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Ostrakon with Demotic Inscription

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor
Demotic script first appeared about 700 B.C.E. It is more cursive than hieratic, and many demotic signs do not correspond exactly with the hieroglyphs used to write the same word. The large number of surviving demotic documents, many of which are not the work of professional scribes, suggests that literacy in Egypt had become more widespread by the time this script appeared. This ostrakon (inscribed stone or pottery fragment) records a prayer to the god Amun to restore a blind man’s sight. It concludes with the words: “Return to me, my great Lord, Amun. I am defenseless; let me not perish; do not forget me.”
MEDIUM Limestone, pigment
  • Reportedly From: Thebes, Egypt
  • DATES 305–30 B.C.E.
    PERIOD Ptolemaic Period
    DIMENSIONS 10 3/16 x 9 5/16 x 1 3/16 in. (25.9 x 23.7 x 3 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 37.1821E
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Trapezoidal-shaped limestone ostracon inscribed on one side with 22 lines of Demotic script in black ink. Condition: Chips out of left edge.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor
    CAPTION Ostrakon with Demotic Inscription, 305–30 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 10 3/16 x 9 5/16 x 1 3/16 in. (25.9 x 23.7 x 3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1821E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.37.1821E_erg456.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, CUR.37.1821E_erg456.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 9/5/2007
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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