Egyptian hieroglyphs (pictures with signs are placed in the article below) make up one of the writing systems that was used almost 3.5 thousand years ago. This system combined elements of phonetic, syllabic and ideographic styles. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs were picturesque images supplemented with phonetic symbols. As a rule, they were carved on stones. However, Egyptian hieroglyphs could also be found on papyri and on wooden sarcophagi. Pictures used in the drawing were similar to the objects that they denoted. This greatly facilitated the understanding of the written. Further in the article we will talk about what this or that hieroglyph meant.
The mystery of the appearance of signs
The history of the emergence of the system goes deep into the past. For a very long period, one of the oldest written monuments in Egypt was the Narmer palette. It was believed that the earliest signs were depicted on it. However, German archaeologists in 1998 discovered during the excavation of three hundred clay tablets. They depicted proto-hieroglyphs. Signs date from the 33rd century BC. e. It is believed that the very first sentence is inscribed on the seal of the times of the Second Dynasty from the tomb in Abydos of Pharaoh Seth-Peribsen. It should be said that initially the images of objects and living creatures were used as signs. But this system was quite complex, as it required certain artistic skills. In this regard, after some time, the images were simplified to the necessary contours. Thus a hieratic letter appeared. This system was used mainly by priests. They inscribed on tombs and temples. The demotic (folk) system, which appeared somewhat later, was easier. It consisted of circles, arcs, dashes. However, the recognition of the original characters in this letter was problematic.
Perfection of signs
Initially, Egyptian hieroglyphs were pictographic. That is, the words looked in the form of visual drawings. Then a semantic (ideographic) letter was created . With the help of ideograms, it was possible to write down individual abstract concepts. So, for example, the image of the mountains could mean both a part of the relief and a mountainous, foreign country. The image of the sun meant "day", because it shines only during the day. Subsequently, ideograms played a significant role in the development of the entire system of Egyptian writing. A little later, sound signs began to appear. In this system, more attention was paid not so much to the meaning of the word as to its sound interpretation. How many hieroglyphs in Egyptian writing? During the New, Middle and Old Kingdom, there were approximately 800 signs. Under Greco-Roman rule, there were already more than 6,000.
Classification
The systematization problem remains unsolved to this day. Wallis Budge (English philologist and Egyptologist) was one of the first scholars to catalog Egyptian hieroglyphs. His classification was based on the external signs of signs. After him in 1927, a new list was compiled by Gardiner. His "Egyptian Grammar" contained a classification of characters according to external features as well. But in his list the signs were divided into groups, which were indicated by Latin letters. Within the categories, signs were assigned serial numbers. Over time, the classification made by Gardiner began to be considered generally accepted. The database was replenished by adding new characters to their defined groups. Many subsequently opened characters were additionally assigned letter values after the numbers.
New codification
Along with the expansion of the list, compiled on the basis of the Gardiner classification, some researchers began to speculate about the incorrect distribution of characters in groups. In the 80s, a four-volume catalog of characters was released, shared in meaning. After a while, this classifier also began to rethink. As a result, in 2007-2008, a grammar compiled by Kurt appeared. He adjusted the four-volume Gardiner and introduced a new division into groups. This work is undoubtedly very informative and useful in the practice of translations. But some researchers have doubts as to whether the new codification will take root in Egyptology, since it also has its drawbacks and flaws.
A modern approach to character coding
How are Egyptian hieroglyphs translated today? In 1991, when computer technology was already sufficiently developed, the Unicode standard was proposed for encoding characters of various languages. The latest version contains the main Egyptian hieroglyphs. These signs are in the range: U + 13000 - U + 1342F. Today, various new catalogs in electronic form continue to appear. The decoding of Egyptian hieroglyphs into Russian is carried out using the Hieroglyphica graphic editor. It should be noted that to date, new catalogs continue to appear. In connection with a sufficiently large number of characters, they still cannot be completely classified. In addition, from time to time, researchers discover new Egyptian hieroglyphs and their meaning or new phonetic designations of existing ones.
Direction of the image of signs
Most often, the Egyptians wrote in horizontal lines, usually from right to left. It was rarely possible to meet the direction from left to right. In some cases, the signs were arranged vertically. In this case, they were always read from top to bottom. Nevertheless, despite the predominant direction from right to left in the writings of the Egyptians, for practical reasons in modern research literature, the tracing is left-to-right. Signs that depicted birds, animals, people, were always turned to the beginning of the line face. The upper sign had primacy over the lower. The Egyptians did not use sentence separators or words, that is, punctuation was absent. When writing, they tried to distribute calligraphic signs without spaces and symmetrically, forming rectangles or squares.
Drawing system
Egyptian hieroglyphs can be divided into two large groups. Phonograms (sound signs) are attributed to the first, and ideograms (semantic signs) to the second. The latter were used to denote a word or concept. They, in turn, are divided into 2 types: determinants and logograms. Phonograms were used to indicate sounds. This group included three types of signs: three-consonant, two-consonant, and one-consonant. It is noteworthy that among the characters there is not a single image of a vowel sound. Thus, this writing is a consonant system, like the Arabic or Jewish. The Egyptians could read the text with all the vowels, even if they were not inscribed. Each person knew exactly what sound between which consonants must be put when pronouncing a particular word. But the absence of vowels is a serious problem for Egyptologists. For a very long period (almost the last two millennia), the language was considered dead. And today no one knows exactly how the words sounded. Thanks to philological studies, it was possible, of course, to establish the approximate phonetics of many words, to understand the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs in Russian, Latin, and other languages. But such works are today a very isolated science.
Phonograms
Unanimous signs made up the Egyptian alphabet. Hieroglyphs in this case were used to indicate 1 consonant sound. The exact names of all unanimous signs are unknown. The order of their development has been developed by Egyptologists. Transliteration is carried out using Latin letters. If in the Latin alphabet there are no corresponding letters or several are necessary, then diacritical signs are used to designate. Two-consonant sounds are designed to convey two consonants. This type of hieroglyph is quite common. Some of them are polyphonic (transmit several combinations). Three consonant characters are transmitted, respectively, by three consonants. They are also quite widespread in writing. As a rule, the last two types are used with the addition of one-consonant characters, which partially or fully reflect their sound.
Ideogrammatic Egyptian hieroglyphs and their meaning
Logograms are symbols that depicted what they actually meant. For example, the drawing of the sun is both day and light, and the sun itself, and time.
For a more accurate understanding, the logogram was supplemented with a sound sign. Determinatives are ideograms that are intended to indicate grammatical categories in logographic writing. As a rule, they were placed at the end of words. The determinative served to clarify the meaning of what was written. However, he did not denote any words or sounds. Determinatives can have both figurative and direct meaning. For example, the Egyptian hieroglyph “eye” is not only the organ of vision itself, but also the ability to see and watch. A sign illustrating the scroll of papyrus could not only mean the book or the scroll itself, but also have another abstract, abstract concept.
Use of signs
The decorative and rather formal character of the hieroglyphs determined their use. In particular, signs were used, as a rule, for the writing of sacred and monumental texts. In everyday life, to create business and administrative documents, correspondence, a simpler hieratic system was used. But she, despite the rather frequent use, could not supplant the hieroglyphs. They continued to be used both during the period of Persian and during Greco-Roman rule. But I must say that by the 4th century there were few people who could use and understand this system.
Scientific research
Ancient writers became interested in one of the first hieroglyphs: Diodorus, Strabo, Herodotus. Horapollon had particular authority in the field of the study of signs. All these writers strongly argued that all the characters are a picture letter. In this system, in their opinion, individual signs denoted whole words, but not letters or syllables. Under the influence of this thesis, researchers of the 19th century were for a very long time. Not trying to scientifically confirm this theory, scientists deciphered the hieroglyphs, considering each of them as an element of pictography. The first to suggest the presence of phonetic signs was Thomas Jung. But he could not find the key to understanding them. Decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs succeeded Jean-Francois Champollion. The historical merit of this researcher is that he abandoned the thesis of ancient writers and chose his own path. As the basis of the study, he accepted the assumption that the Egyptian writings did not consist of conceptual, but phonetic elements.
Exploration of the Rosetta Stone
This archaeological find was a black polished basalt slab. It was completely covered with inscriptions, which were made in two languages. On the stove were three columns. The first two were executed by ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. The third column was written in Greek, and it was thanks to its presence that the text on the stone was read. It was the honorary address of the priests sent to Ptolemy the Fifth Epiphanes regarding his coronation. In the Greek text, the names of Cleopatra and Ptolemy were present on the stone. They should have been in the Egyptian text. It was known that the names of the pharaohs were enclosed in cartouches or oval frames. That is why Champiglion did not have difficulty finding names in the Egyptian text - they clearly stood out from the rest of the signs. Subsequently, comparing the columns with the texts, the researcher was increasingly convinced of the validity of the theory of the phonetic basis of symbols.
Some drawing rules
Of particular importance in the writing technique were aesthetic considerations. Based on them, certain rules were created that limited the choice and direction of the text. Symbols could be written from right to left, and vice versa, depending on where they were used. Some characters were written to face the reader. This rule extended to many hieroglyphs, but the most obvious such restriction was when drawing characters illustrating animals and people. If the inscription was located on the portal, then its individual signs turned to the middle of the door. An incoming person could thus read the characters without difficulty, since the text began with hieroglyphs located at a distance closest to him. As a result, not a single sign “did not show ignorance” and did not turn its back on anyone. The same principle, in fact, can be observed in a conversation between two people.
conclusions
It should be said that, despite the outward simplicity of the elements of the Egyptian script, their system of signs was considered quite complex. Over time, the symbols began to fade into the background, and soon they were replaced by other ways of graphical expression of speech. The Romans and Greeks did not show much interest in Egyptian hieroglyphs. With the adoption of Christianity, the symbol system has completely disappeared. By 391, by order of the Byzantine emperor Theodosius the First Great, all pagan temples were closed. The last hieroglyphic record dates back to 394 (archaeological finds on Filya Island testify to this).