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AncientEgyptisoftenassociatedwithhieroglyphicwriting,somuchsothatone,beitlimitativewaytodefineEgyptologywouldbethestudyoftheseintriguingsignscarvedorpaintedonthewallsoftemplesandtombs,onstatues,boxes...Inthissection,wewillnotonlyseethatthewritingsoftheAncientEgyptiansconsistedofmorethanmerehieroglyphs,wewillalsolearnhowtoreadandunderstandhieroglyphicwriting.Thissectionisdividedintothefollowingchapters:•Differenttypesofwriting•Wheredoesonestartreading?•Dispositionofthesigns•Idea-signsorideograms•Uniliteralsigns•Biliteralsigns•Triliteralsigns•Phoneticcomplements•Combiningsigns•Ptolemaicwriting•MagicandwritingOneofthetwocartouchesofRamessesIIintheGreatHypostyleHallofthetempleofAmunatKarnak.LearningthelanguageoftheAncientEgyptiansobviouslyismorethanjustthewrittenlanguage:knowledgeofthebasicgrammarwillenhancetheunderstandingofthemanytextstheAncientEgyptiansleftforposterity.1.DifferentTypesofWritingThroughouttheirmorethan3.000yearlonghistory,theAncientEgyptiansusedthreekindsofwritingstowritereligiousandseculartexts:hieroglyphic,hieraticand,fromthe25thDynastyon,demotic.HieroglyphsHieroglyphicwritingisthebasisofthetwootherwritings.ItowesitsnametothefactthatwhentheGreeksarrivedinEgypt,thiswritingwasmainlyusedfor‘sacred(Greekhieroshieroshieroshieros)inscriptions(Greekglyphoglyphoglyphoglypho)’ontemplewallsoronpublicmonuments.NicelysculptedhieroglyphicsignsonapieceofstoneattheLouvreMuseum.HieroglyphicwritingusesclearlydistinguishablepicturestoexpressbothsoundsandideasandwasusedfromtheendofthePrehistoryPrehistoryPrehistoryPrehistoryuntil396396396396ADADADAD,whenthelasthieroglyphictextwaswrittenonthewallsofthetempleofIsisontheislandofPhilae.Itwasusedinmonumentalinscriptionsonwallsoftemplesandtombs,butalsoonfurniture,sarcophagiandcoffins,andevenonpapyrus.Itcouldeitherbeinscribedordrawnandoftenthesignswouldbepaintedinmanycolours.Thequalityofthewritingwouldvaryfromhighlydetailedsignstomereoutlines.Drawnonpapyrusoronlinen,thesignswouldoftenbesimplifiedbuttheywouldstillberecognisableasindividualsigns.Aspecial,cursiveformofhieroglyphicwritingwasusedfortheBookoftheDead.Thisstylewasalsousedforthetextsinthetombsofthe18thDynastykingsThutmosisIIIandAmenhotepII,givingtheimpressionthatalargepapyrusscrollwasunrolledagainstthewalls.ThePapyrusofAniusesaspecial,morecursiveformofhieroglyphicwriting.HieraticHieraticwritingisasoldashieroglyphic,butitismorecursiveandtheresultofaquickhanddrawingsignsonasheetofpapyruswithareedbrush.Whilewriting,thescribewouldoftenomitseveraldetailsthatmadeonesigndifferentfromanother.Thesign,forinstance,representinganarmandahandholdingsomething,wouldbewritteninthesamewayasthesign,whichsimplyrepresentsanarmandahandandnormallyhasanentirelydifferentmeaning.Severalsmallersigns,writteninonequickflow,wouldmelttogether,butdespitethis,thehieratictextcanstillbetranscribedintohieroglyphics.HieraticwasmainlyusedforreligiousandsecularwritingsonpapyrusoronlinenandduringtheGreek-Romaneraoccasionallyinaninscriptionofatemplewall.The'SatireofProfessions',boastingtheprofessionofscribe,foundonawoodenboardinDeirel-Medina,writteninhieratic.Itwascalled‘hieratic’bytheGreeksbecausewhentheyarrivedinEgypt,thiswritingwasalmostexclusivelyusedbytheEgyptianpriests(Greekhieratikoshieratikoshieratikoshieratikos,‘priestly’).Priortodemotic,itwasalsousedinadministrativeandprivatetextsandinstories.DemoticDemoticwritingstartedbeingusedduringthe25th/26thDynasty.Inpart,itisafurtherevolutionfromhieratic:likehieratic,demoticwasahandwriting,butthestrokesofthereedbrushorthereedpenareevenquickerandmoreillegible.Hieraticsignsrepresentingagroupofhieroglyphscouldbebrokenup,notastorepresenttheindividualhieroglyphicsignsagain,buttofacilitatethewriting.Withtheseentirelynewsigns,unknowninhieroglyphicorhieraticwereshaped.Thelinkbetweenhandwritingandhieroglyphictextslowlyfadedwithdemotic.Wherehieratictextsoftenaretranscribedintohieroglyphicbeforetranslation,demotictextsusuallyarenot.26thDynastycontract,writtenindemotic.Demoticwasmostlyusedinadministrativeandprivatetexts,butalsoinstoriesandquiteexceptionallyininscriptions.ThelastdemoticinscriptionwasalsofoundinthetempleofIsisontheislandofPhilae.ItsnamecomesfromtheGreekworddemotikosdemotikosdemotikosdemotikosmeaning‘popular’.Itisimportanttonotethatneitherwritingwouldentirelyreplaceanother,butitwouldmerelyrestricttheotherwritingstospecificdomainsandberestricteditselftootherdomains.Thusdemoticwouldbecomethewritingoftheadministrationfromthe26thDynastyon,butitdidnotentirelyreplacehieraticasahandwriting,whichwasstillbeingusedinreligioustexts.Hieratic,onitspart,didnotreplacehieroglyphiceither.Fromitsbeginnings,hieraticwashieroglyphic,butmorecursiveandwrittenbyaspeedierhand.Asthetwowritingsevolved,practicalitycausedhieratictobeusedwhenatextneednotbewrittenintheslowbutdetailedhieroglyphicsignsandwasusedinadministrativetexts,textsthatwerenottobeinscribedonmonumentsoronfuneraryobjects,textsthatmatteredfortheircontentsonly,...2.OrientationandDispositionofSignsWheredoesonestartreading?Contrarytohieraticanddemotic,whichwereonl