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Title
Literacy and ancient Egyptian society |
Full text
http://ora.ouls.ox.ac.uk:8081/10030/936 |
Author(s)
Baines, John |
Abstract
From its first occurrence around 3000 B.C., writing was integral to the self-definition of Egyptian culture, especially in terms of display where it was part of a system of pictorial representation. By 2600 continuous texts were produced and any linguistic matter could be written; new genres of text appeared in stages, literary texts in the Middle Kingdom and some additional types in the New Kingdom. Very few people were literate, all of them officials of state; schooling was limited. The main script types, hieroglyphic, hieratic and demotic, have different, complementary functions. the entire system survived into late Roman times alongside the more widespread Greek. Writing can be related to textual elaboration, to the sense of the past, magic and law, and perhaps to social change and stability but not as an overriding factor. Thus writing cannot explain the failure of radical change in Egypt or its success in Greece. The potential of writing is realised in stages over millennia. - Citation: Baines, J. (1983) Literacy and ancient Egyptian society, Man (New Series) 18 (3), 572-599.© 1983 The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. |
Subject(s)
Oriental Studies; Egyptology; literacy; ancient Egypt; ancient Egyptian texts; writing dissemination; social and cognitive impact of writing |
Language
en |
Relation
Revised version printed in Baines, J. (2007). Visual and written culture in ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 33-62. |
Type of publication
text; Article, post-print; Published; Peer reviewed; Publisher's version |
Format
Published |
Identifier
ora:936; Revised version printed in Baines, J. (2007). Visual and written culture in ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 33-62.; urn:uuid:812f7794-f76d-4622-bfe0-6d2a27d5f30e |
Repository
Oxford - Research Archive, University of Oxford
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