3. How to know which way to read
Hieroglyphics
Look closely to find out.
See which way the animal or human is facing. If facing
left read left to right. If facing right, read right to left
If multiple symbols are be placed on top of each
other on the same line, you read the top symbol
first.
5. What Egyptians used
Hieroglyphics for
• Write down prayers
• Texts related to life after death and worshiping
gods
• Jewellery and other luxury items
Egyptian Writing are symbols that represent different objects, actions, sound or ideas. Some symbols stood for whole words
Hieroglyph is made from two Greek words:
hieros means holy
glyph means writing
So hieroglyph means holy writing
The earliest evidence of an Egyptian hieroglyphic system is believed to be from about 3300 or 3200 BC
You have to look very closely at the hieroglyphs to find out. Look for animal or human. It depends on which way the animal or human is facing. Example; if an animal hieroglyph is facing right, you read from right to left. If it faces to the left, you read from left to right (same way we read). If multiple symbols are be placed on top of each other on the same line, you read the top symbol first.
They were written on papyrus, which is a water or marsh plant, with tall straight hollow stems. They were flattened, dried, and stuck together to make pages. They also carved hieroglyphs onto stone and painted them on wall of the tombs.
Egyptians wrote with pen and ink on fine paper (papyrus). Egyptian "pens" are thin, sharp reeds which they would dip in ink to write with. The ink and paint came from plants which they crushed and mixed with water.
The hieroglyphic system used in ancient Egypt had between 700 and 800 basic symbols, called glyphs. This number grew in the last centuries of ancient Egyptian civilization, because of an increased interest in writing religious texts. Egyptians wrote hieroglyphs in long lines from right to left, and from top to bottom. They did not use spaces or punctuation.
It is a standard way of looking up and talking about hieroglyphs. It was developed by Sir Alan Gardiner as a way of catergorizing hieroglyphs and making them easy to identify and discuss.
