Egyptian Hieroglyphics & the Rosetta Stone

Decipher the following messages:

• 10X• 10Q• 1CE• 2MI• FTW• G2G• SMH

• =P• >:( • ;-)• :-/• :-D

Discussion Questions.

• Where might you see the types of messages?

• What makes this type of communication different from the normal written word?

• Why do people use this form of communication rather than writing complete words and sentences?

• What are the advantages/disadvantages of using this type of communication?

Hieroglyphs • Hieroglyphs is made

from two Greek words: – hieros meaning holy – glyphe meaning writing – So hieroglyph means...?

Hieroglyphs• Uses many symbols to represent

entire words; also has symbols for single letters. – These roughly correspond to the 26

letters of the English alphabet. • The signs we give for the letters 'a',

'l', 'o', 'v', 'x' and 'c' are the closest we can come to the ancient sounds. – Ancient Egyptian has four different 'h'

sound, for example, making it difficult to make direct translations.

Hieroglyphics

• The ancient Egyptians did not use vowels when they recorded information in writing. Thus, two words with the same consonants but different meanings could be spelled the same way.

• These signs written together could mean either' boat' or 'taste’:

Sense Signs

• By adding the 'sense sign’ to the end of the word means 'boat'.

• However, by adding the 'sense sign' (an ox tongue) at the end of the word means 'taste'.

Reading Egyptian Hieroglyphics

• To know which way to read, you must determine which way the people or animals are facing. – For example, if an animal hieroglyph faces right,

you read from right to left. If it faces left, you read from left to right.

– And just to confuse you, sometimes they read Hieroglyphs from top to bottom.

Papyrus

• Hieroglyphs were written on papyrus reed, which is a water or marsh plant, with tall straight hollow stems. – The reeds were flattened, dried, and stuck

together to make pages. • The Egyptians also carved hieroglyphs onto

stone and painted them on the walls of the tombs.

Papyrus

• #1: First, they would pick a plant and cut the outer green part.

• #2: Next, they took the inner part of the papyrus and cut it into even pieces.

• #3: Then, they would take a board and stack the even slices on the board.

• #4: Last, they would take a stone and rub the slices until they were soft and felt like our paper.

The Rosetta Stone

• Contains three types of text:1. Hieroglyphics: Used for

important and religious documents

2. Egyptian writing (demotic): Used by most people in Egypt at that time.

3. Greek writing: Used by the rulers

Egyptian Hieroglyphic Alphabet

Cartouche

• In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an ellipse with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name

Cartouche

Our Names• Daniela• Michelle• Tony• Jacob• Rachel• William

Our Names

• Tate• Kaitlin• Katrina• Alex•Megan• Cole

Our Names

• Tyler• Claire• Cole•Madi• Zane