Page 37 - SYTYGIB: Ancient Egypt

Some schools were there to teach children to do particular jobs when they were older, such as being a scribe. They
were the people who could read and
write hieroglyphs and had the task of documenting Egyptian life.
Is it wrong that there´s more ink on me than the papyrus?
Most of what we know about ancient Egypt is thanks to the work of scribes, so they were very important.
Fancy being a scribe? Well, students would spend hours and hours writing and re-writing the hundreds of signs that made up words.
Hey, come back!
I thought you wanted to be a scribe?
FANCY THAT!
Scribes wrote letters on papyrus rolls, using reed brushes and ink made with soot. You´re probably best sticking to felt tips instead.
Do you ever wish . . . you were better at painting? Well at least you aren’t expected to paint a whole tomb . . . which sounds a bit
on the spooky side, as well as hard work.
A lot of what we know nowadays about the lives of the ancient Egyptians is thanks to the work of artists and scribes, who painted pictures or drew hieroglyphs.
Painting a tomb took a lot of work. First a stonemason smoothed the wall and covered it with plaster and a grid was made using red paint. Then an outline scribe transferred sketches to the grid with black paint. Next a stonemason chipped out the main figures, before finally a painter filled in the background and added flesh tones.
Sounds a bit more heavy going than art class in school.
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