Hieroglyphics
By Ashraf ibraheem
The types and forms of Hieroglyphics.
There are about 700 to 800 symbols called glyphs. The number grew in the last few centuries because of interest in writing religious text. There are two groups, called phonograms, and one called ideograms. Phonograms represent single consonants and combinations of consonants. Ideograms represent a specific object or something that is closely related. Usually they would write by using a phonogram at the start of a word, then a ideogram, which is called a determinative. Also hieroglyphics have no vowels, so its not really possible to really know what they are saying. Lastly, there is hieratic and demotic. Hieratic was a cursive form of writing hieroglyphics, which was used to create documents and letters cause it was faster. Then, demotic was a abbreviated type of script that did not look like hieroglyphics, which was even faster than hieratic.
How Ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics.
People like priests and others who could afford to be taught hieroglyphics used them. They were used in things such as prayers, magical texts and other text related to the afterlife and worshipping their gods. Also, others like civil officials used them to write royal documents of importance,important events, and calculations, like "The depth of the Nile River on a specific day of the year." They also used it on tings like jewelry and other items.
Other forms of hieroglyohics.
There is about one other form of hieroglyphics, which is Coptic. It originated after the Greeks conquered Egypt, and then the Romans. It only had about 30 signs, though most were Greek, and most only represented one sound. But some Coptic words helped scholars decipher hieroglyphics, too.
How it affects us today.
Hieroglyphics today help us understand what they did back then in Egypt. They help us understand what kind of empire they had, what the religion was, and more. They help us understand their laws and actions. Also, today we are deciphering the Rosetta Stone. I believe hieroglyphics evolved into what is writing today.