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In most towns and villages, the only people who could
read and write were scribes, which made them powerful and influential people.
Art often shows them sitting cross-legged. This is a replica from
the Pharonic Period. The skirt is pulled tght to be use for writing or
reading.
Most Egyptian children did not go
to school. To be a goldsmith or a painter, a boy trained in a workshop
or with a team of workers building a tomb. Scribes were given a more formal
education, starting at age nine and lasting about five years. They had
to study hard and were beaten if they were lazy. But it was worth it -
scribes were among the only people who could read or write, and this gave
them status. |
