Writing in Ancient Egypt
Egyptian writing was not like ours. They invented one of the earliest known writing
systems, using symbols called hieroglyphs. It included around 700 different signs of
objects and animals. Some signs were pictorial or symbolic and stood for whole
words. Some signs were phonetic, which means they stood for sounds.
Scribes were those in ancient Egypt who wrote hieroglyphs. They had to attend
scribe school for around 12 years as it was very complicated. At harvest time, the
scribes kept a record of the number of crops gathered by the Egyptian farmers. They
worshipped Thoth, the Ibis-headed god of writing. He is depicted holding a reed pen
and writing on a scroll of papyrus.
Hieroglyphics was the formal writing system used by Egyptian scribes, but it wasn't
the only writing system. They also used Hieratic and Demotic script depending on
the purpose.
Hieratic script developed alongside Hieroglyphs and was a faster method of writing.
It was primarily used for writing religious texts but later became the most common
form of writing used by scribes of ancient Egypt. It is simpler and easier to write than
Hieroglyphs and is written in a cursive style, usually on Papyrus, wood, stone or
pottery.
Demotic script was used at different times throughout Egypt's history, more so in the
later stages of the civilisation. It was mainly used for the daily requirements of
society including administrative, legal and commercial documents.
Hieroglyphic
Hieratic
Demotic
Hieroglyphic Alphabet
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Practice writing your name on the space below in hieroglyphics.