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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) 2
- 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] 3
- 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