Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Phonograms, or signs used to write the sounds of the Egyptian language. The particular sound value of a sign was usually obtained from the Egyptian name for the object represented. Since the Egyptians did not normally write the vowels, only the consonantal "skeleton" of the word is given. although each consonant can be written with a single sign (the alphabet signs), most sound-signs express a series of two or more consonants. Some of the Egyptian consonants hve no equivalents in most modern scripts, and Egyptologists use conventionalized signs to represent these when transcribing Egyptian.

Ideograms, or idea-signs, in which each picture stands for the object represented, or for some idea closely connected with the object.

A particular word could be written using only sound-signs, or only an idea-sign, but most words were written using a combination of both. It was a particularly common practice to use one or more idea-signs at the end of a word to give the general meaning of the word. A sign used in this way is called a determinative.

Egyptians were very much aware of the decorative value of hieroglyphic writing, and elaborately carved and painted hieroglyphs were often an important part of the decorative scheme of an Egyptian temple or tomb. At the top of this page you can see the name of King Ramsses lll (1198-1166 B.C.), enclosed in the cartouches or oval frames which the Egyptians employed to mark off royal names, and flanked by the hawks of the sky-god, form part of a decorative frieze from the king's temple at Medinet Habu.