They had family ties, mixed in social life, and could hold other than priestly dignities. A royal prince was often priest of a temple, and a priest might be a warrior, an architect, or a court official. So far as we can gather, the teaching at an Egyptian university would comprise a knowledge of the sacred books, besides general teaching in morality. The study of the language itself must have been a somewhat arduous undertaking even for a native-born Egyptian, and to write the hieroglyphic characters, required considerable skill, and even art.[1] Many branches of science must have been pursued—medicine, law, geometry, astronomy, and chemistry, whilst in mechanics a quite marvellous proficiency was attained. Music too was highly prized and carefully taught, and it is not unlikely that architects and sculptors also received their training in these schools.
Long ages afterwards, when Greek and Roman travellers visited Egypt, and sought to
- ↑ So much was this the case, that at a later period simpler forms of writing, known as the hieratic and demotic were adopted for general purposes; but the ancient hieroglyphic characters continued to be employed on monuments and in the temples.
