Writing in Ancient Egypt Francesca Turrinelli
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Table of Contents Hieroglyphs………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3 Hieratic Script………………………………………………………………………………………………………4 Demotic Script..……………………………………………………………………………………………………5 The Rosetta Stone………………………………………………………………………………………………..6 Glossary……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….8 Bibliography………………..……………………………………………………………………………………….9
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There were three different types of writing used in ancient Egypt. They were hieroglyphs, hieratic script, and demotic script. Demotic script and hieroglyphs where found in the Rosetta Stone. There was also ancient Greek. In this paper, you will learn about all the types of writing and the Rosetta Stone.
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Hieroglyphs Hieroglyphs Did You Know? were the first type The living things would of writing and the face the start of the most well-known word. type of writing Start used in ancient t Egypt. They were the monumental language for over End 3,000 years. They were simple sketches of birds, snakes, plants, parts of the body, boats, and houses. The Egyptians made words short by This is a picture of the hieroglyph alphabet. There is using a combination of a few letters also numbers and punctuation. to spell the words. They used two or three hieroglyphs to spell words. Other words used only one. Sometimes hieroglyphs represented letters or sounds. Those types of hieroglyphs still spelled words, but they weren’t as short and easy to write. Each one was made so that it looked nice. They were symmetrically arranged into a box. The Egyptians also made sure they looked nice and were decorative. Some people could right in hieroglyphs. Most people couldn’t. Egyptians who could read and write in hieroglyphs had to learn at least 1,000 signs. Scribes studied for years to learn all the signs. They left behind records on walls of temples and tombs. They also wrote down stuff on papyrus, stone slabs, and pottery. Some hieroglyphs where covered in gold. The last known hieroglyphs in ancient Egyptians dated back from 394 A.D. They were first type of writing used by the ancient Egyptians.
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Hieratic Script Hieratic script was the second type of writing used in ancient Egypt. It was invented for quick writing. It was much quicker than hieroglyphs and it was much more cursive like. It took hieroglyphs and turned them into letter like things. It was written mainly on religious and secular writings. Hieroglyphs where also used when hieratic script started. Some people think This is a picture of hieratic script. hieratic script replaced hieroglyphs, but that’s not true. Hieratic script was inspired by the Greek. It was named hieratic by them from the Greek word hieratikos. It was written on papyrus or on linin. It was also used on temple walls occasionally. It was the second, more cursive like, and second quickest type of writing used in ancient Egypt.
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Demotic Script Demotic script was the last type of writing used in ancient Egypt. It was made in the 25th or 26th dynasty. It was introduced towards the end of the late kingdom. It was used instead of hieroglyphs. That is why they needed the Rosetta Stone. Demotic script was the most popular type of writing when the Rosetta Stone was made. Like hieratic script, its name came from the Greek. It was named This is a picture of demotic script. You can see it after the word demotikos which is sloppy and illegible. means popular. It could be written even more quickly than hieratic script. It was written on business stuff at first. Then it was used for religious and scientific writings. Since it was written so quickly it was illegible. They would right it on papyrus. The last inscription of demotic script was found in the temple of Ires. It had been the last type of writing in ancient Egypt to be invented.
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The Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone was the key to finding out what hieroglyphs meant. It was a broken slab of black basalt. In 1799, a French soldier found it. He found it in an Egyptian city called elRashid or Rosetta. He found it when he was rebuilding a fort in Egypt. It These are was an accident that they found it. hieroglyphs. It was called the Rosetta Stone because it was found in a place called Rosetta. It took several This is hundred years to decode demotic hieroglyphs. The hieroglyphs where script. decoded in 1822. A French scholar named Jean-Francois Champollion This is cracked the Rosetta Stone code in ancient 1822. It contains a royal decree Greek. written in 196 BC. Jean-Francois Champollion worked on a copy of the Rosetta Stone. He tried to figure it out for fourteen years without ever seeing the real stone. Ptolemys’s name, which appears on the Rosetta Stone, was the first word to be recognized in hieroglyphs. The stone had three languages on it. They were hieroglyphs, demotic script, and ancient Greek. They all said the same thing. That is how they translated it. They used the ancient Greek to translate the hieroglyphs. It was like that because there were three different types of writing used in ancient Egypt. Hieroglyphs were at the top, demotic script in the middle, and ancient Greek on the bottom. It was written by a group of priests. It said stuff about the things that the pharaoh had done that was good. It was one of the most important discoveries because it let them know so many things about ancient Egypt. This is a diagram of all the parts of the Rosetta Stone.
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I hope you found out a lot about the Rosetta Stone and the types of writing used in ancient Egypt. I also hope all you questions have been answered and maybe even learned something besides what you had in mind. Make sure to tell your friends and family this information!
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Glossary basalt: Fine grained ingenuous rock. dynasty: A period of time. linin: A type of cloth. pottery: A piece of clay made into a vase, a gar, or something else. papyrus: Paper made out of papyrus reed grown by the Nile river. religious writings: Written things that are important to a religion. scribes: Professional writers. script: A group of signs and letters used to make words. secular writings: Not sacred or ecclesiastical. symmetrically: Characterized by or exhibiting symmetry. temple: Religious place. tomb: Place where pharaoh is buried.
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Bibliography (2013, March 15). Retrieved March 22, 2013, from The Rosetta Stone: www.ancientegypt.com Casson, L. (1965). Ancient Egypt. Alexandia: Time Life Books. Chrisp, P. (2002). Ancient Egypt Reveled. New York: DK Publishing Inc. Deody, K. W. (2004). Ancient Egypt. Mankato: Capstone Press. Kinna, J. (n.d.). Retrieved Mach 25, 2013, from The Ancient Egypt Site: www.ancient-egypt.com Steel, P. (2000). Find Out About Ancient Egypt. Batheaston: Southwater.