Lesson summary "writing and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians." Writing and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians

There comes a time in the development of any ancient society when it cannot move forward, develop, if it is unknown writing. It was necessary for managing the state and its economy, strengthening relations between states, developing science, drawing up laws, etc. All knowledge and experience acquired by people could be passed on to descendants only through writing. But creating a writing system is not easy. This process happened very slowly.

Writing - a system of graphic signs used to convey information.

At first, the Egyptians painted what they wanted to say. This form of writing is called pictorial, or pictographic. The drawing could depict a whole sentence, a thought, an object, an action, an animal, a person. But with this method of writing, a lot of drawings were needed - for each thought there was one. In addition, the drawing could not be fully understood when reading. Over time, to simplify things, each picture began to mean only one word. Now the number of characters was equal to the number of words. There were several hundred of them. Each sign of Egyptian writing was called hieroglyphs, which meant "sacred writings". Moreover, each drawing depicted an object or an action with the help of an object. Thus, the word “go” was denoted by two legs that walk. The word “water” was represented by two wavy lines, one above the other. Later, when the Egyptians began to write faster, the signs were simplified. This type of writing is called cursive or demotic.

Pictography - from Latin. "pictus" - drawing and Greek. “grapho” - I write.

Pictographic letter - pictorial letter.

Hieroglyph - from Greek "hieros" - sacred and "glypho" - carving.Material from the site

They wrote on any material that retained drawings or carved signs. The Egyptians wrote on stone, on clay shards, wood, and leather. Over time they began to write in papyrus- a material made from Nile reed. Papyrus stems were cut into long longitudinal strips, folded in several layers, pressed and dried. After this, the papyrus was rolled into scrolls, the length of which sometimes reached several tens of meters. They wrote on papyrus using red and black paints with a special pointed reed stick. The papyrus could be used several times, washing away the previous text with water. Over time, it became fragile and brittle. For a long time, it was the best for writing, until they invented paper.

Egyptian hieroglyphs are preserved on the walls of pyramids, burial chambers, and temples. Time passed, and the ancient Egyptian letter was forgotten; no one could read the texts. And only in the 19th century. French linguist and historian Jean Francois Champollion managed to unravel the mystery of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

§ 1 Ancient hieroglyphs

A major contribution of the ancient Egyptians to world culture was the creation of a unique writing system - hieroglyphs. The invention of writing contributed to the most accurate accumulation and transmission of information from one person to another. The creation of writing determined the emergence and development of sciences.

In the 19th century, when the study of Ancient Egypt began, researchers began to come across mysterious signs decorating the walls of tombs, temples and sarcophagi. These pictures were a simplified image of a living creature or object. For a long time It was not possible to decipher these symbols or give them any description.

In 1799, at the height of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, near the city of Rosetta, a French army officer found a stone slab with three mysterious writings. Two of the inscriptions were made in ancient Egyptian, and the third in ancient Greek, which was well known at that time. This stone, called the Rosetta stone, turned out to be an important find for Egyptologists because it contained the key to understanding hieroglyphic writing. In 1822, the French historian and linguist Jean-François Champollion, by comparing Greek and hieroglyphic texts, managed to unravel the mystery of the hieroglyphs. From that moment on, active study of the history and culture of Ancient Egypt began.

In total, there were about 6,000 characters in Egyptian writing, of which 700 characters were the most frequently used. Hieroglyphs originated from the pictorial writing of primitive peoples. Gradually, the drawings were simplified and over time turned into signs. There were no vowel sounds in hieroglyphic writing. In addition, the same symbol could represent several objects, depending on its position in the text.

§ 2 The appearance of papyrus

The Egyptians used to write special material- papyrus. It was made from reeds that grew along the banks of the Nile. The stem was cut into long and narrow strips, which were laid out on a flat surface, one next to the other, then another layer of papyrus stems was laid out in the transverse direction. This two-layer masonry was pressed on top with a stone and left to dry. The result was material on which one could write.

For ease of storage and transportation of papyrus with notes, it was rolled into a tube - a scroll.

It was very difficult to learn ancient Egyptian writing, so literate people were treated with special respect.

§ 3 Schooling

Special schools were created to teach writing. Only children of noble parents attended these schools. Children of ordinary farmers and cattle breeders did not have access to literacy; their main task was to learn from their parents how to sow grain and raise livestock.

Schools, as a rule, opened at churches. The teachers in such schools were priests. Graduates became scribes, officials and priests.

Students were taught arithmetic and solved problems in arithmetic and geometry. Many symbols and signs invented in Ancient Egypt are still used in mathematics today. Among the sciences taught in Egyptian schools was astronomy, thanks to which the priests compiled accurate calendars and predicted the days of the beginning and end of the Nile floods. To accurately measure time, the Egyptians used sundials and water clocks. It was from Egypt that the expression “how much water has flown under the bridge” came to us.

Another science that developed in Egypt was medicine. Ancient doctors knew how to treat both bodies and souls. They believed that diseases were infused into people by evil spirits, and they tried to expel them from the patient’s body with various decoctions, as well as magical spells. It should be noted that many treatments are still recognized as effective.

List of used literature:

1. Mircea Eliade. History of faith and religious ideas. Volume I: From the Stone Age to the Eleusinian Mysteries, Translation by N.N. Kulakova, V.R. Rokityansky and Yu.N. Stefanov, M.: Criterion, 2002
2. Story Ancient world. The Ancient East. Egypt, Sumer, Babylon, Western Asia. – Mn.: Harvest, M.: AST, 2000. – 832 p.
3. Keram K. "Gods, tombs and scientists." Novel of Archeology

Images used:

Lesson summary on the topic “Writing and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians.”

Organizing time.

The teacher welcomes students and notes those who are absent.

Updating knowledge.

Teacher: Guys, tell me, what state have we been studying over the course of several lessons? ( Students answer the question by naming the country - Ancient Egypt). (Slide No. 1).

Teacher: Remember who ruled Ancient Egypt? ( Students answer “Pharaoh”).

Teacher: Describe geographical position Ancient Egypt (Students describe the geographical location, mentioning the Nile River.)

Teacher: Well done. Please show on the map the Nile River, which flowed in Egypt. ( Students show the river on the map)

Teacher: If Egypt had fertile land, what was their primary occupation?

Teacher: Tell me, what was this main activity aimed at?

Teacher: What else do people need to live a full life? (Students answer the question - intellectual development)

Teacher: By what means can it be achieved? ( Students answer the question - through some knowledge, through writing)

Theme formulation, goal setting.

Teacher: Today we will continue our journey through Ancient Egypt .

Teacher: Based on the above information, discuss in pairs and formulate the topic of the lesson. ( Students work in a group and formulate the topic of the lesson.)

Teacher: So, the topic of the lesson is “ Writing and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians» . Write the name of the topic in your notebook. (Slide No. 2)

Teacher: Guys, guess:

What questions should we get answers to during the lesson?

Students ask questions: How did the ancient Egyptians write? What did they write on? What did they study? What knowledge did they have?

Teacher: So you guys have highlighted key points our lesson and thereby determined the purpose and objectives of the lesson.

Creating a problematic situation.

Teacher: Guys, what do you think exist? written signs at all? What signs and what writing exist in our country? How many are there in our alphabet? Where do we teach writing? Tell me, should everyone in our country learn this? ( Students answer each question.)

Teacher: And in ancient Egypt, not everyone had to learn writing, many did not know it, and some segments of the population were prohibited from entering the school. Guess why this happened?( Students answer the question posed)

Discovery of new knowledge.

Hieroglyphs - what are they??

Teacher: I propose to work in……. ? Each (s) ...... reads p. 61-63 of the textbook and finds out: what was the name of writing in Ancient Egypt? What was it expressed in, what was it called? What was the difficulty in learning hieroglyphs? ( Students complete the task and answer questions.) (Slide No. 3).

Teacher: What do you guys think, where did people learn about ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs?( Students assume, expressing their point of view)

Teacher: Let us learn more about this discovery by watching a fragment of the film.

Teacher: Please guys, what have you learned about hieroglyphs? Who were they discovered by? Why is the stone on which the hieroglyphs were written called Rosetta? ( Students answer this question)

Papyrus - writing material

Teacher: Guys, what and in what do you write at school?

Teacher: That's right, pen to paper. I suggest you turn to the textbook illustration on page 63 and answer the question: “What did they write on in Egypt?” ( Students work with the illustration and answer the question). (Slide No. 4).

Teacher: Guys, based on your existing knowledge, tell me - how was papyrus made?

Teacher: And now I invite you to find out what the writing materials of the Egyptians were by looking at the slide (Slide No. 5)

Teacher: Can you imagine how they could be used?

Teacher: Let's find the first paragraph on page 64 and read it out loud so everyone can hear us.

Physical education minute:

Teacher: Now let’s have some physical education with you (Slide No. 6).

Once again we have a physical education session,

Let's bend over, come on, come on!

Straightened up, stretched,

And now they’ve bent over backwards. (bending forward and backward)

My head is tired too.

So let's help her!

Right and left, one and two.

Think - think head. (head rotation)

Even though the charge is short,

We rested a little.

Scribes teachers and new knowledge

Teacher: Guys, express your opinion: who do you think taught the Egyptians all this? Students guess and answer the “teacher’s” question)

Teacher: Remember the layers of the population of Egypt and guess - which of them could teach the Egyptians as a teacher?

Teacher: That's right, priests. Why did they have such a right?

Teacher: What else, besides writing, could the priests teach the Egyptians, do you think? (students assume - various sciences) What sciences could the priests teach, based on the main occupations of the Egyptians and their needs? ( astronomy, calendar, water clock)

If they do not answer, then on p. 64 I suggest you familiarize yourself with this.

Teacher: That’s right, we also watched the stars and tried to penetrate the secret of the life of the gods themselves.

Working with a document

Teacher: Priests in Egyptian schools taught writing and arithmetic, which was mainly useful to people who had to calculate and record taxes. What kind of population were these?

Teacher: It’s true, that is, the priests taught future scribes in schools, and not other segments of the population.

Teacher: Guys, what do you think made the position of a scribe attractive to the Egyptians? (The teacher listens to different versions of the students)

Teacher: Do you think there was always discipline in the classroom in an Egyptian school?

Teacher: Guess how the teacher-priest maintained order during training sessions?

Teacher: Let's work with the text of the document “Teaching the Scribes to the Disciples” on page 62 and answer these questions.

Teacher: After studying this text, answer the question: “What is the difference between modern discipline in the classroom and the rules that applied to students in Ancient Egypt” ( Students answer the question.)

4. Reflection (lesson summary)

Teacher: And now, guys, we will complete the “yes”, “no” task. I ask a question and you say the answer.

The scientific knowledge of the ancient Egyptians was closely related to their everyday life. (Yes)

The French scientist Champollion was the first to decipher hieroglyphs. (Yes)

Any Egyptian who wanted could teach in an Egyptian school. (Yes)

The scribes in the schools had no discipline (No)

Writing in Ancient Egypt was so easy that anyone could learn it. (No)

Teacher: And now I suggest you summarize the lesson yourself, but in pairs. (Using + - interesting)

5.D/z:

"3" - § 12 retelling

“4” - §12 retelling, answer orally the questions in the yellow frame on page 64

“5” - §12 retelling, complete the written task on p. 65 from the “Think” section.

Writing and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians

Language

Time of occurrence

Egyptian writing originated at the end of the 4th millennium BC. How the developed system developed by the time of the Middle Kingdom.

What did the Egyptians write on?

The Egyptians did not know paper. They wrote on papyrus, which was made from the stems of swamp reeds (with the same name “papyrus” - cyperus papyrus).

Papyrus has been in use as a writing material in Egypt since the beginning of the third millennium BC.

There was a special technique for making papyrus. Papyrus stems were cleared of bark and cut lengthwise. Then these cuts of papyrus stems were laid out on a dampened table, they had to be tightly adjacent to each other, then a second layer of cuts was applied in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the cuts of the first layer (crosswise). The result was a masonry of two layers. It was placed under a press and then dried in the sun. On final stage To make papyrus, sheets were smoothed using ivory and shell tools and beaten with a hammer (see Papyrus making techniques). Then already ready sheets papyrus was glued together to create long scrolls. The length of the scrolls reached several meters. The sheets were glued in such a way that the edge of one sheet covered the edge of the next (the gluing area was 1-2 cm).

What did they write

Scribes usually wrote with a brush, which was made from the stem of the marsh plant calamus, one end of which the scribe chewed.

Who did the research/was the knowledge keeper

The priests were the most educated people in Ancient Egypt. Each temple had a library where scrolls were kept and copied.

What was researched / what was known

Geography arose in Ancient Egypt - the science of studying the Earth (however, the knowledge of the Egyptians was inaccurate: they represented the Earth as a rectangle surrounded by an ocean).

The Egyptians achieved the greatest success in mathematics, astronomy and medicine.

Astronomy: By observing the stars, Egyptian priests were able to determine the length of the year. They noticed that the star Sirius rises once every 365 days. The Egyptians also knew how to predict solar and lunar eclipses; fairly accurate star catalogs and star charts were compiled.

A scientific and technological achievement was the invention of the water clock and sundial.

Mathematics: Mathematics emerged and developed in response to the practical needs of the Egyptians for calculations (measuring land plots after the Nile floods, accounting and distribution of the harvest, complex calculations in the construction of temples, tombs and palaces). The ancient Egyptians knew how to perform addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, and had an understanding of fractions.

Medicine: the high level of medicine for that time is associated with the custom of mummification of corpses, during which doctors could study the anatomy of the human body.

One of the highest achievements of Egyptian medicine was the doctrine of blood circulation and the importance of the heart in these processes.

Doctors in Ancient Egypt had specialization. Some treated the stomach, some treated the eyes, some treated the teeth, etc.

In Ancient Egypt it was noted quite high level surgery (this is evidenced by surgical instruments found during excavations of tombs). ().

Where were they taught?: in schools at churches.

Who taught: priests.

What was taught in schools

First of all, writing, reading and oral arithmetic. After that, they studied history, geography, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, and construction. ().

Abstract

Walls Egyptian tombs covered with mysterious signs, here is a cobra snake, an ibis, and a pyramid. Even in ancient times, the Egyptians called such icons hieroglyphs - “sacred writing” (Fig. 1).

Rice. 1. Egyptian hieroglyphs ()

For many years no one could read hieroglyphic writing. Many wanted to unravel the mystery of Egyptian writing. The French scientist Jean-François Champallion managed to do this (Fig. 2). Champallion examined the famous Rosetta Stone - a slab with an inscription of gratitude from the priests to Ptolemy V Epiphanes, dating back to 196 BC. e (Fig. 3). One part of the writing on the slab was made in hieroglyphs, the other contained the same text in ancient Greek. In both the Greek and hieroglyphic texts, the names of the rulers were circled in oval frames, this became the key to the solution. Jean-François Champallion proved that Egyptian writing consists of three types of signs: signs that define concepts; signs that denote consonant sounds, and identifiers that helped read words that had the same consonants, for example, “house” and “Dima.” On September 14, 1822, Champallion gave a report on his scientific discovery, this date became the official beginning of the development of science Egyptology.

Rice. 2. Jean-François Champallion ()

Rice. 3. Rosetta Stone ()

For records in Egypt they used different materials: stone tiles, shards of broken pottery (ostraca), leather, tablets covered with plaster, but the most popular material was papyrus, which was made from papyrus, a reed that grew along the banks of the Nile. The papyrus stem was cut into long narrow strips. Then these strips were laid out on a flat surface, one next to the other, and other strips were placed on top, but in the transverse direction. The resulting masonry was pressed with a press, and the fibers released sticky juice. After drying, a material similar to paper was obtained. For storage, papyrus was rolled into a tube - a scroll. They wrote on papyrus with reed brushes, using black and red paints (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Egyptian papyrus ()

Only representatives of the nobility could study in Ancient Egypt. Girls were educated at home, and boys were sent to school at the age of 6-7. Strict teachers taught children writing and counting. They also studied astronomy, determining the movement heavenly bodies.

Scientific knowledge in Ancient Egypt was owned by priests who carefully guarded their secrets. We can only guess about the level of scientific knowledge of the ancient Egyptians. Egyptian priests were able to accurately predict the date of the beginning of the Nile flood based on the location of the heavenly bodies. They used water clocks to measure time, made complex mathematical calculations for the construction of pyramids, and knew the secrets of embalming.

Much knowledge in Ancient Egypt was passed down from generation to generation only in a narrow circle of priests, so that the secrets of the gods would not be learned by ordinary people.

Bibliography

1. Vigasin A. A., Goder G. I., Sventsitskaya I. S. History of the Ancient World. 5th grade. - M.: Education, 2006.
2. Nemirovsky A.I. A book for reading on the history of the Ancient World. - M.: Education, 1991.
3. Ancient Rome. Reading book / Ed. D. P. Kallistova, S. L. Utchenko. - M.: Uchpedgiz, 1953.

Additional precommended links to Internet resources

1. Chynga-changa.ru ().
2. Nnre.ru ().
3. Public Historical Library ().

Homework

1. Why was it difficult to learn to read and write in Egypt?
2. What materials did the Egyptians use for writing?
3. Who and when solved the mystery of Egyptian hieroglyphs?
4. What sciences were developed in Ancient Egypt?

Checking individual assignments. Why were furniture, vases, and weapons placed in the tomb?

Our journey to Ancient Egypt is coming to an end, today we have our last topic:Writing and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians. In the next lesson we will conduct a quiz game. You need to divide into 3 teams, choose a captain, come up with a name and draw an emblem. And, of course, repeat the whole “Ancient Egypt” theme.

Plan:

Writing of the ancient Egyptians

Egyptian papyri

School and scientific knowledge

1 . Writing of the ancient Egyptians. There are two countries on earth where writing arose earlier than in all other countries in the world. One of them is Mesopotamia - we will get to know it later, and the other is Egypt.Writing arose in Mesopotamia and Egypt at about the same time,more than 5 thousand years ago .

Ancient Egyptian writing was not like ours. Initially, drawings served as signs for writing. The characters for writing are calledhieroglyphs . Ancient Egyptian writing was very complex: it had about 750 hieroglyphs.

Let's read about ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs (p. 61 “Once upon a time the Egyptians .....”)“let’s go” and “Dima” are on the board.

Now you understand that in Ancient Egypt it was very difficult to learn to read and write: to learn 700 hieroglyphs, you needed long years; it was necessary not only to learn them, but also to use them correctly - any hieroglyph could mean either a word or a consonant sound. For example, a hieroglyph resembling a pit of water meant in one case the wordwell , in the other – a combination of two consonantsHm , and in the third it was not read at all, but only suggested that we're talking about about ponds and swamps.

For a long time, the question of what constitutes ancient Egyptian writing remained open, and only in early XIX century, after much research, the secret of Egyptian writing was revealed by the French scientist Champollion. French soldiers found a huge stone slab with an inscription in 2 languages: Greek and Egyptian (p. 63). This slab was brought to France, and many tried to unravel these inscriptions, but Champollion managed to do it 23 years after it was found. main reason Why it took so long to decipher it was the lack of vowels in Egyptian writing.

Champollion, who knew Greek, noticed that some hieroglyphs were surrounded by an oval frame. Moreover, as many times as the name of Pharaoh Ptolemy appeared in the Greek inscription. The scientist suggested that this is how the Egyptians distinguished royal names. On another stone, also containing the same text in two languages, he discovered the name of Queen Cleopatra in an oval frame. The words “Ptolemy” and “Cleopatra” have common sounds p, t, l - and the hieroglyphs in each frame coincided. So Champollion proved that hieroglyphs are writing signs that can convey the sounds of speech.

2 . Egyptian papyri. In Egypt, for the first time in human history, a special writing material was invented. Remember, we already talked about this. Papyrus. The Egyptians selected plants with a long trunk, removed the hard shell, and cut the loose core into long strips up to 8 cm wide. The strips were placed on a table moistened with water. In this case, one strip was closely adjacent to the other. A second layer of the same strips was placed on top, but this time across the first layer. The result was a masonry of two layers. It was placed under weight: an adhesive substance was released from the plant, firmly holding all the strips together. The irregularities along the edges of the masonry were cut off - a rectangular sheet was obtained. Its surface was covered with a thin layer of flour glue to prevent the ink from bleeding. Then they dried it in the sun, smoothed it with ivory tools, and beat it with a hammer, eliminating all the irregularities. The result was a thin yellowish sheet of papyrus, similar to paper.

Papyrus is a fragile material and cannot be folded like sheets of paper are folded. modern book. Therefore, sheets of papyrus were glued into long strips, which were rolled into tubes (scrolls ). Many large scrolls with records have survived to this day, one of them reaches a length of 40 m.

Look at the scribe statue (p. 62). Scribes often held a special position in the pharaoh's court; they were proud of their education. Us. 64 you can see writing instruments. Each scribe carried with him in a case a sharpened reed for writing, a small pot of water for diluting paint, and a pencil case with two recesses for black and red paint. All text was black, but the beginning of new sections was highlighted in red (hence the expression “red line”). Black ink was based on soot, and red ink was based on red clay. Papyrus could be used several times: old notes were washed off and the sheet was dried.

3 . School and scientific knowledge. Many sciences first originated in Egypt and other countries ancient East. As the economy developed, the need for scientific knowledge arose. For example, the pharaoh ordered to build a palace for himself. The builders met in council to calculate how many bricks would be needed for His Majesty's palace; how many peasants and slaves need to be rounded up for construction: a thousand people or ten thousand; How many days will construction last? What kind of science is needed for this? Mathematics. The system of counting and writing numbers was complex and cumbersome (Fig. on p. 64), multiplying and dividing were especially difficult. Despite this, the Egyptians knew all four operations of arithmetic.

Astronomy is the oldest science, along with mathematics; she studies planets and stars. While observing the night sky, the Egyptians noticed that every time before the flood began, the star Sirius shone brightly in the early morning hours. Egyptian astronomers calculated how many days passed between two floods of the Nile - two appearances of Sirius in the sky. The Egyptians were the first in history to determine that there are 365 days in a year; they divided the year into 12 months. Long-term observations of the stars helped the Egyptians navigate well around the world. Egyptian pyramids, for example, were oriented with very great accuracy, however, there was no compass in those days.

Medicine developed in ancient times in Egypt. Oddly enough, religious custom contributed to this. Remember how and why a mummy was made from the body of the deceased. Suggest how this custom influenced the development of medicine. (When opening a dead body, the Egyptians became familiar with the internal organs: heart, liver, kidneys, lungs. They observed the changes that occurred in the internal organs under the influence of various diseases. The custom of making mummies contributed to the development of medicine.)

In Egypt there was a specialization of doctors. There were dentists: they, for example, perfectly secured a loose tooth with neighboring healthy ones using a thin wire, and knew how to drill a diseased tooth to remove pus from it. Egyptian doctors used infusions and decoctions of herbs and various salts as medicines.

Schools were usually located at temples, and the teachers were priests. Not all Egyptians went to school. Children of simple farmers and artisans rarely became educated people.

Now let's read “The Instruction of the Scribes to the Disciples” (p. 62). How did teachers maintain order in the classroom? Why was the position of a scribe attractive to the Egyptians?

D.z. Repeat the theme “Ancient Egypt”.