ancient egypthieroglyph

7/30/2019 ANCIENT EGYPTHieroglyph

1/12

Y O HAN N I S

ANCIENT EGYPT


2/12

Useful Papyrus

7. After drying the bondedsheets were smoothedwith a stone, shell, boneor hard wood

2. Rind was removedto extract thepith of the stalk

4. A layer of stripswere laid horizontallyon a hard, flatsurface

5. A second layer ofverticle strips waslaid over the firstlayer

6. A wooden malletwas used to tap thepapyrus to releasethe natural sapthat bonded thelayers together

8. Sheets were trimmed and

stitched onto other sheetsto form a scroll usuallytwenty sheets long

3. the pith wascut into longnarrow strips

1. Harvested papyrusstalks were cut into40 cm. lengths andsoaked

the side laid horizontally was calledrecto and was written on first, when

a scroll was reused the verticle sidecalled the verso was used

roots: medicines,

food and perfumes

stalks: houses,boats, fences,

clothing, paper

eaves: hatsmats, basketsroofing


3/12

m

owl

lion

lka

upraised arms

k/x

basket withhandle

isticks

twistedflax

hh

shelter

g

jar stand

f/v

hornedviper

e/i

reed

dj

snake

d

hand

Markings founthe first hiero4000 in Pre dyfirst used for listing harvesThe first clearmake a politicKing Narmer oBy the time ofsystem of wripowerful medcomplex ideassymbols. Whecarved in the over 5,000 sym

There were thphoneticsounds ologograp

repressindeterminthe readephonetic

c

folded cloth

b

foot

ah

arma

vulture

Sacred Signs


4/12

Hieroglypic

my

reeds

u

whipth

tethering rope

t

loaf

sh

pool

s/z

door bolts

barr

mouth

q

hillsidep

stool

o/w

quailchick

o

looped rope

As Egyptian awas a need fomethods of wthree scripts m

1. Hieroglform of

used fo

2. Hieratichieroglwrite oby the of Egyp

3. Demoti

form ofcommomore upapyruand adm

neb

basketn

crown

n

running waterm

bar

Sacred Signs


5/12

Scribes

The professional class

of scribes was held ingreat esteem in Egypt.Scribes were fed fromthe royal or templestorehouses. Theyserved as copyists,accountants, lawyersand artists.

ibis headedThoth writing

the tools of thescribe: stonewriting table,

paint box and awooden case with

reed styluses

a scribes setraditional mdown the woAccording to the Egyptians the lunar deity, Thoth, was

the inventor of writing and the god of scribes. Thothmanifested himself in two forms:

Most often he appeared as a

sacred ibis or as an ibis headedman who kept the records of theafterlife.

Thoth was also depicted as ababoon or a baboon with a humanface. The baboon, a nocturnalcreature, sang at the moon and

was considered wise and just.

Training for scribes usuaSchools for scribes were local temple. Discipline wmany beatings. Most learheavily on memorisation

Studpotshad wer


6/12

Gift of Thoth

The most elaborate of the ancient Egyptianfunerary texts has been called The Book of theDead. It is a collection of spells, hymns andinstructions that was supposed to enable a deadperson to pass through the many obstacles anddangers of the afterlife. It was usually written

on a papyrus scroll and placed inside a tomb.Very often TheBook of the Deadwas lavishlyillustrated. The text developed in the NewKingdom era from earlier works which arecalled the Pyramid Textsand Coffin Texts.

In the Old aincantationsthe walls, sa

objects. Thecalled Pyram

Illustrations frdepicting the Hhuman soul isby the god, Antaking recordsAmmut waits

Spells from aPyramid Text

Such incantationswere powerful an

could even compethe gods to do

what the speakehad desired


7/12

Gift of Thoth

Much of the history of Egypt can be found carved into the walls andpillars of the mortuary temples. These temples were used to prepare the

bodies of the pharaohs for burial. For this reasonthey were often decorated with reliefs and

inscriptions that extolled the achievements of thedead pharaoh. Three of the most famous of thesemortuary temples were:

Djeser Djeseru:the mortutemple of Hatshepsut withaccounts of the seafaringexpeditions to Punt;

Ramassof Ramshistory Hittites

Medinetof Ramawar agai

naval baBecause the accounts on these temples are propagandasceptically by historians. Very often the accounts werefalsified to glorify the pharaoh.

Djeser Djeseru

Medinet Habu

Ramasseum

coloured pillarsfrom the

Ramasseum


8/12

Gift of Thoth

The Aegyptiacacouldbe considered the firstnational history ofEgypt. It was written by

a priest of Ra whoserved the god atHeliopolis. His namewas Manetho. Manetho

lived in the Ptolemaic era. His history gives an accountthe reigns of the many pharaohs and divides them intodynasties. Only parts of his book have survived, butthey have been useful to Egyptologists.

parts of the Aegyptiaca ofManetho

The Rosetta Sis a famous an

artefact. It is sof hard, dark that was carve196BC during tPtolemaic era.inscription hadecree that reof certain taxethe temples ofwas found in

The texts was

Greek;HieroglypDemotic.

Because the Gwas used to dpreviously undemotic textsunderstanding

a claystatuettedepicting aseated scribe


9/12

Gift of Thoth

For every joy th

By their tongues people bring ab

Navigate waters unknown: risk shipwre

Leave him in error who loves his error.

Love is one t

Narrow is the path of k

One ca

The whole body is the working toget

Judge by the c

Seth causes Horus: Horus redeems Seth.

Egyptians also enjoyedmany types of popular

literature:

love poems;witty jokes;myths of the gods;legends of heroes;epics;songs of food and

wine;hymns to the gods;clever fables;scandalous tales;wise proverbs;fascinating reports;amusing anecdotes;pithy sayings;

wise proverbs.


10/12

Rhodopis

Once, long ago in the land of Egypt, where thegreen waters of the Nile River flow into theblue waters of the Great Sea, there lived ayoung girl named Rhodopis. She was a slavewho had been brought to Egypt by evil

pirates from a land far to the north.Her owner was an old man. He was kindly,but very lazy and spent most of his timesleeping under a palm tree. He never saw howhis other slaves treated Rhodopis. Theyinsulted her because she had curly hair ofgold, deep green eyes and fair pink skin. They

forced her to do all the chores and beat her ifshe was too slow. Homesick and lonely shecould only make friends with the animals.Birds ate from her hands. A monkey chatteredto her from a palm tree. An old hippopotamusgrunted to her from the river. At night, whenwork was done, she came to the river to

dance for the animals.

One evening her master awoke and sawRhodopis dancing so lightly that her tiny feetscarcely touched the ground. Impressed, hebought her some sandals, rose red and gold incolour, so that she might dance the more. This

only made the other girls more jealous andthey treated Rhodopis worse. When PharaohAhmose came to Memphis they left herbehind to work while they went to city toenjoy the music, dancing and wonderfulsights.


11/12

Rhodopis

Sadly Rhodopis washed clothes in the river.She sang a sad little song: Wash the linen!Weed the garden! Grind the grain. Tired ofher song the hippopotamus splashed off intothe river and wet her sandals. Rhodopis dried

them on the river banks. But, before she couldretrieve them, a falcon swooped down andcarried one sandal away.

Now it happened Ahmose, Pharaoh of Upperand Lower Egypt, sat upon on his goldenthrone looking out over his people. He wasbored. Ahmose longed to be out in his chariotriding across the desert sands. He longed tosail upon the River Nile in his royal barque.Suddenly the falcon swooped to drop thesandal in his lap. Amazed, Ahmose realisedthat this was a sign from the god, Horus. So hemade proclamation that all the young womenin Upper and Lower Egypt should try on thesandal and whoever it fitted would be hisqueen.

So began the great search. At first the Pharaohrode his chariot, but none in the fields couldbe found to fit the sandal. Then the Pharaohsailed up and down the River Nile in the royal

barque, but none who lived by the water couldbe found to fit the sandal. It seemed to be ahopeless quest. Sadly Ahmose turned back forMemphis. So it was that his ship, with gongsclashing and trumpets blasting and purplesails billowin neared the home of Rhodo is.


12/12

Rhodopis

Fearful of the noise, Rhodopis hid in thepapyrus, but the other girls went boldly to theriver to try the sandal. When the girls saw thesandal they knew that it belonged toRhodopis, but said nothing and tried to force

their fat feet into the sandal. Then Ahmosespotted Rhodopis hiding in the papyrus andbegged her to try the sandal. She slipped hertiny foot into the sandal and drew the otherfrom her tunic. Overjoyed the Pharaohdeclared: Behold, the daughter of Horus,Queen of Upper and Lower Egypt.

But the other girls cried out, She cannot bequeen! Does not the law say the Pharaoh mustmarry one who is a true Egyptian?

Ahmose was worried for the law was the law even for a pharaoh. The old man awoke. Hesaid, Indeed, is she not the daughter of

Horus? Behold, her hair is as golden as ascroll made from the papyrus of the RiverNile! Behold, her green eyes are the colour ofthe waters of the River Nile! Behold, her skinis as pink as the lotus flower that floats uponthe River Nile! Truly, she is of Egypt!

So Ahmose took back Rhodopis to his palace.She became his beloved queen. And, the oldman went back to sleep under the palm treeand the hippopotamus wallowed in the mudand the monkey chattered in the palm treeand the birds stole bread from the house.

ancient egypthieroglyph

Documents