Hieroglyphic writing was used in Egypt for three and a half thousand years. It is a figurative script, which is supplemented by phonetic symbols.
Instructions
Step 1
Most often, hieroglyphs were carved in stone, but there is also a special linear hieroglyphics that were used on papyri and wooden sarcophagi.
Step 2
The writing system developed in Ancient Egypt by the beginning of the reign of the First Dynasty, that is, at the turn of the fourth and third millennia BC. Initially, it was purely pictorial, and the words in it were depicted in clear visual pictures. The sun was indicated by a circle, the bull - by a schematic representation of this animal.
Step 3
Hieroglyphic writing developed, drawings began to denote abstract concepts, for example, the image of the sun could already denote not only the luminary itself, but also the day, since it shines only at this time of day. Such signs were called ideograms, they played a large role in the further development of the writing system.
Step 4
Even later, sound signs appeared, which correlated not only with the meaning of the depicted word, but with its sound side. The writing systems of the Old, Middle and New Egyptian kingdoms cost about eight hundred hieroglyphs, but after the beginning of Greco-Roman rule in Egypt, the number of hieroglyphs increased many times and exceeded six thousand characters.
Step 5
The decorative and formal character of the hieroglyphs led to their use for recording sacred texts and monumental inscriptions. For administrative documents, correspondence and other daily needs, a simplified hieratic script was used, which existed in parallel with the hieroglyphic, without displacing it. Hieroglyphs continued to be used during Persian and Greco-Roman rule. However, the number of people able to read and, moreover, write, using a complex system of hieroglyphs, was rapidly declining. By the end of the fourth century AD, with the spread of Christianity, hieroglyphic writing finally fell out of use.
Step 6
The ancient Egyptians usually wrote in horizontal lines, most often from right to left, but in some cases from left to right. Sometimes (for decorative or other purposes), texts were written in vertical columns that could only be read from top to bottom. Signs, which are schematic images of birds, animals and people, were always turned to face the beginning of the line, which, in particular, helped to determine from which side to start reading the inscription. In Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, no sentence or even word separators were used, that is, the punctuation system was completely absent. Calligraphic signs tried to arrange regular geometric shapes without spaces, creating rectangles or squares.
