Ancient Hieroglyphics and the Rosetta Stone Hannah Feldman, Karl Fries, & Danielle Mercado

Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics Hieroglyphics stems from the Greek word hieroglyphica, which means “sacred carvings” Over 2,000 characters –alphabetic, logographic, and ideographic elements Originated due to the artistic traditions of the preliterate Egyptians

Hieroglyphics Demotic –Popular script –Could be read off tablets by educated citizens Hieratic –Sacred script –Used on temple walls

Who Used Hieroglyphics? Priests –Used cursive hieroglyphics (Hieratic script) to record religious literature Scribes of the government –More simple and basic; easier to understand –Used Demotic script

When Were Hieroglyphics In Use? Earliest known hieroglyphic writing was discovered to be from the 3000 B.C. Used up until the 4 th Century A.D. –Christians banned its use Ancient hieroglyphic script was replaced with Coptic The ability to read both demotic and hieratic hieroglyphics vanished

Breaking the Hieroglyphics Decryption was hindered by the assumption that phonetic characters were not used People believed that hieroglyphics were semagrams

Hieroglyphic Alphabet

Important People German Jesuit priest Athanasius Kircher Napoleon Thomas Young Jean-Francois Champollion

The Rosetta Stone Found in 1799 in the town of Rosetta in the Nile Delta Was inscribed with three separate texts, saying the same thing –Greek –Demotic –Hieratic

The Rosetta Stone, cont’d Ended up with the British due to the Treaty of Capitulation Described as granodiorite Measurements –45 inches high –28 ½ inches wide –11 inches thick

The Rosetta Stone, cont’d Carved in 196 B.C. Deciphered fully in 1822 by Champollion Exhibited in the British Museum since 1802 July 2003, Egyptians demanded the return of the Stone

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