# Egyptian Hieroglyphics ## Overview Egyptian hieroglyphics were the formal writing system of ancient Egypt, used for ~3,500 years on monuments, temples, and tombs. Deciphered by Jean-François Champollion in 1822 using the Rosetta Stone. ## Key Facts - Origin: ~3200 BCE (earliest examples from Abydos; bone/ivory tags dated 3400–3200 BCE) @t[~3200 BCE] - Period of use: ~3200 BCE – ~400 CE @t[~3200 BCE..~400 CE] - Number of signs: ~700 in classical usage (expanded to ~5,000 in Ptolemaic period) - Deciphered by: Jean-François Champollion (1822) using the Rosetta Stone @t[=1822] [^1] ## System - Three sign types: logograms (word-signs), phonograms (sound-signs), and determinatives (semantic classifiers) [^3] - Written left-to-right, right-to-left, or top-to-bottom (direction indicated by which way figures face) - Hieratic: Cursive form for everyday use (~2600 BCE onward) @t[~2600 BCE..] - Demotic: Later cursive form (~650 BCE onward) @t[~650 BCE..] - Coptic: Final stage of the Egyptian language, using Greek alphabet with Demotic-derived letters (~300 CE onward) ## Key Artifacts - Rosetta Stone (196 BCE): Trilingual decree (hieroglyphic, Demotic, Greek) that enabled decipherment @t[=196 BCE] [^2] - Narmer Palette (~3100 BCE): Among the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions @t[~3100 BCE] - Book of the Dead: Funerary texts with hieroglyphic illustrations, used from the New Kingdom (~1550 BCE) to ~50 BCE @t[~1550 BCE..~50 BCE] [^4] --- [^1]: Robinson, A. *Cracking the Egyptian Code* (Thames & Hudson, 2012) [^2]: Parkinson, R. *The Rosetta Stone* (British Museum, 2005) [^3]: World History Encyclopedia. "Egyptian Hieroglyphs." worldhistory.org (2025) [^4]: Wikipedia. "Book of the Dead." en.wikipedia.org (accessed 2026)