Tools Of The Trade
Altough Egyptian craftsmen generally remained anonymous, a great deal Is known about how they worked because many tombs contain depiction of the entire construction process. Artist work in the service of king, and the government supplied their tools and materials. Common tools included axes, saws, adzes, chisels, moulds, mallets, set squares with plumb lines, level with plumb lines, kilns, brushes and pens made from reed, any pottery wheels. The materials they worked with included clay, paints made from pigments, inks, metals, woods(indigenous and imported), ivory and bone, glass, flax, reeds, wax, leather and stone. To prevent theft, scribes keep account of their tools and materials, including records wear and tear. They even weighed the tools after use to ensure that their precious metals were not being pilfered.
Altough Egyptian craftsmen generally remained anonymous, a great deal Is known about how they worked because many tombs contain depiction of the entire construction process. Artist work in the service of king, and the government supplied their tools and materials. Common tools included axes, saws, adzes, chisels, moulds, mallets, set squares with plumb lines, level with plumb lines, kilns, brushes and pens made from reed, any pottery wheels. The materials they worked with included clay, paints made from pigments, inks, metals, woods(indigenous and imported), ivory and bone, glass, flax, reeds, wax, leather and stone. To prevent theft, scribes keep account of their tools and materials, including records wear and tear. They even weighed the tools after use to ensure that their precious metals were not being pilfered.
Egyptian carpenters and joiners had a similar range of tools at their disposal. The cutting and piercing tools usually had cooper or bronze blades, fitted into a wooden handle and secured with leather thongs or string. Planks were obtain by sawing tree trunks along their length. Adzes were used for shaping and smoothing, mallets and chisel for cutting joints, and wooden dowels, cramps, and leather thongs for attaching components.
Sacred Script
Ancient Egyptian used a picture based script, the hieroglyph, to record they thoughts. Hieroglyph could be written from left to right, from right to left, or in vertical columns. The direction for reading a set of hieroglyph is determined by the human or animal sign with fronts and backs – this always face the beginning of the inscription. When writing the hieroglyph, the ancient Egyptian omitted vowel sounds, as is done in Arabic and Hebrew today.
From the old kingdom (2686-2181 BCE) onwards, the ancient Egyptian also used hieratic script, a cursive sacred script written by priest in religious and funerary texts. By the letter Pharaonic and Greco-Roman periods, a more rapid cursive script called demotic was used.
Throughout Egypt history, scribes was considered to be the keepers of the literary tradition. In addition to their basic administrative task, scribes edited and revised theological, medical, and magical texts and composed new texts. Scribes used a rectangular case or palette to hold their ink and the reeds they used for writing.
From the old kingdom (2686-2181 BCE) onwards, the ancient Egyptian also used hieratic script, a cursive sacred script written by priest in religious and funerary texts. By the letter Pharaonic and Greco-Roman periods, a more rapid cursive script called demotic was used.
Throughout Egypt history, scribes was considered to be the keepers of the literary tradition. In addition to their basic administrative task, scribes edited and revised theological, medical, and magical texts and composed new texts. Scribes used a rectangular case or palette to hold their ink and the reeds they used for writing.
