Egyptian Hieroglyphics & the Rosetta Stone

Decipher the following messages:

• 10X• 10Q• 1CE• 2MI• FTW• G2G• SMH

• =P• >:( • ;-)• :-/• :-D

Discussion Questions.• Where might you see the types of

messages?• What makes this type of communication

different from the normal written word?• Why do people use this form of

communication rather than writing complete words and sentences?

• What are the advantages/disadvantages of using this type of communication?

Hieroglyphs • Hieroglyphs is made

from two Greek words: – hieros meaning holy – glyphe meaning writing – So hieroglyph means...?

Hieroglyphs• Uses many symbols to represent

entire words; also has symbols for single letters. – These roughly correspond to the 26

letters of the English alphabet. • The signs we give for the letters 'a',

'l', 'o', 'v', 'x' and 'c' are the closest we can come to the ancient sounds. – Ancient Egyptian has four different 'h'

sound, for example, making it difficult to make direct translations.

Hieroglyphics

• The ancient Egyptians did not use vowels when they recorded information in writing. Thus, two words with the same consonants but different meanings could be spelled the same way.

• These signs written together could mean either' boat' or 'taste’:

Sense Signs• By adding the 'sense sign’ to the end

of the word means 'boat'. • However, by adding the 'sense sign'

(an ox tongue) at the end of the word means 'taste'.

Reading Egyptian Hieroglyphics

• To know which way to read, you must determine which way the people or animals are facing. – For example, if an animal hieroglyph faces right,

you read from right to left. If it faces left, you read from left to right.

– And just to confuse you, sometimes they read Hieroglyphs from top to bottom.

Papyrus

• Hieroglyphs were written on papyrus reed, which is a water or marsh plant, with tall straight hollow stems. – The reeds were flattened, dried, and stuck

together to make pages. • The Egyptians also carved hieroglyphs onto

stone and painted them on the walls of the tombs.

Papyrus

• #1: First, they would pick a plant and cut the outer green part.

• #2: Next, they took the inner part of the papyrus and cut it into even pieces.

• #3: Then, they would take a board and stack the even slices on the board.

• #4: Last, they would take a stone and rub the slices until they were soft and felt like our paper.

The Rosetta Stone

• Contains three types of text:1. Hieroglyphics: Used for

important and religious documents

2. Egyptian writing (demotic): Used by most people in Egypt at that time.

3. Greek writing: Used by the rulers

Egyptian Hieroglyphic Alphabet

Cartouche

• In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an ellipse with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name

Cartouche

Our Names• Daniela• Michelle• Tony• Jacob• Rachel• William

Our Names

• Tate• Kaitlin• Katrina• Alex•Megan• Cole

Our Names

• Tyler• Claire• Cole•Madi• Zane