HIEROGLYPHICS

Egyptians would write down everything they did, and would write everything in column form

•hieroglyphs are picture symbols that Egyptians used
•there were no vowels or consonants in their language
•there is over 700 hundred hieroglyphic symbols
•scribes used a faster
form of hieroglyphic writing called ‘hieratic’.r

Untitled Slide

• The word ‘Hieroglyph’ is actually made from two Greek words: ‘hieros’ which means holy, and ‘glyphe’ which means writing
• Scholars believe that Egyptian hieroglyphs developed around 3200 BC. At first, the Egyptians used between 700 and 800 signs. By 300 B.C. Over 6,000 signs

Untitled Slide

• Only elite Egyptians, like royals, nobles, priests, and scribes could read hieroglyphs.
• People with a basic knowledge of hieroglyphs knew around 750 signs. A skilled scribe had to memorize over 3,000 hieroglyphs

HIERATIC AND DEMOTIC

• Hieratic was a cursive form of hieroglyphics with less complicated and connected signs
• Demotic developed around 660 B.C. It was an abbreviated script with signs that did not look like the corresponding hieroglyphs. Writing with demotic was even faster than writing with hieratic.