The greatest collection of ancient Egyptian ‘notepads’ discovered since the turn of the century has been discovered by archaeologists.
Researchers have identified more than 18,000 inscribed pieces of pottery in the long-lost city of Athribis in central Egypt, some of which appear to have been written by pupils.
‘Ostraca’ refers to fragments of etched ceramics. Remains of shattered jars and other vessels were used on a daily basis in ancient Egypt to detail shopping lists, record trades, copy literature and educate pupils on how to write and draw. They were cheaper and more accessible than papyrus.
Indeed, several of the ostraca discovered at the Athribis ancient excavation appear to represent the remains of an old school.
“There are lists of months, numerals, mathematics problems, grammatical exercises, and a ‘bird alphabet,’ in which each letter was allocated a bird whose name began with that letter,” explains Egyptologist Christian Leitz of Tübingen University in Germany.
More than a hundred of the ostraca discovered at Athribis had repetitive writing exercises on the front and back, with the same letters inscribed over and over again.
It appears that ‘bad’ youngsters were being punished with the famous Bart Simpson punishment as long back as two thousand years ago.
The majority of the notes discovered are written in Demotic, an administrative script employed during the reigns of Ptolemy XII (better known today as Cleopatra’s father) from 81 to 59 BCE and again from 55 to 51 BCE.
The Egyptian state of Athribis, which was located along the Nile River at the time, had its capital in Athribis. Despite the fact that Demotic was clearly the most popular script at the time, children were nevertheless taught a reduced form of hieroglyphics.
For example, the section below is a Hieratic alphabet classroom book, with each letter accompanied by a corresponding bird.
The hieroglyphics, Greek, Arabic, and Coptic languages found on the ostraca at Athribis hint at the city’s turbulent and varied history. For example, the Coptic script is a blend of Greek and Egyptian languages and is particularly linked with Christianity.
The writing below is a Coptic receipt, most likely created after Egypt was conquered by the Romans in the 6th century.
