The writing of Ancient Egypt was based on hieroglyphs. These complex signs very often represented simply a simplified and stylized image of an object or living creature. The writing of Ancient Egypt - evidence of distant times - already in modern times was found on columns, the remains of papyrus, columns, statues and tombs. This happened at a time when European researchers began to study this mysterious eastern country.
The name "hieroglyphic writing" belongs to the Greeks. They invaded in 332 BC to the ancient lands under the leadership of Alexander the Great. From Greek, the word "hieroglyph" means "sacred carved."
According to researchers, Egyptian writing is the most beautiful on earth. The best not one nation was able to create. But in the 5th century AD, the hieroglyphic writing of Ancient Egypt was forgotten, and for a long thousand four hundred years, hieroglyphs were a mystery even to local residents. Moreover, not only in this country, but nowhere else in the world could anyone understand it. Decipher the writing of Ancient Egypt and tried in the 16-17 centuries. Since that time, many scientists have tried to solve this problem.
With the extinction of civilization, the key to understanding the ancient hieroglyphic writing was lost. The last ancient hieroglyphs were carved in 394 AD on Fr. Filet in the temple of Isis. The latest known text was the demotic inscription of 452 AD.
A huge period of history (of the order of three and a half millennia) is captured in the texts. Of course, throughout this period, the language of Ancient Egypt changed. Researchers divide its development into five stages:
- Old Egyptian language was used during the Ancient Kingdom (28-23 centuries BC);
- in the period from 22 to 16 centuries. BC. Classical (Middle Egyptian) language was used;
- during the 16th-13th centuries. BC e. - New Egyptian language;
- The Egyptians used the demotic language from the 8th century. BC e. up to 5th century AD;
- from the 3rd century n e began to use the Coptic language.
After the invasion of the Arabs, the Coptic language from the 7th century AD gradually begins to be replaced by the Arabic language.
The written language of Egypt is considered, along with the Sumerian scripts, the oldest in the whole world. It should be noted that it, like the culture of this ancient country, was formed quite independently. The number of hieroglyphic signs, the most common, is somewhere on the order of seven hundred. Individual elements of the letter could be drawn in different ways. In many respects, this depended on time and partly on the skill of the scribe. First of all, researchers attribute this feature to hieratic (cursive) writing.
The characters themselves are classified by appearance. The classification of Gardiner (English Egyptologist) is considered generally accepted.
The people in ancient Egypt used three writing systems:
- hieratic,
- hieroglyphic
- and demotic.
The hieroglyphic system, the earliest, represented by pictures and pictograms. It was used to compose religious texts.
The hieratic system is a simplified, cursive form of the hieroglyphic system. It was used in the compilation of business and legal texts.
Another type of cursive system was demotic writing.
Scientists have not been able to understand the written language of the Egyptian people for 2000 years. In Rosetta, near Alexandria, in 1799 a small basalt stone was discovered. The decree of Pharaoh Ptolemy the Fifth was inscribed on it. The recording was made in three systems: hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek. The stone, called Rosetta, became one of the most important finds for Egyptologists, as it contained the key to understanding ancient writing. The Frenchman J.F. Champollion managed to solve the mystery of hieroglyphs in 1822.