Q&A: EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS
Toby Wilkinson answers key questions about the mysterious script
Who invented hieroglyphs?
There is no knowing who invented it, but hieroglyphic writing probably originated at one of the rival royal courts in the latefourth millennium BC, before Egypt was unified under the first dynasty. While the idea of writing may have been borrowed from Mesopotamia (where it had been developed centuries earlier), the hieroglyphic system was distinctively 'gyptian.
When was hieroglyphic writing used?
It was used continuously over a period of over 3,500 years. The earliest surviving examples are small: bone labels inscribed with symbols, which were found in a tomb at Abydos and dated to c3150 BC. The last-known inscription was carved on the temple of Philae on 24 August AD 394.
Who wrote in this script?
A small proportion of the ancient Egyptian population – perhaps only 5 or 10 per cent – was literate. Literacy was a key to power, and training as a scribe was a passport to high office, wealth and privilege.
How many signs are there?
More than 700 different signs are known from ancient 'gyptian inscriptions. Many of these were invented relatively late on, during the Ptolemaic period (305–30 BC), when each major temple developed its own unique system. For most of ancient Egyptian history, a smaller number of signs, around 200, were in common use.
How are hieroglyphs written and read?
They could be written from left to right, right to left, or top to bottom: their arrangement was dictated by the space to be filled, and aimed to achieve a balanced and harmonious composition. Hieroglyphs are read “into the faces” of the animate signs: if the birds and animals face to the right, the inscription is read from right to left, and vice-versa.
How do they relate to other Egyptian scripts?
The fully formed monumental hieroglyphs that are most familiar to us were only used for formal inscriptions, carved into stone. For everyday documents, written in ink
on papyrus, a joined-up or cursive version was developed; this script is termed hieratic. An even more abbreviated version called demotic, almost akin to shorthand, came into use by the seventh century BC for business and literary purposes.
Did other cultures use hieroglyphic writing?
The concept of using pictures and symbols as a means of conveying words is a feature of many writing systems, such as Chinese. In the ancient world, scripts termed as “hieroglyphic” were used by peoples as diverse as the Hittites of central Anatolia and the Mayans in central America. They were independent inventions, unrelated to the 'gyptian hieroglyphics.