Alphabet

= = = = =__The Ancient Egyptian Alphabet__=

====__**The Scribe:**__ Not everyone learned to read and write in ancient Egypt. Only one group of people called scribes was allowed to have this knowledge. ====

__**In Schools:**__ Students in an ancient Egyptian scribe schools had many things to learn. Since it was important for them to learn how to record information correctly, they had to read and write well. They spent hours copying hundreds of signs until they could make them well enough to please their teachers. This was hard work, and many students did not like the work they were given. Sometimes they were punished for skipping classes or not doing their work.



__**In Fields:**__
One of the first jobs that scribes might have after they finished school was working in the fields counting crops or animals.This is a wall painting from the tomb of a nobleman called Nebamun.

====__**In Tombs:**__ Writing was a very important part of tomb decoration. The writing on the walls in a pharaoh's tomb helped him get to the afterlife. Scribes wrote the spells on the walls of tombs before they were carved. Then, the craftsmen decorating the tomb carved the hieroglyphs or painted them. Finally, the head scribe checked over the work that had been done to make sure it was correct. Remember, the craftsmen could not always read what they were carving on the walls, and a missed line or sign could mean that the spells would not work. ====

====__**In temples:**__ Temples were the houses of the gods and goddesses. The walls were decorated with writing and pictures that showed the pharaoh's respect for the gods and goddesses. Priests who worked in the temples were scribes. They were the people who performed the sacred rituals that were necessary to keep the gods and goddesses happy. Thus, they needed to be able to read the instructions for the rituals that were written on papyrus scrolls and carved into the temple walls. ====

==== __**In the Government:**__ The government of ancient Egypt kept records about the country. This helped them work out important facts about how the country was running. For example, by looking at records from past years they could see how much grain or how many animals were collected in taxes. Government officials were scribes who had been promoted to higher positions. One scribe named Horemheb who was a high government official actually became pharaoh. ====



__**Key Materials:**__ Papyrus, Breifcase, Palette, wall paint,

=**__Ancient Mesopotamian Writing :__**=

Writing emerged in many different cultures and in numerous locations throughout the ancient world. It was not the creation of any one people. However, the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia are credited with inventing the earliest form of writing, which appeared ca. 3500B.C.

====**__Writing Style__**: The writings were recorded on clay tablets using simple pictures, or pictograms, which represent an object or an idea. Because clay is a difficult material on which to draw lines and curves, the Mesopotamians eventually reduced pictograms into a series of wedge-shaped signs that they pressed into clay with a reed stylus. This wedge-shaped writing is called cuneiform. ====

The earliest system of cuneiform script took many years to master. Thus only a limited number of individuals were hired as scribes to be trained in its reading and writing. It was not until the widespread use of syllabic script was adopted under Sargon's rule that significant portions of Mesopotamian population became literate. Massive archives of texts were recovered from the archaeological contexts of Old Babylonian scribal schools, through which literacy was disseminated.
 * __Writing Systems:__**

__**Key Materials:**__ Clay, stone, stylus, papyrus, stela