Understanding Hieroglyphics In Ancient Egyptian Culture

Hieroglyphics, which means “God’s words” or “sacred writing” in Greek, are the stylized characters and pictures that were commonly used to record sacred texts in Ancient Egyptian culture. While there is a rich history for this written language, there is also great mystery. First, I will explain the history of hieroglyphics. Next, I will illustrate the purposes of the language. Finally, I will argue why I believe we might not have lost the ability to understand hieroglyphics as early in history as many scholars believe. By taking a comprehensive look at the history, purpose, and a theory based off of hieroglyphics, this ancient writing style’s meaning may appear to be even deeper than what might be expected.

First around the year 3200 B.C. both hieroglyphic and hieratic writing were developed in Egypt (McKay et al. 5). Soon after the time of its invention there were about 700 to 800 hieroglyphs in the language, but by 300 B.C. there were over 6,000 signs (“Ancient”).

Hieroglyphs were used by religious figures to write prayers, and they were also used to record details of the afterlife in tombs and coffins of those who had died. It is reasonable to conclude that Egyptian’s thought doing so would somehow assist the person who had died in the afterlife. When hieroglyphs were not used for religious matters, they were used for civil purposes. Historical events were kept in hieroglyphics, and they also appeared on jewelry and furniture (Richards). In order for one to learn to write hieroglyphics, they had to go through specialized training which is likely why most of the Egyptians who could understand it were priests, nobles, royals, or scribes. In order to have a fundamental idea of how to write hieroglyphics, one had to know around 750 pictures in the language (“Ancient”). Perhaps the limited knowledge of hieroglyphics was present because of the complexity of