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Libraries
Private and Town Libraries
The Egyptians stored their papyri in several ways. Personal collections were kept in jars or boxes in the home. Some private libraries have been found at Thebes, and papyri were also placed in tombs these included not only the magico-religious “books” intended to safeguard the owner’s journey to the next world but documents that the owner had used in his everyday work (such as the collection of a lector priest found, together with his magical artifacts, in his burial in the precincts of the Ramesseum at Thebes). The refuse heaps of the royal workmen’s village at Deir el-Medina, Thebes (New Kingdom), have also revealed a wealth of documentary evidence about the community, including records of working practices, magical texts, folk tales and myths, psalms, dream interpretations, and literary copies. In an earlier royal workmen’s town, Kahun (Middle Kingdom), the town’s archive has revealed documents associated with the local administration, legal, medical, and veterinary matters, conditions relating to the royal workforce, and religious and educational texts. Temple Libraries There were also libraries and scriptoria in the temples where books were written and stored. The papyri of a priestly library at the town of Tebtunis in the Fayoum have been discovered; these include literary, religious, and scientific documents. Archaeologists have uncovered the temple archive at Abusir. Also, a list of the titles of books kept by the priests occurs in inscriptions carved on the walls of a small chapel in the Temple of Edfu. The temple had no role as a center of communal worship; it was primarily the residence of the god, but it was also often a place of higher education where specialist priests had charge of various branches of learning including liturgy, astronomy, astrology, and the interpretation of animal cults. The scribes, trained in the use of the written language, held priesthoods and received their instruction in the temples. One school has been found among the buildings surrounding the temple known as the Ramesseum at Thebes, and excavation of the nearby rubbish heaps has revealed the schoolboys’ discarded writing tablets. The physical act of copying ancient texts and composing new ones was believed to maintain and renew the vigor of the king and gods. This magico-religious concept of writing inspired the almost unparalleled wealth of literary texts found in Egypt. It was also the reason why these activities were carried out in special areas of the temples so that they would contribute to the overall spiritual potency of the temple. .
THE HOUSE OF LIFE
The “House of Life” appears to have been an area
of the temple that acted as a library, scriptorium, and higher
teaching institution, where the sacred writings were produced and
stored and where instruction was given. Medical and magical texts as
well as religious books were probably compiled and copied there.
Sometimes this institution may have been situated within the temple
itself, but elsewhere it was probably located in one of the
buildings within the temple precinct. Very little is known of its
administration or organization, but it is possible that every
sizable town had one. They are known to have existed at Tell
el-Amarna, Edfu, and Abydos. The House of Life seems to have
functioned primarily as a scriptorium that was supplied with its own
scribal equipment. They were sometimes, although perhaps not always,
associated with the temple library. The scribes of the House of Life
were the “servants” or “followers” of Re (the sun god); since this
deity possessed the creative power to maintain life, it was
appropriate that the scribes were believed to have the ability to
express this creative power in their compositions. Since the House
of Life was associated with spiritual rebirth, it was also linked to
Osiris, the god of the dead and resurrection. The activity of
composing and copying texts, it was believed, would assist the god’s
resuscitation at his yearly festival.
The presence of particular architectural features in some areas of the temple may assist in the identification of the location of the scriptoria and libraries. At Edfu and Philae there are library rooms with niches in the walls that were probably used for storing scrolls; similar niches in a hall in the Temple of Sethos I at Abydos may indicate the same use for that area. The Abydos hall also has a ceiling carved and painted with astronomical signs and symbols. A room with a similar ceiling has been found in the Ramesseum (Temple of Ramesses II) at Thebes, but this has no wall niches. Possibly the rooms at Edfu and Philae were used as libraries while the Astronomical Room at the Ramesseum was a scriptorium, and the hall at Abydos fulfilled both functions. It would seem that the House of Life had both a practical use and a deeply religious significance. Its very title may reflect the power of life that was believed to exist in the divinely inspired writings composed, copied, and often stored there. This power conferred the ability to resuscitate the dead, and as the prototype of all dead men the god Osiris was likely to gain most benefit from the potency of these compositions. In one ancient text the books in the House of Life are claimed not only to have the ability to renew life but actually to be able to provide the food and sustenance needed for the continuation of life. .
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Libraries
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