READING THE HIEROGLYPHS
The picture writing Hieroglyphs was invented by the Egyptians at 3000 BC. Some of their signs were single letters. Others had the value of two, three or more letters. The signs were combined to form words. As because Hieroglyphs take a long time to write, the Egyptians invented a ‘short hand’ script which we call hieratic, and another, demotic, about 2500 years later. These were used in daily life whereas Hieroglyphs were kept for religious texts only. For centuries, no one could read the Hieroglyphs, but in 1822 a great breakthrough was made…

A brilliant young French scholar named Jean Francois Champollion used his knowledge of ancient Greek to read the Rosetta Stone. He had translated the mysterious Hieroglyphs at last.
 

 Figure 1.0 Example of Hieroglyphs

THE ROYAL CARTOUCHE
To emphasize royal or holy names, the Egyptians wrote hem in a frame called a Cartouche. Champollion used Cartouches on the Rosetta Stone to help him translate the Hieroglyphs.

NEW TEXTS
The last Hieroglyphic inscription was carved in Philae in AD394. Old Egyptian writing then died out. Instead, people used an alphabet called Coptic. The name comes from an Arabic word, gubti, based on the Ancient Greek name for Egypt.

WRITING PAPER
As well as carving and painting Hieroglyphs on walls and stone tablets, the Egyptians also used paper used from papyrus, a type of reed. The inside part of the papyrus stem was made into long sheets of paper by soaking and pressing. Many papyrus have survived to his day, preserved by the hot sun and sand of Egypt.

HEAVENLY GUDE BOOKS
Inscriptions in Hieroglyphs were found in the pyramids. These were believed to help the king move easily into the Next World. They consisted of prayers, pleas and ritual pronouncements to the gods. It was hoped that the gods, such as Anubis would welcome the king and allow him to live a new, happy and everlasting life in the Next World.