Primary Source Egypt

8/8/2019 Primary Source Egypt

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Vocabulary: Please give the definition for each vocabulary term and use the term in an unique

sentence. You can find all of these terms in the index section of your Ancient World textbook.

Term Definition Unique sentence

Social Classes

Pharoahs

Artisans

Scribes

Peasants A member of the classconstituted by small land owners,

land laborers that form the mainlabor force in agriculture (farmingand physical labor.)



Investigating Primary Sources

Scribes were well paid and highly respected because they wereEgypt's official writers and record keepers.

Becoming a scribe was a difficult task. Classes lasted from dawn untilsunset. Teachers were strict and often treated their students harshly.Still, learning to be a scribe meant that you would be better off thanother social classes in Egypt.

Below is an excerpt from an ancient Egyptian poem, The Satire of theTrades. Historians believe that young students in scribe school wereforced to copy this piece over and over again. In this way, they couldpractice their writing and learn how much better it was to be ascribe. As you read the excerpt, think about these questions: Whatare some other jobs mentioned in the poem? What was life like forthose professions?

The jeweler drills in bead making using all of the hardest hard stones. When he has completed the inlays [pieces], his arms are

destroyed by his exhaustion. He sits at the food of Ra [dinner]with his knees and back hunched double.

For the carpenter with his chisel, life is utterly vile [completely disgusting]. Covering the roof in a chamber, measuring tencubits by six to cover the roof in a month after laying the boardswith cord of the weaving-house. All the work on it is done, but the food given for it isn't enough for his children.

The gardener has to carry a yoke pole [pole over his shoulders]and all his shoulder bones age, and there is a great blister on hisneck, oozing puss.. He has spent over a day and now his belly aches. So it happens that he rests dead to his own name. He isaged by it more than any other profession.

As for the charcoal-worker, his fingers are rotted, the smell of them is as corpses [dead bodies], and his eyes are stinging from



the smoky fire. He can never be rid of his charcoal, spending hisday cut by the reed; his own clothing is his disgusting.

The washer man does the laundry on the shore next to thecrocodiles. "Father is going to the canal," he says to his son and

his daughter. Is this not a profession to be glad for, worse thanany other profession?

Look, there is no profession free of directors, except the scribe-he IS the director. If, though, you know how to write that is better life for you than these professions I show you.. A day in theschool chamber [room] is more useful for you than an eternity of its toil [lifetime of work] in the mountains.. Look, no scribe willever be lacking in food or the things of the House of the King,may he live, prosper and be well!

Who might be the author of this text (what

background or job)? Explain.

Who is the intended audience for this text?

Explain.

What assumptions does the author hold? What do you agree with in the text?

What do you want to argue with in the text? Challenge: What parts of the text do you want toaspire to (or act upon?)



Documents

Primary Source Egypt