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Ancient Egypt How to look at a papyrus. Papyrus. Papyrus is made from pressed reeds and can get damaged over time. It was used for everyday writing, but also for documents which were put in the tomb with the dead. The Egyptians wrote hieroglyphs on papyrus with a pen.
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Ancient Egypt How to look at a papyrus.
Papyrus Papyrus is made from pressed reeds and can get damaged over time. It was used for everyday writing, but also for documents which were put in the tomb with the dead. The Egyptians wrote hieroglyphs on papyrus with a pen. Sometimes they were drawn carefully. Sometimes they were done in a quick version like handwriting – known as hieratic Museums used to cut the rolls of papyrus into sheets for easier storage and display.
Papyrus What can be seen on papyrus? • hieroglyphs (written with a pen) • pictures (painted) In tomb papyri, the pictures can show • deities (gods and goddesses) • humans • objects
Papyrus from the Book of the Dead of Nakht. Papyrus provides information about everyday life in ancient Egypt and the beliefs of the afterlife. Can you identify these features of the ancient Egyptian environment? Can you identify these people and gods? Can you identify some of the things people wore? Can you identify these ancient Egyptian symbols? Tjuiu (Nakht’s wife) trees What can you see on this papyrus? crook and flail Osiris wigs hieroglyphs a house ankh linen robes a pool jewellery Maat Nakht (the deceased)
Scene from the Book of the Dead of Hunefer showing a funeral Can you see ... • the mummy? • the tomb? • the mourners? • the priests? • the ceremonial objects on a table? • the chest of food offerings? • the god Anubis?
A scene showing the afterlife from the Book of the Dead of Nakht This papyrus shows us some of the activities that the ancient Egyptians believed a person had to do in the afterlife. weighing his heart against the feather of truth? Can you see Nakht … rowing a boat? Nakht, the tomb owner, is shown 8 times on the papyrus. looking after the crops? worshipping the gods? ploughing the fields?
Find out more about the ancient Egyptian papyrus at the British Museum Visit the main Museum website www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk Use Explore to look at some of our papyri www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/explore/introduction.aspx Learn more about ancient Egypt www.ancientegypt.co.uk