Egyptian hieroglyphs (pictures with signs are placed in the article below) make up one of the writing systems used almost 3.5 thousand years ago. This system combined elements of phonetic, syllabic and ideographic styles. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs were pictorial 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. The pictures that were used in the inscription were similar to the objects they denoted. This greatly facilitated the understanding of what was 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 system goes deep into the past. For a very long period, one of the oldest written monuments of Egypt was the Narmer palette. It was believed that the earliest signs were depicted on it. However, German archaeologists in 1998 discovered duringexcavations of three hundred clay tablets. They were depicted with proto-hieroglyphs. The signs date back to the 33rd century BC. e. The very first sentence is believed to be inscribed on a Second Dynasty seal from the tomb at Abydos of Pharaoh Set-Peribsen. It should be said that initially images of objects and living beings were used as signs. But this system was quite complicated, as it required certain artistic skills. In this regard, after some time, the images were simplified to the required contours. Thus, hieratic writing appeared. This system was used mainly by priests. They made inscriptions on tombs and temples. The demotic (folk) system, which appeared somewhat later, was easier. It consisted of circles, arcs, dashes. However, recognizing the original characters in this letter was problematic.
Character Improvement
Egyptian hieroglyphs were originally pictographic. That is, the words looked like visual drawings. Next, a semantic (ideographic) letter was created. With the help of ideograms it was possible to write down separate abstract concepts. So, for example, the image of 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. Somewhat later, sound signs began to appear. In this system, more attention was paid not so much to the meaning of the word,how much of his sound interpretation. How many hieroglyphs are in Egyptian writing? During the New, Middle and Old Kingdoms, there were approximately 800 signs. Under Greco-Roman rule, there were already more than 6000.
Classification
The problem of systematization remains unresolved to this day. Wallis Budge (English philologist and Egyptologist) was one of the first scholars to catalog Egyptian hieroglyphs. His classification was based on external signs of signs. After him, in 1927, a new list was compiled by Gardiner. His "Egyptian Grammar" contained a classification of signs also according to external features. But in his list, the signs were divided into groups, which were denoted by Latin letters. Within the categories, the signs were assigned sequential numbers. Over time, the classification compiled by Gardiner came to be considered generally accepted. The database was replenished by adding new characters to the groups defined by him. Many subsequently discovered signs were assigned additional letter values after the numbers.
New Codification
Simultaneously with the expansion of the list compiled on the basis of Gardiner's classification, some researchers began to make assumptions about the incorrect distribution of hieroglyphs into groups. In the 80s, a four-volume catalog of signs was published, divided by their meaning. This classifier after a while also began to be rethought. As a result, in 2007-2008, a grammar compiled by Kurt appeared. He revised Gardiner's four volumes andintroduced a new division into groups. This work is undoubtedly very informative and useful in the practice of translation. But some researchers have doubts about whether the new codification will take root in Egyptology, since it also has its shortcomings and flaws.
Modern approach to character coding
How are Egyptian hieroglyphs translated today? In 1991, when computer technologies were already sufficiently developed, the Unicode standard was proposed for encoding characters of various languages. The latest version contains basic Egyptian hieroglyphs. These characters are in the range: U+13000 - U+1342F. Various new catalogs in electronic form continue to appear today. Deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs into Russian is carried out using the Hieroglyphica graphic editor. It should be noted that new directories continue to appear to this day. Due to the rather large number of signs, they still cannot be fully 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
Egyptians most often wrote in horizontal lines, usually from right to left. It was rare to find a direction from left to right. In some cases, the signs were arranged vertically. In this case, they were always read from top to bottom. However, despite the predominant direction from right to left in the writings of the Egyptians, fromFor practical reasons, in modern research literature, the style is left-to-right. The signs that depicted birds, animals, people were always turned to the beginning of the line with their faces. The upper sign took precedence over the lower. The Egyptians did not use sentence or word separators, meaning there was no punctuation. When writing, they tried to distribute calligraphic signs without spaces and symmetrically, forming rectangles or squares.
Inscription system
Egyptian hieroglyphs can be divided into two large groups. The first includes phonograms (sound signs), and the second - ideograms (semantic signs). The latter were used to denote a word or concept. They, in turn, are divided into 2 types: determinatives and logograms. Phonograms were used to designate sounds. This group included three types of signs: three-consonant, two-consonant and one-consonant. It is noteworthy that among the hieroglyphs there is not a single image of a vowel sound. Thus, this writing is a consonantal system, like Arabic or Hebrew. The Egyptians could read the text with all the vowels, even if they were not inscribed. Each person knew exactly which sound between which consonants must be placed when pronouncing a particular word. But the lack of vowel marks 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 tophilological research succeeded, of course, in establishing the approximate phonetics of many words, in understanding the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs in Russian, Latin, and other languages. But this kind of work is today a very isolated science.
Soundtracks
One-consonant characters made up the Egyptian alphabet. Hieroglyphs in this case were used to designate 1 consonant sound. The exact names of all monosonant signs are unknown. The order of their following was developed by Egyptologists. Transliteration is carried out using Latin letters. If there are no corresponding letters in the Latin alphabet or several are needed, then diacritical marks are used for designation. Biconsonants are designed to represent two consonants. This type of hieroglyphs is quite common. Some of them are polyphonic (transmit several combinations). Triconsonant signs convey, respectively, 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 completely reflect their sound.
Ideogrammatic Egyptian hieroglyphs and their meanings
Logograms are symbols that represent what they mean. For example, a 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 designate grammaticalcategories. 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 designate 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, to look. And a sign illustrating a papyrus scroll could not only designate a book or the scroll itself, but also have another abstract, abstract concept.
Using signs
Decorative and rather formal nature of hieroglyphs determined their use. In particular, signs were used, as a rule, for the inscription of sacred and monumental texts. In everyday life, a simpler hieratic system was used to create business and administrative documents, correspondence. But she, despite the fairly frequent use, could not displace the hieroglyphs. They continued to be used during the period of Persian and Greco-Roman rule. But it must be said that by the 4th century there were few people who could use and understand this system.
Scientific research
Ancient writers were among the first to become interested in hieroglyphs: Diodorus, Strabo, Herodotus. Horapollon had a special authority in the field of the study of signs. All these writers strongly stated that all hieroglyphs are picture writing. In this system, in their opinion, individual signs denoted whole words, but not letters or syllables. Researchers of the 19th century were also under the influence of this thesis for a very long time.centuries. Without trying to scientifically confirm this theory, scientists deciphered hieroglyphs, considering each of them as an element of pictography. The first to suggest the existence of phonetic signs was Thomas Jung. But he could not find the key to their understanding. Jean-Francois Champollion succeeded in deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphs. The historical merit of this researcher is that he abandoned the thesis of ancient writers and chose his own path. As a basis for his study, he took the assumption that Egyptian writings do not consist of conceptual, but phonetic elements.
Rosetta Stone Research
This archaeological find was a black polished bas alt slab. It was completely covered with inscriptions that were made in two languages. There were three columns on the slab. The first two were made with 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 on the occasion of 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 as well. It was known that the names of the pharaohs were in cartouches or oval frames. That is why Champillon had no difficulty finding the names in the Egyptian text - they clearly stood out from the rest of the characters. Subsequently, comparing columns with texts, the researcher became more and more convinced of the validity of the theory ofphonetically based characters.
Some drawing rules
Esthetic considerations were of particular importance in the technique of writing. On their basis, certain rules were created that limited the choice, the direction of the text. Symbols could be written from right to left or vice versa, depending on where they were used. Some characters were written in such a way as to be facing the reader. This rule was extended to many hieroglyphs, however, such a restriction was most obvious when drawing symbols illustrating animals and people. If the inscription was located on the portal, then its individual signs turned to the middle of the door. The person entering could thus easily read the symbols, since the text began with hieroglyphs located at a distance closest to him. As a result, not a single sign "showed 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 Egyptian writing elements, their sign system was considered quite complex. Over time, symbols began to fade into the background, and soon they were replaced by other ways of graphic expression of speech. The Romans and Greeks showed little interest in Egyptian hieroglyphs. With the adoption of Christianity, the system of symbols completely fell into disuse. By 391, by order of the Byzantine emperor Theodosius the Great, all pagan temples were closed. The last hieroglyphic record dates back to 394 (about thisevidenced by archaeological finds on about. Philae).
