Hieroglyphics uncovered


Roman Mysteries author Caroline Lawrence explains what the strange Egyptian symbols mean...

Although hieroglyphics are Egyptian, the word hieroglyphics is Greek 'hiero' means 'holy' and 'glyphics' means 'marks' or 'writings'. So the word means 'holy writings'. The Egyptians believed there was great power in a name. If someone's name was remembered then he or she would survive in the afterlife. That’s why a pharaoh's names were written in hieroglyphics in their tombs!
 

Most of the pictures can stand for the object they represent, but usually they stand for sounds. In Egyptian, the owl stands for the sound 'm'. The Egyptian symbol for a mouth can mean mouth but it's usually read as the sound 'r'. You can't exactly match our alphabet to hieroglyphics, because they are two very different languages, but historians have come up with a simplified translation of our letters and Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Some hieroglyphics are pictures of living creatures, some are objects used in daily life, and some are symbols. Some are easy to identify, some confusing, and some impossible!

If you look at the alphabet chart, you can easily spot the foot, the hand, the lion and the owl, but why are there two different kinds of snakes? From A to Sh, the hieroglyphic symbols are:

A an Egyptian vulture
B a foot
C a basket with handle
D a hand
E a reed
F a horned viper (an Egyptian snake)
G a jar-stand
H a reed shelter
I a reed
J a cobra
K the basket with the handle again (because hard 'C' is like 'K')
L a lion
M an owl
N a zigzag symbol for water
O a lasso
P a square stool
Q a symbol for the slope of a hill
R a mouth
S a piece of linen folded over
T a bun
U a quail chick (which stands for the sound 'U')
V a horned viper
W a quail chick
X a basket and folded linen
Y two reeds
Z a door bolt
CH a hobble
KH a ball of string
SH the rectangle (which is the symbol for land)

Why don't you use this hieroglyphic chart or download it as a PDF below to see if you can write your own name?

 
 
 

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