Hieroglyphics and Alphabets. 2,500 years of education in ancient Egypt

At the time of the pharaohs knowledge meant in Egypt power and writing and arithmetic were elitist affairs: Only priests and government officials were proficient in the complex hieroglyphic writing, schools existed only in the form of costly private lessons. This remained unchanged also in later centuries, when hieroglyphics were slowly supplanted by Greek and Latin.
The Austrian National Library is home to many remarkable objects made of papyrus, parchment and clay that convey this particular form of tuition for professional writers and literate readers to the Arab Early Middle Ages. An impressive wealth of writing exercises, dictations and school essays, but also mathematical tables and important remains of ancient schoolbooks and non-fiction books about mathematics and geometry are waiting to be discovered in the new special exhibition of the Papyrus Museum.
"Hieroglyphics and Alphabets": Highlights from 2,500 years of ancient school and education history