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We know them best for their pyramids and pharaohs. But the ancient Egyptians left many more things that mystify and amaze us.
They invented hieroglyphs, a form of picture-writing. They also invented papyrus. That’s a paperlike writing material made from reeds. Their temples and pyramids show their skills as architects and engineers. Ancient papyrus scrolls tell of their work as writers, doctors, and healers.
◀ In ancient Egypt, not many people could read or write. So they hired scribes to do those tasks for them. The best scribes worked for the pharaoh in the royal government.
▲ Hieroglyphs can be written in different ways. You can write them from left to right, right to left, or top to bottom. For business contracts, letters, and scientific texts, they used another style. It was a simpler, cursive form called hieratic.
◀ Papyrus was a big step forward from clay tablets. It was made from reeds, so it was light. It was also easy to carry and store. Scribes wrote on it with brushes made from reeds.
For centuries, no one could read hieroglyphs. Then, in 1799, the Rosetta Stone was discovered. It showed the same text in three languages. That helped people to crack the code and translate hieroglyphs. From the top, the Rosetta Stone shows hieroglyphs, cursive demotic (used in business), and Greek. ▶
In hieroglyphs, the names of the royal family have an oval-shaped frame around them. The frame is called a cartouche (car-TOOSH). The symbol here is for Pharaoh Ramses III (1194–1163 B.C.). It reads: Rameses-mery-Amon (Rameses, the beloved of Amon).
Egyptians left detailed medical texts on long scrolls. The scrolls describe women’s health care, childbirth, and treatment of injuries. They tell how to diagnose and treat diseases. Some show how to make medicines. Others explain how the Egyptians believed the heart and other organs worked. For a sick princess (pictured), the royal physician consults his medical papyrus. He’s about to mix a medicine for her, using the ingredients on the table. ▶
