Hieroglyphic script was considered to be a very special

form of writing. Hieroglyphs were only used in temples

and tombs to record information concerning the pharaoh

and the gods. Other documents such as letters, business

documents and archives were written either in hieratic or

demotic script.

Hieroglyphics-the ancient Egyptian writing

A high priest of Amun (First page of the Book of the Dead of Panedjem II

Writing

The ancient Egyptians believed that it was important to record and communicate information about religion and government. Thus, they invented written scripts that could be used to record this information. The most famous of all ancient Egyptian scripts is hieroglyphic. However,

throughout three thousand years of ancient Egyptian civilisation, at least three other scripts were used for different purposes. Using these scripts, scribes were able to preserve the beliefs, history and ideas of ancient Egypt in temple and tomb walls and on papyrus scrolls.

Where was writing used?

In scribe school

Students in an ancient Egyptian scribe schools had many things to learn. Since it was important for them to learn how to record information correctly, they had to read and write well. They spent hours copying hundreds of signs until they could make them well enough to please their teachers. This was hard work, and many students did not like the work they were given. Sometimes they were punished for skipping classes or not doing their work.

In the fields

One of the first jobs that scribes might have after they finished school was working in the fields counting crops or animals.

Nakht and his wife worshipping Osiris (from the Book of the Dead of Nakht)

In tombs

Writing was a very important part of tomb decoration. The writing on the walls in a pharaoh’s tomb helped him get to the afterlife.

Scribes wrote the spells on the walls of tombs before they were carved. Then, the craftsmen decorating the tomb carved the hieroglyphs or painted them. Finally, the head scribe checked over the work that had been done to make sure it was correct. Remember, the craftsmen could not always read what they were carving on the walls, and a missed line or sign could mean that the spells would not work.

In the army

When the ancient Egyptians went to battle against their enemies they used writing to communicate with each other. Military leaders were first trained as scribes, so they would be able to read messages that were sent to them.

In government

The government of ancient Egypt

kept records about the country. This helped them work out important facts about how the country was running. For example, by looking at records from past years they could see how much grain or how many animals were collected in taxes.

Government officials were scribes who had been promoted to higher positions. One scribe named Horemheb who was a high government official actually became pharaoh.

In temples

Temples were the houses of the gods and goddesses. The walls were decorated with writing and pictures that showed the pharaoh’s respect for the gods and goddesses. Priests who worked in the temples were scribes.

Counting the Geese (painting from s tomb)

Hieroglyphic writing from the tomb of Sethos II

They were the people who performed the sacred rituals that were necessary to keep the gods and goddesses happy. Thus, they needed to be able to read the instructions for the rituals that were written on papyrus scrolls and carved into the temple walls.

Scribes

Not everyone learned to read and write in ancient Egypt. Only one group of people called scribes was allowed to have this knowledge.

Scribes were people in ancient Egypt (usually men) who learned to read and write. Although experts believe that most scribes were men, there is evidence of some female doctors. These women would have been trained as scribes so that they could read medical texts.

To become a scribe, you had to attend a special school for scribes. At this school you would learn how to read and write hieroglyphic and hieratic scripts. This was hard work. These scripts are complicated, and there were many signs to learn.

Students spent a lot of time practising the signs by copying them

onto sheets of papyrus, old pieces of pottery or flakes of limestone.

It could take four to five years for a person to go through scribe school.

Not anyone learned to be a scribe. Most often it was

the children of scribes who became scribes. Although some

craftsmen were able to get their sons into the school for scribes, it was very rare.

Scribes usually wrote on papyrus with reed brushes dipped in ink. The ancient Egyptians made ink by grinding brightly coloured minerals into powder, then mixing the powder with liquid so that it was easier to apply.

The Rosetta Stone

What is the Rosetta Stone?

The Rosetta Stone is a stone with writing on it in two languages (Egyptian and Greek), using three scripts (hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek).

The Rosetta Stone is written in three scripts because when it was written, there were three scripts being used in Egypt. The first was hieroglyphic which was the script used for important or religious documents. The second was demotic which was the common script of Egypt. The third was Greek which was the language of the rulers of Egypt at that time. The Rosetta Stone was written in all three scripts so that the priests, government officials and rulers of Egypt could read what it said.

The Rosetta Stone was carved in 196 BC and was found in 1799 in a small village in the Delta called Rosetta (Rashid) by French soldiers who were

Statue of a scribe

rebuilding a fort in Egypt. It is called the Rosetta Stone because of the place of discovery.

What does the Rosetta Stone say?

The Rosetta Stone is a text written by a group of priests in Egypt to honour the Egyptian pharaoh. It lists all of the things that the pharaoh has done that are good for the priests and the people of Egypt.

Many people worked on deciphering hieroglyphs over several hundred years. However, the structure of the script was very difficult to work out. After many years of studying the Rosetta Stone and other examples of ancient Egyptian writing, Jean-François Champollion deciphered hieroglyphs in 1822.

Champollion could read both Greek and coptic. He was able to figure out what the seven demotic signs in coptic were. By looking at how these signs were used in coptic he was able to work out what they stood for. Then he began tracing these demotic signs back to hieroglyphic signs. By working out what some hieroglyphs stood for, he could make educated guesses about what the other hieroglyphs stood for.

Overview

English is based on 26 characters, letters. Letters are combined into words and then into sentences which tell the story. Ancient Egyptian writing used over 2,000 hieroglyphic characters. Each hieroglyph represented a

common object. Hieroglyphs could represent the sound of the object, or they could represent an idea associated with the object. Hieroglyphs were written in rows or columns without spaces between words.

Alphabet

Alphabet characters were the basis for hieroglyphic writings. Although vowels were used in the spoken language, they were not usually written. Example, in english, words are often abbreviated by leaving out vowels.

mtn = mountainblvd = boulevard

When these abbreviations are read aloud, they are spoken using vowels.

You may notice that some hieroglyphs resemble vowels, these were used when a word began with a vowel or where it might be confusing without them.

The Rosetta Stone

Biliterals

Biliterals are hieroglyphs which were substituted in place of pairs of alphabet characters. The sound of the biliteral hieroglyph is the same as the sound of the the alphabet characters it replaces. Biliterals ‘streamline’ writings by eliminating large numbers of simpler characters.

Determinatives

Determinatives were special characters which clarified a statement. They were not spoken but carried a distinct meaning. The appearance of a determinative put the writing in context based on its meaning.

Conventions

English is always read left to right. Hieroglyphic writing was written in columns or rows. Reading direction is determined by the direction that human and animal figures faced. Reading starts from the direction that figures face and continues in the opposite direction.

Limestone relief from the Temple of Ra-messes II: List of the Kings of Egypt