Hieroglyphs

We bet you can clearly recognize what this sign represents: it is the image of a sitting man, and it is also a hieroglyphic sign.

In Egyptology hieroglyphic signs are classified in 26 categories, based on what they represent. cf. Sir A. Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar, 3rd edition, 438–543. We divide them into categories such as ‘humans’, ‘mammals’, ‘birds’, ‘buildings’, etc, in order to facilitate research. The script itself is based on a system combining different types of signs to form words: ideograms, phonograms and determinatives. Ideogram signs can be read as the image they depict. Therefore, a sign that represents a boat can be translated as ‘boat’. Phonograms, on the other hand, are signs used for sounds, just like the letters from our alphabet. In this case the phonograms consist of either one, two or three consonants. Determinatives, such as the seated man in this inscription, do not represent sounds and are not translated on their own. These signs are placed at the end of a word, giving extra information about its meaning. For example, verbs of motions will be determined by a sign depicting walking legs, and a seated man, like this one, can denote a male name.

It is important to keep in mind that certain signs can be used as ideograms, phonograms or determinatives depending on the context, which makes translating a fun challenge. H. Jenni, Lehrbuch der klassisch-ägyptischen Sprache, 15–23.

Hieroglyphs, called ‘medu netjer’ in ancient Egyptian, which translates as ‘divine words’, were primarily used as monumental expressions of religion and the king’s ideological activity, and inscribed on monuments such as temples and other important objects. Non-royal – private – persons used them in tomb inscriptions, inscriptions on votives and the like. P. Vernus, “Form, Layout and Specific Potentialities of the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Script,” in V. Davies, and D. Laboury, The Oxford Handbook of Egyptian Epigraphy and Palaeography, 26–27. For most other uses in daily life, the hieroglyphic script was not used. Scribes instead used the hieratic script, which simplifies the ornate hieroglyphs, making it faster and easier to write (Fig. 1).

The hieroglyphic script was deciphered by Jean-François Champollion in 1822 by using the Rosetta Stone (Fig. 2). This ‘stone’ is actually a fragment of a large stela, just like this little fragment, that dates to the Ptolemaic period (332-30 BC). The text issues the same decree in three different scripts. At the top of the stela, the decree is written in hieroglyphs, in the middle it is written in the demotic script and at the bottom the text is written in Greek. Since it was possible to read the Greek text, Champollion knew what it read and in this way figured out how the Egyptian script worked.