Issue No.1240, 2 April, 2015 01-04-2015 10:39AM ET
Write like an Ancient Egyptian
Nesmahar Sayed watches as Egyptian schoolchildren rewrite the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead
In an attempt to teach young children hieroglyphics and introduce them
to Jean-François Champollion, the Egyptologist who deciphered them, the
French Institute for Oriental Studies (IFAO) in Cairo recently organised
an exhibition displaying a chapter of the ancient Egyptian Book of the
Dead.
The chapter was rewritten by pupils from three primary schools in
Egypt, who worked together with their teachers and an Egyptologist from
the institute to write out texts they had chosen.
“The preparations for this event started last October when some 150
students from three French schools in Egypt, five teachers and three
Egyptologists from the IFAO met together to produce one chapter of the
Book of the Dead,” said research director Nicolas Michel.
He said that the idea had been to teach the students, aged nine and ten
years old, the basics of writing the hieroglyphic alphabet and to
introduce them to Champollion as well. “The students were keen to learn
about this history, and their class teachers followed the work with
them,” Michel said.
The students’ work included copying papyri, writing their names using
the hieroglyphic alphabet, and engraving the ancient Egyptian life-key
and Horus eye on soap bars.
On display in the main hall of the IFAO is a painting of the jury
scene, one of the chapters of the Book of the Dead that was copied by
the children. Hassan Selim, a professor of Egyptology at Ain Shams
University and a researcher at the IFAO, described the painting as
reflecting modern Cairo as well as the pharaohs and ancient Egyptian
gods by the River Nile.
The painting shows ancient Egyptian gods playing music and modern air
force planes flying over the Pyramids. Selim said the children had been
affected by contemporary events since the 25 January Revolution.
The project was part of celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of
the publication of Champollion’s book L’Egypte sous les Pharaons (Egypt
under the Pharaohs), published in Paris in 1814. An original edition of
the book was on display at the event.
“This book was published before Champollion was able to discover the
key to the hieroglyphic language. It was a beginning to his attempt to
understand hieroglyphics,” Michel said.
The book deals with topics such as the religion, language, history and
geography of ancient Egypt before the Persian invasion in the 6th
century BCE.
Egyptologist Arnette Marie-Lys Arnette told the Weekly that the Book of the Dead had been chosen for several reasons.
It is a very important religious text, she said, and working on it was
an opportunity to explain Egyptian funerary concepts to the children. It
contains texts and images, so the children can copy the hieroglyphics
and have fun at the same time. One of the three Egyptologists working on
the project, Florence Albert, is a specialist on the text, she said.
Arnette said that this was the first time she had worked on such a
scale with school students, helping them to learn and practice writing
hieroglyphics. Many of them wrote their names, and all were enthusiastic
and willing to participate in the project, she said.
Michel said the project aimed at creating teamwork among the students
and a spirit of cooperation rather than competition. The schools
involved had selected the chapters they wanted to work on based on a
Ptolemaic copy of the Book of the Dead provided by the IFAO.
Arnette said that Chapter 125 was included because it showed one of the
main themes of the Book of the Dead, the judgement of the dead in the
presence of the god Osiris. The heart of the deceased, seat of emotions
and thoughts, is shown being weighed, the divine jury then deciding
whether the dead will live forever in heaven or be devoured by a monster
and be condemned to eternal nonexistence.
“The results of the project were amazing,” Arnette said, adding that
the children had carved hieroglyphs in soap so they could discover
different carving techniques and understand their difficulty and written
texts on potsherds so they could understand the writing tools used in
ancient Egypt.
Each class wrote and drew its own Book of the Dead, and all of them
were very different from one other. Some of them were very close to the
ancient copy, whereas others were funny and more up-to-date, she said.
“All the material has been returned to the teachers, so they can
organise new exhibitions in their schools. Then the Books of the Dead
produced will be framed and kept in the schools. The written potsherds,
called ostraca, and the carved soap will be returned to the pupils, so
they can keep reminders of the event,” Arnette concluded.
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