The Power of Words
I’ve just enjoyed an enthralling afternoon at the British Museum. Amongst their Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotomian collections were some of the earliest known examples of writing, which really brought home to me the sheer power of words.The earliest known examples of writing appeared in Mesopotomia (what is now Syria and Iraq) in the fourth millenium BC. Shortly afterwards writing began to flourish in Egypt (the oldest surviving texts date to 3200 BC), as tombs were decorated with heiroglyphics. It was amazing looking at the primitive writing and seeing the very roots of a young PR’s stock-in-trade.
Writing was a rare skill in this culture. Few could decipher it, and the majority saw it as magical. Writing was the domain of the rich and powerful, and scribes were members of the upper echelon of society. One of the displays in the museum featured the following on the power of writing:
The God Thoth was believed to have invented writing. The ancient Egyptian phrase for hieroglyphs means ‘god’s words’, emphasising the associations between script and the god’s power.
The signs themselves could have a divine power and were sometimes called ‘gods’. The could also act as embelems or amulets. Stelae inscribed with magical texts had water poured over them, the water was drunk to ingest the magic of the text.