BarakaBits
  • Business
    • Social Entrepreneurship
    • Women-Led Enterprises
    • Youth in Business
  • The Arts
    • Art & Photography
    • Books, Blogs & Poetry
    • Design, Fashion & Architecture
    • Music
    • Theater & Dance
    • TV, Film & Online Video
  • Dailylife
    • Challenge to Change
    • Discovery
    • DIY & Life Hacks
    • Food for Thought
    • Heritage
    • Travel
    • Wellness Inside Out
  • Education
    • #NeverStopLearning
    • Classroom 2.0
    • The VIP Section
  • Environment
    • Green Policy
    • Sustainable Design
    • Upcycling & Recycling
  • Science & Tech
    • Lab to Life
  • #Barakability
    • AMENA
    • Memory Bank
    • Opportunities
    • Portraits
  • Countries
  • Submit a Story
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Subscription Form
BarakaBits
  • Business
    • Social Entrepreneurship
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Women-Led Enterprises
    • Youth in Business
  • The Arts
    • Art & Photography
    • Books, Blogs & Poetry
    • Design, Fashion & Architecture
    • Music
    • Theater & Dance
    • TV, Film & Online Video
  • Dailylife
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Science & Tech
  • #Barakability
  • عربي
  • Heritage
  • The Arts

Hieroglyphs: An Incredible Ancient Writing System

  • August 21, 2017
  • No comments
  • 2 minute read
Total
9
Shares
9
0
0
0
0
0

When we mention the word “Hieroglyphics”, our minds take us all the way to Egypt of the ancient times. Here’s everything you need to know about this incredible writing system and how it started.

Hieroglyphic writing, a system that employs characters in the form of pictures. Those individual signs, called hieroglyphs, may be read either as pictures, as symbols for pictures, or as symbols for sounds.

Hieroglyphs
©Andrea – Hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs are among the oldest writing systems in the world, dating back to some 5,200 years. In ancient Egyptian, they are known as the “medu netjer”, “language of the gods” and said to have been created by the god of knowledge, Thoth. The word hieroglyph comes from the Greek hiero ‘holy’ and glypho ‘writing’.

Hieroglyphs were vital in the fulfillment of royal duties and were used by powerful pharaohs and their scribes to record the achievements of their reign. Today, millions of hieroglyphs in sacred texts, sarcophagi, tombs, and monuments remain as memories of a highly civilized, bygone era.

Hieroglyphics
Hieroglyphics on a temple wall at Karnak, Egypt.

The need to identify a pictorial representation with a royal individual or a specific, unique event, such as a hunt or a particular battle, led to the application of hieroglyphic writing to a monumental context. 

The script was composed of three basic types of signs: logograms, representing words; phonograms, representing sounds; and determinatives, placed at the end of the word to help clarify its meaning. As a result, the number of signs used by the Egyptians was much higher compared to alphabetical systems, with over a thousand different hieroglyphs in use initially and later reduced to about 750 during the Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BCE).

The inscriptions found to display different types of information: some of them are numbers, others are believed to indicate the origin of the goods, and the most complex show administrative information related to economic activities controlled by the ruler. Other signs found on pottery and stone vessels were used to indicate ownership of their content, probably connected with taxation and other accounting data.

Hieroglyphic
Naqada II pottery

In addition, the signs on pottery vessels became increasingly standardized and since these pot-marks are believed to express information about the contents of the vessels (including their provenance), this tendency may reflect a growth in the complexity of record keeping and administrative control.

The most ancient hieroglyphs date from the end of the 4th-millennium BCE and comprise annotations incised onto pottery jars and ivory plaques deposited in tombs, presumably for the purpose of identification of the dead. 

Feel curious about the development of this writing system? Read more about the history of this writing system here.

9
0
0
0
Share 9
Tweet 0
Total
9
Shares
Share 9
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Related Topics
  • AncientEgypt
  • BarakaBits
  • Egypt
  • Hieroglyphs
  • MENA
Dana Ghzawnah

Previous Article
  • Music
  • The Arts

Palestine, Lebanon, West Africa and R&B

  • August 15, 2017
View Post
Next Article
  • #Barakability
  • AMENA

Of Worldly Extremes: Dubai’s 10 Tallest Structures In the World

  • August 22, 2017
View Post

Subscribe

Subscribe now to our newsletter

You May Also Like
View Post
  • The Arts
  • TV, Film & Online Video

10 Internationally-acclaimed Arabic Movies

  • February 1, 2021
View Post
  • Art & Photography
  • The Arts

Planning a trip to the UAE? Here’s a list of the ten best photography locations across the Country!

  • April 7, 2019
View Post
  • #Barakability
  • AMENA
  • Heritage

Check Out This List of Things Every Arab Can Relate To

  • October 18, 2017
View Post
  • The Arts
  • TV, Film & Online Video

Pari Will Be Ready to Scare You on 31 of October 2017

  • October 16, 2017
View Post
  • Music
  • The Arts
  • Uncategorized

Arab American Radio; Fusion Music, Comedy, and New Programming

  • September 28, 2017
View Post
  • Books, Blogs & Poetry
  • Education
  • The Arts

Read for Pleasure and Lead a Successful Life

  • September 27, 2017
View Post
  • Design, Fashion & Architecture
  • The Arts

Sara Yasso Will Give You Spring Vibes With Her Amazing Designs

  • September 24, 2017
View Post
  • Design, Fashion & Architecture
  • The Arts

Out of One Girl’s Geometrical Love, Patterns is Born

  • September 19, 2017

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending
  • 1
    Six Reasons to Invest in Dubai Property
  • 2
    How Does a Sharia Mortgage Work?
  • 3
    Joining the Healthcare Industry with an Online Degree
  • 4
    3 Must-Haves in a Job Listing Post
  • 5
    5 Reasons Why You Should Buy a Dishwasher
Get some good news to your email

Subscribe

Subscribe now to our newsletter

Countries
Libya Yemen Algeria Jordan United Arab Emirates Turkey Iraq Syria Oman Tunisia Egypt Saudi Arabia Iran Morocco Palestine Lebanon Kuwait QatarBahrain
Stay Connected
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube Subscribers
Categories
  • Business
  • The Arts
  • Lifestyle
  • Education
  • Environment
  • #Barakability
Company
  • About Us
  • Archives
  • Intern at BarakaBits
  • Submit a Story
  • Why Advertise With Us?
  • Contact Us
BarakaBits
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
Good News from the Middle East

Input your search keywords and press Enter.