The Greek loved learning for itself alone. Not so the Egyptian. He, too, praised learning and considered no calling so worthy as that of the scribe. It was not because an education lifted one out of a sordid world to purer heights of knowledge, however, but rather, because the scribe was exempt from physical exertion, and if ambitious and persevering, might find all official doors open to him. A citizen wished his son to receive an education in order that he might occupy a position superior and less arduous than he could otherwise hope to fill. The lot of the laborer in Egypt was hard. Working constantly he could but provide himself and family with their scanty food and scanty clothing. At any time he might be pressed into public service and here he was fortunate if he received "one clean garment once a month," in addition to his monthly rations. Scribes were safe from physical toil. Quite naturally, it followed that a family would make every possible sacrifice that one of the children might be fitted for a life more safe and comfortable than the average. No higher ideal, no loftier motive seems to have actuated the parent than this: to qualify his son for an easy and lucrative position in life.
There were elementary schools in Egypt in an early age. These were open to all children, who probably paid a small fee to the teacher. Gradually also, there grew up around the temples schools for the training of boys for the priesthood. As the empire grew and tribute was asked and received from many tribes and countries, many scribes—copyists and accountants—were needed in the service of the government, and schools were opened in connection with the court to educate boys to meet this new demand.
Having spent a few years in the elementary school, the average boy was set to work to assist with the cattle, gather fuel, care for the ducks and geese about his home, and later was put to learn a trade—generally the trade of his father. However, if a boy showed special aptitude for learning or seemed more alert and clever than ordinary, he was sent to the school for scribes. Here the training was vigorous. The scribe would waken the youth, calling: "The books are already in the hands of thy companions, take hold of thy clothes and call for thy sandals!" Discipline was rigid indeed. An old adage held that a boy's ears are placed on his back—he hears if he is flogged.
You will remember how complex were the Egyptian styles of writing—both hieroglyphic and demotic. Consequently to be able to read and write was considered a great accomplishment. Having mastered the art of writing, the youth was set next to copying. Many of the old copy books still exist, for it was customary to place them in the tomb with the deceased. Three pages a day was the usual lesson. "By the age of ten or twelve," says Maspero, "the child was ... apprenticed to a scribe in some office, who would undertake to make him a learned scribe. The boy accompanied his master to the office or work-yard, and there passed entire months copying letters, circulars, legal documents, or accounts, which he did not at first understand, but which he faithfully remembered.... The pupil copied and copied, the master inserted forgotten words, corrected the faults of spelling, and drew on the margin the signs or groups unskillfully traced. When the book was finished and the apprentice could write all the formulas from memory, the master entrusted him with the composition of a few letters, gradually increasing the number and adding new difficulties. As soon as he had fairly mastered the ordinary daily routine his education was ended, and an unimportant post was sought."[2]
The Egyptians never investigated a subject until they reduced it to a science. A certain knowledge of geometry was necessary to determine boundaries of land, so valuable along the river that very small areas were sometimes in dispute. A knowledge sufficient for this purpose the Egyptians possessed, but they never delved deeper into the matter and became proficient in it. They studied astronomy and made charts of portions of the heavens. They studied arithmetic, but never, for example, wrote a fraction with a numerator larger than 1; instead of writing 2⁄3 or 5⁄8 they wrote: 1⁄3, 1⁄3; 1⁄2, 1⁄8. It has taken much patience and some ingenuity to understand problems found already worked out in the copy books.
The subject of medicine was deemed important, but the ancient Egyptians knew nothing about it, generally speaking. Magic, drugs, herbs and incantations were used together. Believing that the welfare of the soul depended upon the preservation of the body, students never had the opportunity of dissecting bodies, either animal or human. They had no idea of the vital organs, and when they were successful in relieving a patient, it was when, like some old herb woman, they had learned the properties of healing plants and had watched their effects in many cases until they became skillful in administering them. When one was ill, it was thought that an evil spirit had entered his body. By magic words this must be driven out before recovery could be hoped for. Magic greatly aided medicine, according to this view. Here is a formula for a magic mixture: "Take two grains of incense, two fumigations, two jars of cedar oil, two jars of tas, two jars of wine, two jars of spirits of wine. Apply it at the place of thy heart. Thou art protected against the accidents of life; thou art protected against a violent death; thou art protected against fire; thou are not ruined on earth, and thou escapest in heaven."
Literature.
Egypt seems to have been lacking in any considerable number of literary works. Records were kept in the temples; treatises on religion, magic and medicine have been found. The Book of the Dead was familiar to the living and indispensable to the departed. Some folk lore, hymns of worship and of victory, and a few stories, more or less complete, remain. Vast numbers of papyri have undoubtedly perished, but reference would probably be made in existing manuscripts to great productions, and these are lacking. Giving all credit to what has been recovered and allowing for the destruction of time, the fact remains that in literature Egypt was not productive.
There are no literary remains antedating the Middle Empire; however, we have traces of folk songs and of myths which were earlier known. The old belief that the Egyptians had no secular literature was mistaken. Our greatest sources of knowledge regarding their literature have been the tombs and temples, and these were not places in which a people would have chosen to preserve its lighter literature.
It is probable that just as the workmen sing today, while they work along the Nile, so too they chanted in earliest times. Under the most trying conditions in Egypt, laborers sang as they worked. The scribes did not think it worthy of their dignity to chronicle folk songs. Probably little thought was ever given to them. Occasionally a few lines are quoted beneath some tomb pictures to make it more vivid.