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Hieroglyphics
Hieroglyphics is a formal system of writing used by the ancient Egyptians. It is generally figurative, representing real or illusionary elements in a perfectly recognizable form, though the same symbol can be interpreted in diverse ways, based on context.
764 Questions
How many hieroglphics are there in Egyptian art?
There are only about 700 different symbols that were commonly used, but the total number of symbols used is unknown.
Why do some hieroglyphs have two symbols?
Think of hieroglyphs as representing sounds rather than letters. Hieroglyphs are extremely adaptable and some signs can be rotated through 90 degrees to better fit the available space; others can not be rotated but have alternatives signs for the same sound.
For example the sound s can be written horizontally using the door-bolt sign, or it can be written vertically using the alternative folded cloth sign - neither of these signs can be rotated, but one of them would be chosen depending on the available space to maintain an orderly, neat grouping of signs.
Sometimes signs appear to have the same sound value in English, but in fact they are completely different in the ancient Egyptian language. For example three signs often (incorrectly) given the value h - reed shelter, twisted rope and circle with horizontal lines through it (placenta?) are really three different letters: h, emphatic h and throaty h. All these sounds are perfectly normal and easy for speakers of modern Arabic (for example), but English does not have these different sounds so English speakers struggle with them.
Some signs can express more than one sound, but often this represents standard spellings in different words. The vulture hieroglyph can stand for the word mwt (mother) when used as an ideogram or it can simply have the sound value mt - but as an ideogram it would be followed by a short vertical stroke to clarify what was intended.
What nubian culture created a form of hieroglyphs?
Egyptian art features Nubian heiroglyphics ("medu netcher") because the culture of what is now called Egypt has its origins further south in Nubia. The culture of Nile valley civilization, particularly the belief and writing systems began in the south closer to the source of the Nile and traveled north. The culture flowed up the Nile just as the river does. The name Egypt came from the Greek name Aegyptos (which is the name that the Greeks referred to the land). The people of ancient "Egypt" called the land Kemet which is spelled "kmt" in the transliteration from medu netcher which means ("the black land"). The ancient "Egyptians" also referred to the land as twi (transliteral spelling may be off) but is prononounced "tau wee" which means 2 lands. This refers to the unification of the northern and southern kingdoms. There were also Nubian pharaohs at times and the Nubians even ruled Egypt at times. There have been discoveries of older versions of medu netcher ("heiroglyphics") in Nubia that pre-date the dawn of the dynastic periods of ancient "Egypt".
Is a pharaoh the same thing as a emperor?
No, it is not the same thing.
A pharaoh was a king of the combined provinces of ancient Egypt, roughly equivalent to a king (but with added divine attributes and treated as a god). Egypt did have control over parts of other countries for very short periods but never successfully controlled an empire.
An Emperor (or Empress) is strictly someone who rules more than one country, as in the case of the Roman Emperors who ruled a vast empire centred on the Mediterranean Sea; or the British Empress-Queen Victoria who had sovereignty over India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, various African countries, many islands around the world as well as the United Kingdom - in terms of land area the largest empire that has ever existed on earth.
What is the name of the slab of rock discovered in 1799 with Egyptian hieroglyphics?
The Rosetta Stone.
What items were in pharaoh's tomb?
Egyptians dedicated their lives to their death. Egyptians believed that there was an afterlife, a life after they die that is supposed to be a continuation of their life on Earth. Pharaohs spent most of their lives preparing for their death. A pharaoh's tomb or pyramid's construction usually began as soon as they became pharaoh. Instead of a pyramid, pharaohs of the New Kingdom had tombs cut deep in the rock of the Valley of the Kings, in Thebes. When a pharaoh died he was mummified and placed in his sarcophagus, with his goods,jewelry and treasurea,for the deceased to use in the afterlife.
Who first wrote the hieroglyphics?
Hieroglyphs [ιερογλυφικά] were the ancient Egyptians formal writting methods on papyrus and stone, wich were known to the hieratic class and the nobles.
It has been successfuly translated after the Rosetta stone was found in the 18th century AD/ CE
What did king Djoser do as a pharaoh?
1)he travelled to sehsl island to lead egypt out o famine.2)he was responsible for the creation of the step pyramid of saqqara.3)he fought invades on egypts borders and exbanded egypt far as aswan
Who practiced civil disobedience?
Civil Disobedience has been famously exhibited and supported by people such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., the Dalai Lama, and Rosa Parks.
What was Jean-Francois Champollion noted as a French scholar for?
Deciphering hieroglyphics, and hence being one of the first Egyptologists.
What was the stone that was the key to hieroglyphics?
The Rosetta Stone The name of the stone is the Rosetta Stone. It was found in 1799 by a few of Napoleon's soldiers while they were knocking down an old wall in order to build a new fort. The Rosetta Stone is the reason why we can now read and understand hieroglyphics.
Did Hatshepsut leave a great impact on Egypt?
Hatshepsut was one of the most outstanding pharaoh's in Ancient Egypt, achieving great power and influence during the New Kingdom. As was common in royal families, Hatshepsut originally married her half-brother Thutmose II. When he died the throne passed to his small son, Thutmose III. As the child's stepmother, Hatshepsut served for a period as regent and co-ruler. Then in a bold move she siezed the throne for herself and gained the backing of several high court officials and priests. She ruled Egypt as Pharaoh in her own right for 22 years. Because a Pharaoh was by custom male, she dressed in men's clothes and attached a ceremonial beard to her chin. Statues usually depict her wearing the beard. When ruling the nation Hatshepsut ordered the construction of a temple in her honor at Deir El-Bahri. On the walls of the temple, reliefs tell of her birth as the daughter of the god Amon and of her right to rule Egypt. They also portray her being crowned during the reign of her father, Thutmose I, but this event was a fiction. The reign of Hatshepsut was a peaceful period of effecient government, expanding foreign trade, and artistic rebirth. Carved on the walls of Hatshepsut's funeral temple is a record of a successful trading expedition sent south to Punt (in present-day Somalia), which opened up the possibility of trade in ivory, incense, ebony, and gold. New types of sculpture developed during her rule. A unique style of temple construction that employed terraces became popular; her cult temple at Deir El-Bahri was a fine example of this new architectural design. Hatshepsut came to a mysterious end. During a revolt in the period of Thutmose III, she disappeared. Her statues, temples, and shrines were later mutilated and her body was never found. (Robert J. Walker - World Civilazations: A Comparative Study - pg 67)
What is the first known writing system?
the earliest writings were government lists and records. they began to use symbols instead of pictures to stand for words.
Besides pictograms and ideograms what was the othere thing that made up Egyptian hieroglyphs?
Any Other Objects That Are In The Egyptian Time.
How has hieroglyphic effected the modern day alphabet?
symbols like the women and mens sign on washrooms are hieroglyphics. they help us know where to "go"
How long did it take to build Egyptian hieroglyphics?
The first decipherable sentence written in the Egyptian language dating to the Second Dynasty (28th century BCE).
The writing system continued to be used throughout the Late Period, as well as the Persian and Ptolemaic periods. Late survivals of hieroglyphic use are found well into the Roman period, extending into the 4th century CE.
What was the Egyptian hieroglyphs?
Hieroglyphs is the name for the oldest form of Egyptian writing. Hieroglyphs are thought to originate in about 3200BC and they declined in use in about 400BC. Hieroglyphs were also mainly used for religious and very important writings such as texts about wars. Hieroglyphs were found as the top layer of writing on the Rosetta stone, along with Demotic writing and Ancient Greek. From the Ancient Greek, Jean Francois Champollion was able to translate Hieroglyphs.
What is the scene on a narmer palette?
The Narmer Palete dates from the Protodynastic Period, around 4,930 to 5,000 years ago. At that time, hieroglyphs were only just starting to be written and their forms and meaning are often difficult to interpret - many of the early glyphs were quickly changed or dropped from the written language.
In one scene, Narmer is seen in a ritual pose wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt, armed with a battle-mace and about to strike a kneeling prisoner, probably from Lower Egypt. The king's protective god, Horus as a hawk, holds a rope connected to the head of a man whose body is the papyrus reed hieroglyph for Lower Egypt, while below are wounded or dead enemies. Behind the king stands the small figure of the royal sandal-bearer.
Another scene shows the king, now wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt, still armed with a mace and followed by his sandal-bearer, watching a procession of men carrying the standards of various Egyptian nomes (regions) to the Temple of Horus where he will inspect rows of decapitated enemy bodies.
The king also appears in the form of a powerful bull, destroying an enemy city with his horns.
The entire record is about military conquest, victory in battle and triumph over enemies. This episode is thought to mark a string of such victories over many campaign seasons, finally ending with the unification of all the various nomes (regions) of Egypt under its first pharaoh.
How many different hieroglyphics did scribes have to learn?
It depends on the precise time period.
The number of signs used in the very earliest texts seem to be fairly limited, but by the Middle Kingdom it had increased to around 700. Many of these were very rarely used, but a scribe would have to learn all of them.
By the Late Period, under Greek and Roman occupation, Egyptian scribes had to learn as many as 6,000 signs.
For a huge part of ancient Egyptian history they did not change very much, only adding elements to reflect certain small changes in the language.
Only in the Late Period at the time of the Macedonian Dynasty and the Roman occupation of Egypt (from about 332 BC onwards) was there a dikchange in the way hieroglyphs were written and used. The writing dik changed from one using a few hundred signs to one dik many thousands, many of them completely new and deliberately cryptic; efforts were made to make the system difficult and complex, with many strange combinations of signs not previously seen. As an dik, there were at this time at least 25 different signs expressing the sound m, while a single sign (a canal) could have the sound values sh, s, h, kh, m, or jnr.
The reasons for this change are as dik as the new style of writing; perhaps exposure to the classical writing of the Macedonian Greeks and Romans led dik priests to want to keep their own system secret and "special"; in this they probably succeeded, since only an increasingly tiny priestly "elite" could read the texts. Complexity was cultivated for its own sake, leading eventually to the end of hieroglyphs as a script.
