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Hieroglyphs

Hieroglyphs deciphered2

The ancient Egyptian word for hieroglyphs, literally translated as “language of the gods”

Priests used hieroglyphs to write down prayers, magical texts, and texts related to life after death

When preparing their tombs, many people had autobiographies and hieroglyphic guides of the afterworld written on the surfaces of tomb walls

The Egyptians believed that these texts helped guide the dead through the afterlife

Civil officials used them to write royal documents of long-term importance, to record historical events

Thoth

The patron god of writing and hieroglyphics

Scribes

boys were sent to school to become scribesstudents would copy out symbols and signs on fragments of broken pottery or clay pots because papyrus was too expensive for use in school.They also learned numbers and math.Out of school they would get high ranking jobs (working for the government, as priests, or recorders of supplies, taxes, history, accounts, et.)

The social pyramid

Materials used for writing

The Rosetta Stone7

After the fall of ancient Egyptian civilization in 30 BCE, the meaning of hieroglyphs remained a mystery for about 1,800 years

During the French occupation of Egypt from 1798 to 1801, a group of French soldiers and engineers uncovered a large stone now known as the Rosetta Stone

It contains the same text written three different ways—in hieroglyphs, in the demotic script, and in ancient Greek.

The stone was taken to Europe, where scholars translated the ancient Greek and used the information to decipher the other two texts

The transition of language

Egyptian hieroglyphics and hieratic

Demotic Script

Greek Script

Champollion 9

In 1822, a French Egyptologist named Jean François Champollion figured out how to decipher hieroglyphic writing

He realized that the hieroglyphs that spelled "Ptolemy" were enclosed in a cartouche, so he was able to match it up to the Greek spelling

This discovery enabled him to equate the unfamiliar hieroglyphs with familiar Greek words and to translate the entire message

The writing was a message about Ptolemy V, who was ruling Egypt at the time

Jean-François Champollion

He was able to cross-reference his findings with an obelisk which contained the names Ptolemy and Cleopatra which helped solve the riddle of hieroglyphics.

He then went on to read the names Ramseses and Thutmose.

The Hieroglyphic alphabet

Where are they found?

Hieroglyphs were ideal for monumental and decorative purposes (found in tombs, temples, etc). They could be easily chiseled and painted.They were not, however, used day-to-day as the process took too long to write.

What did the glyphs represent?The sign represents one soundThere are no true vowels in Ancient Egyptian; only what is considered to be semi-vowels which are transcribed today as the letters a, i and u which made it difficult to vocalize the language.So, Egyptologists would insert an ‘e’ until something more pronounceable was found.

Conventions of Hieroglyphs Left to right, right to left

Top to bottom Cartouches

How to read the hieroglyphs15

THERE are three forms of writing that were used to write the ancient Egyptian language:

Hieroglyphs: From the Greek meaning "sacred writing." This is the picture language that was used most often to decorate temples and monuments

Hieratic: cursive form of writing, as script is to printed letters; quicker to write since the picture quality of the language was reduced to a pattern of lines

Demotic means “the people's writing”; shorthand version of the Hieratic script which was used during the Late Period

The hieroglyphs16

Egyptian glyphs are divided into two groups: phonograms, which are glyphs that represent sounds, and ideograms, which are glyphs that represent objects or ideas

The Egyptians constructed words by using a combination of the two types of glyphs

Readers must generally use both phonograms and ideograms to determine the significance of a word or phrase

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No sound for ‘th’Look at faces – read toward faces.Official documents faced right.Decorating a building – different directions –

arranged them to look attractive.A cartouche is a double loop of rope tied at one end

and a pharaoh’s name was written inside.

b. Alphabetic signs

24 hieroglyphics represent single sounds. The Egyptians took most vowels for granted and did not represent them

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c. Syllabic signs

represent a combination of two or three consonants

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d. Determinative signs

A determinative is a picture of an object which helps the reader. if you have a name, Bob, and it is followed by the "man" glyph, you can assume that Bob is the name of a man

King

Man

Woman

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e. Numbers21

Conclusion22

After the fall of ancient Egyptian civilization in 30 BC, the meaning of hieroglyphs remained a mystery for about 1,800 years

The work of deciphering the hieroglyphs went on after Champollion’s death and continues up to the present day, continually providing new information about life in ancient Egypt