How did egyptians develop writing?

Answer 1

The period when hieroglyphs were being developed has to be prior to 3,100 BC (or 5,100 years ago) since we know that hieroglyphs had been fully developed as a writing system by then. At the same time the hieratic script developed as a cursive (quicker) version of the same signs, so they appear to have exactly the same origins. Each sign in hieratic is exactly equivalent to a sign in hieroglyphs, but much simplified and easier to write with a reed pen. Both these scripts were used only by an educated minority of Egyptian people.

Very much later the demotic script appeared - around 650 BC or 2,650 years ago. This became the standard documentary script by the time of the Rosetta Stone. Demotic comes from a Greek word meaning "in common use", but it was still only used by a small minority of the people. Demotic is based on the hieratic signs, but it is far more complex, often using a single sign for a whole group of hieratic signs and including many strange abbreviations and complex signs.

By the Late Period, from about 500 BC onwards, hieroglyphs changed dramatically (and unnecessarily), becoming far more complex and strange than they had been during the previous 2,600 years. Many new signs were added and the existing signs changed in sound and meaning, deliberately making the system far more difficult and obscure. It was as if the priests were frightened that foreigners might begin to learn the writing system and understand Egyptian texts, so it was deliberately made more mysterious and complex to keep it secret.

The final development was from around 350 AD (only about 1,650 years ago) when the Coptic script appeared. This used 24 Greek alphabetic letters, plus 6 signs borrowed from demotic; it was used to write the very last form of the ancient Egyptian language which helped scholars to decipher the earlier hieroglyphs.

Answer 2

from the Assyrian symbol writing