Egyptian Language
and Literature

The Egyptians were one of the first to actually invent writing and different forms of writing. The Egyptians were very smart in doing this. The following is the kinds of writing that they actually used.

There was three forms of writing that were invented by the Egyptians. Hieroglyphics was number one. Used for the formal inscriptions. The other one writing was the two offshoots cursive. depending on what period of time it was in was when the language was made and used. For all three of the writings they used signs to represented things, and syllables, constants only.

The Egypt language was so far advanced that not even the smartest people in the world could read it. The was a stone called the Rosetta Stone that had three kinds of writing on it. To decipher the language or to crack the code you would have to be highly skilled, and would take many years to figure out things that had been written that the ancient Egyptian could just read in a few minutes.

There was special people that were trained to doing the readings of the tablets. Who could read or write? There was many people that could. The people that could were called scribes. They went to special schools, for very young ages to learn to read and write. They would be highly important ; almost as important as the pharaohs themselves. It was a long and difficult job learning to read and write. Not many people finished the schools because of all the beatings they received if they didn't get something right.

Papyrus

Papyrus is also a paper reed a common name for a plant of the sedge family. Papyrus grows up to about 1 to 3 meters tall. Its leaves are very long and sharp-kneeled. The upright stems of the plant are soft and a triangular shape. The lower part of the plant is as thick as a human's arm. The top of it has numerous sprinkles, with a whorl of eight leaves. The papyrus plant grows in many different places in the world such as Egypt, Ethiopia, the Jordan River Valley, and Sicily.

Different parts of the plant are used for ornamental and useful purposes, including the wreaths for head, sandals, boxes, boats, and rope. The roots can be dried and used for fuel. The pith of stem was boiled and can be eaten, but is mainly used for making Papyrus.

In Egypt the papyrus grows along the banks of the River Nile. The Egyptians cut the Papyrus up into to small strips, they are then soaked in water, cut smaller. Then they places them on top of each other and across from each other. Then they are bashed with a Mallet and they stick together. When the heavy stone comes of them you have a paper Papyrus. "Paper" comes from the word "Papyrus" The Egyptians were first to make paper. The sheets of papyrus are about 12.5 cm by 22.5 cm. papyrus belongs to the family of Cyperaceae. It is classified as Cyperus papyrus.