and to Asiatic (or Semitic) languages such as Arabic and Hebrew. Modern Egyptians speak Egyptian Arabic, not Ancient Egyptian, which is now a ‘dead’ language. The ancient language was a mixture of words connected by a grammatical system spoken by people in the north of Africa and the Near East.
Early rock pictures
The earliest people who lived in the Nile Valley may
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