*EgyptianWriting*
Created
By: Ashley Class
~History of Hieroglyphics~
Hieroglyphs originated in Egypt
and North Africa in 3100 BCE and lasted until 400 CE. This writing style
is one out of a few oldest writing styles in the world. Hieroglyphics
were known as "the words of God" by the Egyptians. Most believed that hieroglyphics
was only religious and historical, but other developments have shown that
it was used for economical purposes as well. Egyptologist have split hieroglyphics
into three different categories: hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic. Hieroglyphic
is mainly inscribed on stones and written mostly by priests, hieratic is
a script mainly used on a day to day basis on manuscripts and paintings,
and demotic is cursive script that replaced hieratic script from 600 BCE
onward. One of the earliest signs of hieroglyphics was found on the Palette
of Narmer. By 600 BCE hieratic script was only used to write on papyri
for religious purposes.
~How To Read Hieroglyphics~
Hieroglyphics( words symbolized
by pictures) are written in rows or columns and can be read left to right
like how we read in America or read from right to left. To decipher the
way the text is read you look at the pictures face and whichever way the
face is pointing is the way you read the text. Hieroglyphic signs are divided
into four categories. The alphabetic signs represent a single sound, syllabic
signs represent two or three consonants combined, word signs are pictures
of objects used to replace the words of those objects, and a determinative
is a picture of an object that can help the reader. Hieroglyphs included
signs for the alphabet, numbers, syllabic signs, and determinative signs.
~When the Language was Discovered~
The long lost language was brought
back to life in 1799 when one of Napoleon's soldiers an inscribed stone,
known today as the Rosetta Stone. However, it was difficult to tell what
the inscribing meant because it was written in Greek and two different
types of Egyptian. In 1822 a French scholar named Champollion discovered
the hieroglyphic code.
~How Long the Language Lasted~
Ancient Egyptian writings survived
for more than three thousand years. The last known text is from 394 A.D.
The long lost language was a marvelous discovery to all.
~The Hieroglyphic Alphabet~
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