Image Resource Bank
Image Gallery | 
12 of 14 
Reused Ostracon With a Hieratic Inscription
Since drawing detailed Egyptian hieroglyphics was time consuming, a cursive script called hieratic was used for everyday correspondence and record keeping. Hieratic was used from about 3100 BCE into the Roman period. Scribes were trained first in hieratic before they advanced to learning hieroglyphs. Hieratic is most commonly written with ink on papyrus or bits of pottery or stone known as ostraca. Also, writing materials in Egypt (as well as in Mesopotamia) were often reused. This limestone ostracon is inscribed in hieratic with a legal text regarding repayment for a jar of fat. The opposite side has a sketch of two figures representing the Nile with two lines of hieratic concerning the delivery of copper. Hieratic is usually oriented horizontally and is always read right to left.
Name: Reused Ostracon With a Hieratic Inscription
Material: Limestone with Pigment
Size:
Height: 20 cm (8 in)
Width: 30 cm (12 in)
Date: ca. 1185–1070 BCE, New Kingdom, Dynasty 20
Place of Origin: Unknown
Location: Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago, Illinois
Source and Registration#: Oriental Institute Museum 12073
Christopher Woods
Associate Professor of Sumerology, University of Chicago
