Essay on Egyptian Hieroglyphs Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

On Egyptian Hieroglyphs - Essay Example Hieroglyph is a word coined from a Greek vocabulary â€Å"hieroglyphikos†. This is a compound word that is made up of the words hieros meaning 'sacred' and glypho meaning '? carve or engrave'. The compound word hieroglyphikos, therefore, stands for 'the sacred engraved letters'. Over the years, hieroglyph has officially become a recognized noun that is used in the English language. In English it stands for a single hieroglyphic letter or character. Grammatically speaking, hieroglyphic is an English adjective although every very often, it is mistakenly used as an English noun. Discussion The Egyptians were very artistic people. Even before adopting literacy, they were very artistic. This is attributed to the creation of the Hieroglyphs. They for instance engraved artistic symbols on pottery. These engraved symbols resemble the Hieroglyphs very closely. Excavations in Egypt culminated in the discovery of the Narmer Palette. This was in the late 19th Century. The Narmer Palette w as for a long time over the years the only known hieroglyphic inscription. It was scientifically traced back to 3200 BC. In recent years, around 1998, another major discovery was made. Gunter Dreyer, a German archaeologist uncovered a tomb in which he found three hundred clay labels that had hieroglyphs. These were unbelievably traced back to the 33d century BC. Some scientists have a strong hunch that the Egyptian hieroglyphs were invented a short while after the invention of the Sumerian script. They believe that the Sumerian script directly led to their invention. For instance, some scholars have postulated that it is likely that the technique where by expression of words of a language is done through writing was taken to Egypt hailing from the Sumerian Mesopotamia. Contrary to this, other scholars have postulated that the substantiation of the fact that there was direct manipulation remains rather vague. They remain firm a very plausible argument can be brought forth which suppo rts the independent innovation of writing as a form of communication in Egypt. Owing to the fact that there is still limbo as far as the influence of the two writing methods on each other is concerned, the exact origin of hieroglyphics has not been conclusively determined. Hieroglyphs are made up of three sorts of glyphs. The first one is the phonetic glyphs which include the characters with a single-consonant and function as a distinct alphabet. The second one is the logographs which stand for morphemes. The last one is the determinatives which serves the purpose of streamlining the meaning of words. With the development and extensive spread of the art of writing in the midst of the Egyptian community, easy glyph versions came into being. This led to the establishment of the priestly and popular scripts. These distinct variants became more appropriate than hieroglyphs when used on papyrus. The Hieroglyphic writing nevertheless was never eclipsed. It existed in conjunction with the other forms. This was particularly so in monumental writing as well as other formal writing. During the Persian rule which reigned in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, Hieroglyphs was continuously used. This kept on even during the reign as well as after Alexander the Great. Alexander had conquered Egypt, in the subsequent Macedonian and Roman times. It seems that the deceptive worth of remarks