During this period at least two script languages were also being used: the Hieratic (priestly script),and the Demotic (popular script). With all these different languages being used, in some cases simultaneously, the derivative language, Hieroglyphics, was nearly lost in the translation.The earliest form of Hieroglyphics was discovered on limestone slabs and small statues which had been spared of the work of vandals from Ancient Egypt to present day. These early hieroglyphs provided insight into burial rituals, hunting, war campaigns and court life. Hieroglyphics were indecipherable until the discovery of the Rosetta stone, which contained ancient Greek, Demotic and Hieroglyphics.
There was not a fixed number of symbols during the life of Hieroglyphics. Technically, it was not an alphabet as we know it, Hieroglyphics contained both phonetic and pictograph representation called "determinatives." Determinatives helped the reader determine the meaning of the word. The core of the language, which was phonetically based, was relatively stable, while other signs like determinatives were introduced or discarded relative to the time period.
Coptic is believed to be the last form of the language spoken during the time of the pharaohs. Most Egyptians could not write. Since the hieroglyphs were extremely complicated, and time consuming to write a simplified form, Hieratic, was developed. Although priests and scribes often used Hieratic script along with Hieroglyphics, sometimes in the same text. What most of the people, who could write, actually used was Demotic, a further simplified form of the Hieratic. This is what eventually evolved into Coptic. The Egyptians spoke Coptic until the Arabs entered Egypt in the 7th Century A.D. Then Arabic became their official language.
The Ancient Egyptian Culture Exhibit
The Rosetta Stone
In 1807, a young French historian and linguist named Jean-Fracois Champollion had mastered many Eastern languages, including Coptic. Champollion correctly identified the names of Cleopatra and Alexandrus and verified Ptolemeus on the Rosetta Stone, which had previously been identified. (The Rosetta Stone was a stone tablet that was found in 1799. It was found in a small city near Alexandria, called Rosetta. A young French officer named Pierre-Francois Bouchard found it. The Rosetta stone is a block of black basalt stone. It measures three feet nine inches long, two feet four and half inches wide, and eleven inches thick and it contains three distinct bands of writing. The most incomplete is the top band containing Hieroglyphics, the middle band is an Egyptian script called Demotic script , and the bottom is ancient Greek. The young soldier recognized the Greek and decided that the stone might be important, so he took the stone to his supieriors and they gave it to scholars. The scholars realized that it was a royal decree that basically stated that it was to be written in the languages used in Egypt at the time. Later, Champollion published his results and continued his research. In 1822, new inscriptions from a temple at Abu Simbel on the Nile were introduced into Europe and Champollion correctly identified the name of the pharaoh who had built that temple. The name he translated was ‘Ramses.’ Utilizing his knowledge of Eastern languages he continued to successfully translate hieroglyphics through out his life, opening up an understanding of the Ancient Egyptians and their languages.
Have some fun
writing your name like an Egyptian, using phonetic hieroglyphics
Also try this Egyptian
name translator, see if the two translations are similar. (Note
this tranlator does not close the Cartouche, which is the circular drawing
that usually encapsulated a signature.)
Decipher
the Rosetta Stone-
What
it actually Said
1. Hieroglyphics was a
A. pictorial form of writing.
B. language practiced in Ancient Egypt.
C. both A and B
D. T.V.
show
A. is a block of black basalt stone.
B. contains three distinct bands of writing.
C. both A and B
D. none of the above.
3. Along with Hieroglyphics the Egyptians also used other scripts. These scripts were simplified forms of Hieroglyphics. Two such scripts were called
A. Hieratic and Demotic
B. Coptic and Arabic
C. Coptic and Hieratic
D. Demotic
and Arabic
A. Jean-Fracois Champollion
B. Jacque Coustou
C. Pierre-Francois Bouchard
D. Pierre
Coustou
5. The Rosetta Stone was found in a small town in Egypt called
A. Rosetta
B. Thebes
C. Alexandria
D. Kufu
6. Determinatives helped the reader of Hieroglyphics
A. by using a picture to determine the meaning of the word.
B. by helping the reader sound the word out.
C. by refering the reader to a dictionary.
D. by telling a story.
7. When Egyptians wrote in Hieroglyphics they did not use nouns.
8. Hieroglyphics could be written from right to left, or from left to right.
9. Everyone in ancient Egypt could read and write.
10. It is believed that the priests and scribes of ancient Egypt may have made Hieroglyphics especially difficult to decipher so that ordinary people would be kept from learning to read and write and therefore kept from achieving any power.
After visiting these sites, try using the Hieroglyphic fonts on the word processors in the library. We'll also be doing an exercise in deciphering Hieroglypics. See if you can decode the pictures to spell your classmate's names.
http://www.greatscott.com/hiero/
http://www.guardians.net/egypt/hiero.htm
http://emuseum.mnsu.edu/prehistory/egypt/hieroglyphics/heiroglyphics.html
http://emuseum.mnsu.edu/prehistory/egypt/hieroglyphics/rosettastone.html
http://www.freemaninstitute.com/rosettatext.htm
http://www.upennmuseum.com/hieroglyphsreal.cgi
http://www.discoveringegypt.com/e-name.htm
