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Hieroglyphs – Introducing the Sacred Language of Ancient Egypt
Posted on Friday, June 10, 2005 (CDT) by Thoth
 For the people of ancient Egypt all aspects concerning their language and writing were considered to be sacred.
Mysterious Symbols represented in every surface through the old kingdom actually carried a deeper meaning than one can think of when trying to decode them. The words Hieroglyphs itself is the key to the deepest secret of this ancient system.
Hieroglyphs or “the words of the God” in their true meaning were considered to be much more than a simple way for expression and communication; actually there are a few references in old scrolls where priests and scribes warn those who read them not to face those representations just as one more writing method as any other: “The signs are sacred and so are the sounds coming out of them through your mouth/ the one who cannot understand the meaning of this shall not speak”-(papyrus from the kingdom of Queen Hatsepsut; XVIII dynasty).
 In fact according to ancient Egyptians their language had once been
brought to Khem (original name for Egypt) by Djuty (the real name for
the God Thoth) master of all knowledge, creator of writing, literature,
art, who was also considered the responsible for all teachings on
mathematics, engineering, astronomy, astrology, medicine, sacred
geometry, time measuring and magic. Main writings on wizardry like the
“Book of the Dead” are claimed to have been originally written by this
Supreme Sorcerer who used to offer his magical hand whenever the other
Gods where in need and was the best player of senet (Egyptian chess) in
the world, who never lost a game.
“Let us speak of the invisible
Let us speak of the things that cannot be seen or heard
Unless you step out of this our and become one with the Universe”
(Spell scroll – Middle kingdom)
 The truth is that scholars are still divided when it comes to explain how this type of writing emerged “all of a sudden” in the region. Although the hieroglyphs have gone through a natural process of evolution from the “Old Egyptian” to “Traditional Middle Egyptian” or even through forms of simplification of the symbol, like the Hieratic script (comes from the similar Greek word that mean “ priest like” and was used almost exclusively on papyrus to make it easier and faster to write down administration and law issues) or the Demotic script (turning out to be the Hieratic system even more simplified became popular during VII B.C. and was only abandoned in V A.D., when only 7 demotic signs survived through the Coptic language), we find very few references of primary stages for this unique writing method.
By the end of the Roman domination of Egypt in the late 5th century A.D. the Traditional Middle Egyptian was coming to an end and so was the representation of hieroglyphs, opening way to the new Coptic language. After the great fire that consumed most of the scrolls at the library of Alexandria, no documents that could allow understanding this mystical language were left.
In the Early 7th century A.D. there was nobody who could read the hieroglyphs and no sources of information were available at the moment. This mysterious words of the ancient fell into a deep, apparently unbreakable, silence that would last for almost 2000 years. In admiration, all of those who stepped into the temples or stood before an old wall could only wonder what the voiceless lips of the ancients were trying to whisper to them, until an apparently minor discovery (among those who were thirsty for gold and treasures) revealed a key that would finally allow the silence to be broken. During the French incursion in Egypt a 0.762 ton stone block was found, exhibiting a large inscription written in 3 different scripts: Hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek. This archaeological discovery would become known as the “Rosetta Stone”. The fact that the text mentioning Ptolemy V was the same in the three different languages allowed French linguistic Jean Champolion to start decoding the attributes of each hieroglyphic sign, starting by the name of the regent as a guiding line. After years of research made by British, French, German and Italian investigators, the path to the interpretation of the writings of ancient Egypt was revealed and the authors of these texts would have their voices back, once again.
The way of the Scribe
“If you know how to read and write,
And you are pure in your intentions
You shall never be hunger in the land
Of the mighty Pharaoh”
 The scribe or “sesh” was one of the fundamental hands of the Egyptian Kingdom,
responsible for all kinds of writings that included: law, treaties, taxes, philosophy,
medicine, mathematics, judgement verdicts, magical, religious or fictional
literature, etc…
The social rank of a scribe could go from a simple copy maker to someone with high political, governmental, military or religious functions. One way or another, the knowledge related with the art of reading and writing was an open door to a world of many possibilities.
The education of the scribe would start at the age of seven in one of the three main types of schools available at the time:
Schools at the palaces (For children of the upper classes only),
Schools at the temples – these were usually opened to all the community children and teachings were free of any charge. The reason why this was possible had to do with the fact that being a “teacher” was not a full time like it is nowadays. Lessons were provided by the priests of the temple who would choose to dedicate some of their time to teaching as a way of serving their community. Once they were being paid by the state as full time priests responsible for rituals, caring and cleaning of the temple, they were strictly forbidden to charge for their service to the community, which was also one of the duties of the priesthood.
Sometimes there was a third kind of school, one supported by the city governor, if he had available funds.
 All that the young pupil needed would be two goblets for paints – black and red (the first was used to write down the texts, while the second one indicated the beginning of a sentence, a paragraph, the result for mathematical problems and was also used to sign malefic beings in religious/ magical texts) and a long thin reed. In the world of a professional scribe goblets and reeds could even be a matter of fashion. Everyone had their personal ones and different styles were used in different periods. In fact a few good examples still survive to the present day. These include a beautiful gemstone-made box containing two goblets, found inside the tomb of a scribe with his name, “Amed”, carved on the bottom.
Papyrus was actually an expensive material and was considered to be wasted at the hands of an apprentice, therefore students would practice using stone tablets, clay, wood or linen; papyrus was often left for professional use only.
The priests would provide the scrolls on which were written texts discussing everything from morality, philosophy of life, religion, to writings exalting the greatness of the Pharaoh and his Kingdom. Others simply provided encouraging words for young pupils about the beauty of writing and the happiness of being a scribe in the future. Apart from this, the student would also receive education in mathematics, astronomy, astrology, medicine, art and music, under the constant supervision of the “teacher”. Reading used to be carried out in groups, with students learning by rote or practicing copying when not reading, this would be the method for learning employed during their seven years at school at which point their studies were considered successfully completed. At the age of 14, the young scribe could choose between applying for working as copyist and writer in public and governmental institutions or specialising in one single subject like healing, music, sculpture, architecture, astrology or astronomy…if he opted to do this he would probably need private tuition to teach him the deepest knowledge about the chosen area of expertise or he could also ask to be accepted as an apprentice at the place where he wished to work in the future. One way or another this “practical” part of the learning process would take him 7 more years and, at the age of 21, he would probably be a professional in most of the cases, however if the priesthood had been his choice it could take longer than that.
How the hieroglyphic system works
 Although many may think that hieroglyphs are a purely pictographic system, it doesn’t work that way.
Hieroglyphs can be grouped into three different categories:
Phonograms – – Symbols that represent a phonetic sound. There can be three types of phonograms: uniliteral (representing one consonant), biliteral (representing two consonants) and triliteral (representing three consonants)
Here are some examples of uniliteral (1), biliteral (2), and triliteral (3) phonograms:
Ideograms – These are signs that mean what they represent, one symbol can mean more than one word, although they have phonetic value, they don’t represent “sounds”, but words instead:
Determinatives – When a symbol was added to a phonetic word with the intention of helping to determinate the meaning of the word, then we would probably be looking at a determinative. These words didn’t have a phonetic representation, their purpose was only to make a word more understandable. Here is an example:
There were no spaces left between words or sentences, one would simply have to understand where a word ended and the next one started:
This would be: “Osiris, Lord of Abydos, the good God blessed with eternal life.“
Art and writing as one
 Emptiness and void were two concepts that the average ancient Egyptian preferred not to consider. To them, everything should have its own identity: stone walls, columns, ceilings, corridors, thresholds…from tombs to temples, from palaces to public buildings and ordinary houses; writings were everywhere; nothing should be left with an empty look. This tendency formed part of the Egyptian cultural background thanks to which today we can still find pottery, furniture, small statues or even amulets decorated with spells and prayers. No other place of the ancient world considered writing as an artistic expression on such a large scale as it was in Egypt.
Combined with many different colours, these symbols were a reflection of harmony and balance therefore they could be written in horizontal or vertical imaginary lines, from left to right or right to left, depending on the direction the images were turned to. Should there be two figures facing each other, like in the picture of the Pharaoh making offerings to a certain God, the texts illustrating the scene would also face each other. Words in ancient Egypt were also one of the highest kinds of visual art.
The magic within the writing
It was not just sound that was considered to possess magical properties; signs were believed to carry special meanings that could affect people both in a positive or negative way, depending on the symbol that was being used. Some of them were said to bring such benefits that they turned out to be popular amulets and lucky or protective charms, like the famous scarab Kepher  or the eye of Horus 
Equally, some others could attract negative forces, and for this reason some scribes used to mutilate certain symbols or choose not to represent them entirely.
Words, art and magic, all and one, the ultimate expression of Maat on earth – harmony and wisdom, the Universal balance, the key to the gate of eternal Life.
"Step inside stranger, and know that life is just a step away from eternity, you shall decide the size of the step” – Wall writing – Middle Kingdom - Temple of Luxor.
On Site ResourcesThe Egyptian Gallery
Seshats Library - Translations of original Egyptian texts by Seshat.
E-Books relating to Egypt
Bibliography for those who wish to know more on hieroglyphs:
J.P. Allen; “An Introduction to the language and culture of Hieroglyphs”, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999
“Voices from ancient Egypt”, - An Anthology of Middle Kingdom Writings (can be ordered from the British Museum on-line book shop)
W. V. Davies; “Egyptian Hieroglyphs”, London, British Museum Publications, 1987
“Ancient Egyptian Calligraphy – a beginner’s guide to writing hieroglyphs”, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988 (Great as a start)
A. Gardiner; “Egyptian grammar, being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs”, Oxford, Griffith Institute, 1982 (For those who really wish to learn how to read and translate hieroglyphs I truly recommend it, it’s a little expensive but it’s really worthy, the book has hundreds of lessons and exercises for those who are learning for themselves, it won’t disappoint you!)
Ian Shawn, Paul Nicholson “The British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt”, 2002 (This one is excellent as well, along with the grammar, because the first one will provide you information on hieroglyphs and this one on culture religion and all other themes related to ancient Egypt)
B. Ockinga; “A concise grammar of Middle Egyptian”, Mainz, 1998
J. Cerny ; “Paper and Books in Ancient Egypt”, Chicago, Ares Publishers Inc; 1985
R. Parkinson; S.Quirke “Papyrus”, London, British Museum Publications, 1995
R.O. Faulkner; “A concise dictionary of Middle Egyptian”, Oxford, Oxford University, 1986 (For those who are interested in advanced studies)
S. Quirke, C. Andrews; ”Rosetta Stone”; New York, Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1988
S. Quirke, W. Forman; “Hieroglyphs and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt”, London, British Museum Press, 1996
G. Robins “Proportion and style in Ancient Egyptian Art”, Austin, University of Texas Press, 1994
“Language and writing in Ancient Egypt”, Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 1990
Richard Parkinson; “Pocket Guide to Hieroglyphs - How to read and write Egyptian hieroglyphs”
Neil Spencer; “The British Museum Book of Egyptian Hieroglyphs”, 2003
Bill Manley; Mark Collier, “How to read Egyptian Hieroglyphs”, 1998 (Excellent book for beginners!)
Catherine Roehrig; “Fun with Hieroglyphs”, 1997 (Fun with hieroglyphs for all ages, children with love it!)
Other Resources:
http://www.britishmuseum.co.uk
Here you will find lessons on hieroglyphs for beginners - http://www.egyptvoyager.com/hieroglyph_archives.htm
If you wish to read some quotes from ancient Egypt - http://www.virtual-egypt.com/newhtml/texts/poetry-proverbs.htm
http://www.egyptianmyths.net/
http://www.world-mysteries.com/
This article was written by  and is published exclusively by ThothWeb.
© Seshat - No part of this article may be reproduced without the permission of ThothWeb.
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