Egyptian Hieroglyphs
The origins of Egyptian hieroglyphics dates back to around 4000 BC when symbols were inscribed on pottery. These symbols evolved from simple symbols to full sentences by the the 23rd century BC. As the use of writing became more widespread in Egypt, different versions of hieroglyphics evolved including hieratic and demotic scripts. The last hieroglyphics known to be inscribed were in 396 AD. At that point the Roman Empire had conquered much of Egypt and few Egyptians could even read hieroglyphics.
Hieroglyphics is a complex language that was only deciphered relatively recently. Examples of the complexity include the text being written both left-to-right and right-to-left, a large number of symbols that can mean many different words, and with the addition of redundant characters at the end of words. The discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1799 was instrumental in deciphering hieroglyphics as it displayed hieroglyphics next to identical passages written in Greek and Demotic, both known languages. This allowed scholars to compare the three languages and decipher what the hieroglyphics stood for.
Most Egyptian hieroglyphics are phonetic in nature and are called phonograms. A basic example of this would be a picture of an eye which could be interpreted as being the english word 'eye', or the word 'I'. Because each symbol can have several different phonetic sounds, redundant letters are often added so the reader can determine what sound was intended. An example of this would be the following: 'symbol of an eye' + 'y' + e'. Because the word 'eye' ends with a 'ye', the readers can tell the writer intended the word 'eye', and not 'I'.
Logograms, also called ideagrams, are hieroglyphics that represent a noun. For example a picture of a sun would represent a sun, or a carving of a bird would represent that bird. This is complicated because all hieroglyphics could be interpreted as either ideagram or as a phonogram. An example of this is the symbol of a flamingo. A flamingo carving could either mean an actual flamingo (a logogram) or the color red (a phonogram). The Egyptians solved this problem by adding a vertical line next to any symbol that was meant to be a logogram. A vertical line is an example of a determinative, something Egyptians used to clarify what meaning they intended a word to have.
University of Oregon - Provides a nice, concise history of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
University of Michigan - a nice chart of hieroglyphics and their phonetic meanings.
University of Penn. Museum - A brief explanation of hieroglyphics with a listing of around 30 symbols and their meaning.
The Hieroglyphs Tutor - Takes a minute to load but is a great resource for hieroglyphics and provides a quiz.
Hieroglyphic Lesson Plan - A fun lesson plan that can be used by teachers or parents of kids in 6th to 8th grade.
Washington State University - What if you tried to make a hieroglyphic language based on English?
Rosetta Stone Information - Information about the Rosetta Stone, the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Hieroglyphic translator - Insert a word and get a hieroglyphic translation!
Hieroglypic Name Translator - Enter your name and get it back in hieroglyphics!
