Coping in ancient Egypt
Before the invention of printing, important literary and religious works were copied manually; a work done by scribes. In ancient Egypt, scribes were trained to write, by copying excerpts from classical Egyptian works. Religious texts were buried with the ancient Egyptians; these texts included curses, supplications (prayers), rituals and guidance about the afterlife. When the number of texts became so difficult to register on the coffins, they were inscribed on papyrus and placed inside the coffins. These texts became a major industry; the clerks had to complete thousands of copies. The places where the deceased's name was placed were left blank; until the papyrus was purchased by the writer. Mistakes were made, if the writer did not understand what he was writing; or if there were more than one writer working simultaneously in copying different passages (of the same text). Copies of papyrus scrolls continued to be carried out in the Greco-Roman era; it was necessary to...
