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Egyptian hieroglyphs. Egyptian hieroglyphs and their meaning. Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics
Egyptian hieroglyphs, the pictures of which will be shown below, constitute one of the systems of writing, which was used almost 3,5 thousand years ago. In Egypt, it was used at the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. E. This system combines elements of phonetic, syllabic and ideographic styles. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs were pictorial images, supplemented by phonetic symbols. As a rule, they were carved on stones. However, it was also possible to find Egyptian hieroglyphs on papyri and wooden sarcophagi. The pictures that were used in the outline were similar to the items they indicated. This greatly facilitated the understanding of what was written. Further in the article we will tell about what this or that hieroglyph meant.
The mystery of the appearance of signs
The history of the system originates deep into the past. For a very long period, one of the most ancient monuments of writing in Egypt was Narmera's pallet. It was believed that it depicted the earliest signs. However, in 1998, German archaeologists discovered three hundred clay tablets during the excavation. They were depicted protoiroglyphs. Signs date back to the 33rd century BC. E. It is believed that the very first sentence was inscribed on the seal of the Second Dynasty from the tomb in Abydos of the pharaoh Set-Peribsen. It should be said that initially as signs used images of objects and living beings. But this system was quite complex, as it required certain artistic skills. In this connection, after a while, the images were simplified to the necessary contours. Thus there was a hieratic letter. This system was used mainly by priests. They made inscriptions on tombs and on temples. The demotic (folk) system, which appeared a little later, was easier. It consisted of circles, arcs, dashes. However, it was problematic to recognize the original symbols in this letter.
Perfection of marks
Originally Egyptian hieroglyphs were pictographic. That is, the words looked in the form of visual drawings. Then a semantic (ideographic) letter was created . With the help of ideograms it was possible to write down some abstract concepts. So, for example, the image of mountains could mean both part of the relief, and a mountainous, foreign country. The image of the sun meant "day", because it shines only in the daytime. Later, in the development of the entire system of Egyptian writing, ideograms played a significant role. Somewhat later, the sound marks began to appear. In this system, more attention was paid not so much to the meaning of the word as to its sound interpretation. How many hieroglyphs are in the Egyptian letter? In the times of the New, Middle and Old Kingdom of the signs there were about 800. With Greco-Roman rule there were already more than 6000.
Classification
The problem of systematization remains unresolved to this day. Wallis Budge (English philologist and Egyptologist) was one of the first scientists who cataloged Egyptian hieroglyphs. Its classification was based on external signs. After him in 1927, a new list was compiled by Gardiner. His "Egyptian grammar" contained a classification of signs also according to external signs. But in his list the signs were divided into groups, which were denoted by Latin letters. Within the categories, the serial numbers were assigned to the signs. Over time, the classification compiled by Gardiner began to be considered generally accepted. The database was replenished with the addition of new characters in the groups defined by them. Many subsequently discovered characters were additionally assigned letter numbers after the numbers.
New codification
Simultaneously with the expansion of the list, compiled on the basis of Gardiner's classification, some researchers began to make assumptions about the incorrect distribution of hieroglyphs by groups. In the 1980s, a four-volume catalog of signs, separated by their significance, was issued. This classifier later also began to rethink. As a result, a grammar compiled by Kurt appeared in 2007-2008. He corrected Gardiner's four volumes and introduced a new division into groups. This work is undoubtedly very informative and useful in the practice of translations. But some researchers have doubts whether the new codification will take hold in Egyptology, because it also has its shortcomings and flaws.
Modern approach to character coding
How is Egyptian hieroglyphs translated today? In 1991, when computer technologies were already sufficiently developed, the Unicode standard was proposed for encoding signs of different languages. The latest version contains basic Egyptian hieroglyphs. These signs are in the range: U + 13000 - U + 1342F. Today, various new catalogs continue to appear in electronic form. Decoding of Egyptian hieroglyphs into Russian is carried out with the help of the graphic editor Hieroglyphica. It should be noted that new catalogs continue to appear to this day. In connection with a sufficiently large number of signs, they still can not be fully classified. In addition, from time to time, researchers discover new Egyptian hieroglyphs and their meaning, or new phonetic designations already existing.
Direction of the image of signs
Most often, the Egyptians wrote horizontal lines, as a rule, from right to left. It was rare to find a direction from left to right. In some cases, the signs were located vertically. In this case they were always read from top to bottom. Nevertheless, in spite of the predominant right-to-left direction in the Egyptian writings, from practical considerations in modern research literature a mark is adopted from left to right. The signs that depicted birds, animals, people, have always been turned towards the beginning of the line by the face. The upper sign had the primacy over the lower one. The Egyptians did not use the delimiters of sentences or words, that is, there was no punctuation. Calligraphic signs in writing tried to distribute without spaces and symmetrically, forming rectangles or squares.
Inscription system
Egyptian hieroglyphs can be divided into two large groups. The first include phonograms (sound marks), and to the second - ideograms (semantic signs). The latter were used to denote a word or concept. They, in turn, are divided into 2 types: determinatives and logograms. Phonograms were used to designate sounds. This group included three types of signs: three-consonant, two-consonant and one-consonant. It is noteworthy that among the hieroglyphs there is not a single image of a vowel sound. Thus, this writing is a consonant system, like Arabic or Jewish. The Egyptians could read the text with all the vowels, even if they were not inscribed. Everyone knew exactly what sound between which consonants should be put when pronouncing a particular word. But the absence of vowel marks constitutes a serious problem for Egyptologists. For a very long period (almost the last two millennia), the language was considered dead. And today no one knows exactly how the words sounded. Thanks to philological research, it was, of course, possible to establish an approximate phonetics of many words, to understand the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs in Russian, Latin, and other languages. But such works are today a very isolated science.
Phonograms
The single-sign signs were the Egyptian alphabet. Hieroglyphs in this case were used to denote 1 consonantal sound. The exact names of all single-sign signs are unknown. The order of their success is worked out by Egyptian scientists. Transliteration is carried out with the help of Latin letters. If in the Latin alphabet there are no corresponding letters or they need several, then diacritics are used to denote them. Two-consonant sounds are designed to transmit two consonants. This type of hieroglyphs is quite common. Some of them are polyphonic (they transmit several combinations). Three-consonant signs transmit, respectively, three consonants. They are also quite widespread in writing. As a rule, the last two types are used with the addition of single-sign signs, which partially or completely reflect their sound.
Ideogrammatical Egyptian hieroglyphs and their meaning
Logograms are symbols that depicted what they actually meant. For example, the drawing of the sun - this day, and light, and the sun itself, and time.
Using Characters
The decorative and rather formal character of the hieroglyphs determined their application. In particular, signs were used, as a rule, for the inscription of sacred and monumental texts. In everyday life, a simpler hieratic system was used to create business and administrative documents, correspondence. But she, despite the fairly frequent use, could not displace the hieroglyphs. They continued to be used both during the Persian period and during the Greco-Roman administration. But I must say that by the IV century there were few people who could use and understand this system.
Scientific research
One of the first hieroglyphs became interested in ancient writers: Diodorus, Strabo, Herodotus. Gorapollon had a special authority in the study of signs. All these writers resolutely asserted that all the hieroglyphs are a picture letter. In this system, in their opinion, individual signs denoted whole words, but not letters or syllables. Under the influence of this thesis, researchers of the 19th century also had a very long time. Without attempting to scientifically confirm this theory, scientists deciphered the hieroglyphs, considering each of them as an element of pictography. The first one to suggest phonetic signs was Thomas Jung. But he could not find the key to their understanding. Decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphs succeeded Jean-Francois Champollion. The historical merit of this researcher is that he abandoned the thesis of ancient writers and chose his own way. As a basis for the study, he accepted the assumption that the Egyptian letters consist not of conceptual, but phonetic elements.
Study of the Rosetta Stone
This archaeological find was a black polished basalt slab. It was completely covered with inscriptions that were made in two languages. There were three columns on the stove. The first two were made with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. The third column was written in Greek, and it was thanks to its presence that the text on the stone was read. It was an honorary address of the priests, sent to Ptolemy Fifth Epifan about his coronation. In the Greek text on the stone there were the names of Cleopatra and Ptolemy. They also had to be in the Egyptian text. It was known that the names of the pharaohs consisted of cartouches or oval frames. That's why Champillon had no difficulty finding names in the Egyptian text - they clearly stood out against the background of other signs. Subsequently, comparing the columns with the texts, the researcher became more and more convinced of the validity of the theory of the phonetic basis of symbols.
Some rules of the inscription
Aesthetic considerations were of particular importance in the technique of writing. On their basis, certain rules were created that limited the choice and direction of the text. The symbols could be written from right to left, and vice versa, depending on where they were applied. Some signs were written so as to be addressed to the reading person. This rule was extended to many hieroglyphs, but the most obvious was the restriction when drawing characters illustrating animals and people. If the inscription was located on the portal, then its individual signs turned to the middle of the door. The incoming person could thus easily read the symbols, since the text began with hieroglyphs located at a distance closest to it. As a result, not a single sign "did not show ignorance" and did not turn its back to anyone. The same principle, in fact, can be observed in a conversation between two people.
conclusions
It should be said that, despite the external simplicity of the writing elements of the Egyptians, their system of signs was considered quite complex. Over time, symbols began to recede into the background, and soon they were replaced by other ways of graphical expression of speech. The Romans and Greeks did not show much interest in Egyptian hieroglyphs. With the adoption of Christianity, the system of symbols completely disappeared from use. By 391, by order of the Byzantine emperor Theodosius the Great, all pagan temples were closed. The last hieroglyphic record dates back to the year 394 (archaeological finds on the island of Fila testify to this).
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