Learning Through Practice: On How Kemyt Contributed to Crafting and Transmitting Scribal Knowledge

Abstract

This paper is conceived as a first step towards the Kemyt (re)contextualization. By exploring the specific layout and paratext of Kemyt, it intends to shed light on the scribes who wrote the many partial copies of this letter-like composition and in which circumstances. I first address the layout, the ink choices, and the writing orientation. I then turn my attention to the text structure: dividers, ending marks, as well as colophons, dedications, and underwriting. The dated ostraca and their frequent identification as school exercises are discussed before moving on to the textual revision practices and looking for an explanation to the low proportion of corrected texts despite faulty content. All this enabled me to highlight a set of scribal practices, in which scribes draw, some being proper to the Kemyt, some being common to the rest of the text production. These practices revealed a complex network, from beginning students to senior scribes, through assistant scribes and early career scribes, which contributed to the crafting and the transmission of scribal knowledge during the New Kingdom.