Student Article

Have you ever seen pictures of birds, eyes, and snakes carved into stone and wondered what they meant? These are Egyptian hieroglyphs, a special kind of writing used in ancient Egypt for over 3,500 years! We don’t know exactly who invented them, but they likely started around 3150BC in royal courts, inspired by early writing from Mesopotamia.

The power of reading and writing

Hieroglyphs were used by scribes — people trained to read and write. Only a small group of Egyptians could read, making literacy a powerful tool. In the beginning, about 200 signs were common, but by later times, more than 700 existed! These symbols could be written in any direction — left to right, right to left, or top to bottom. You can tell how to read them by looking at which way the people or animals face.

Different types of writing in ancient Egypt

There were different types of Egyptian writing: hieroglyphs for temples and monuments, hieratic for everyday writing, and demotic for short notes or business. Hieroglyphs also came in three types: phonetic signs (that stood for sounds), logograms (that stood for words), and determinatives (which helped explain the meaning).

Other cultures with picture-based writing

Other cultures, like the Mayans and Hittites, also used picture-based writing, but Egyptian hieroglyphs were unique. One beautiful example is the “Great Hymn to the Orb,” written by Pharaoh Akhenaten. It shows how fish leap in the river and rays from the Sun god reach deep into the sea.

© Toby Wilkinson / www.historyextra.com