I've mentioned the amazing Oriental Institute (in Chicago) here before. The University of Chicago Egyptology scholar there, Janet Johnson, just completed a 37-year project, the "Chicago Demotic Dictionary," with tens of thousands of words from the Egyptians. It will be in hard cover or it's available online here.

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Among the items studied were marriage contracts that resembled modern-day prenuptial agreements; notes that showed early animal rights activism; and documents detailing Dale Carnegie-like classes that taught young men, in essence, how to win friends and influence people.

Even though it was 700 BC to 300 AD, the people sound very similar to ours.

How do you write, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" in ancient Egyptian?

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How do you write, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" in ancient Egyptian?

You don't. You have to carve it on tomb walls.

You don't. You have to carve it on tomb walls.

Actually Geoff was right. Demotic was usually written on papyrus, although it could be inscribed on stone as well as in the middle portion of the Rosetta stone.

I forgot to post the original article.

quote:

Long before Facebook posts and tweets, long before letters with postage stamps, ancient middle and upper-middle-class Egyptians scrawled notes on pieces of clay pots and handed them to children who ran across the village to deliver the messages.