Hieroglyphs typical of the Graeco-Roman period

Look up hieroglyph in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up hieroglyphic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Hieroglyph (Greek ἱερογλύφος "sacred carving") or hieroglyphics ( = τὰ ἱερογλυφικά [γράμματα]) may refer to:

• Egyptian hieroglyphs
• Cursive hieroglyphs
• Dongba script
• more generally, a character of any logographic or partly logographic writing system.
• Cretan hieroglyphs
• Anatolian hieroglyphs
• Hieroglyphic Luwian
• Mayan hieroglyphs
• Olmec hieroglyphs
• Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing
• a Chinese character

[edit] Origin

"Hieroglyphs" refer to the characters made by graphical figures, be it animals or objects.

The characters that are relatively old seem to originate from Sumer or Elam in Mesopotamia^{[citation needed]}. The hieroglyphs that were originally used for recording agricultural products and handicrafts led to the birth of linear and cuneiform script, widely used by the Sumerians, Assyrians and Babylonians. 5000 years ago, Ancient Egyptians had started to use other Hieroglyphs in a separate way. The features that are visually well arranged about heavenly bodies, natural phenomena, animals and plants, God, humans, residences and households were used for 3000 years for recording Egyptian. Ancient Greeks called this system Hieroglyphs, literally "sacred writings", because it was mainly used by government.

[edit] References

• Andrew Robinson (2007). Alphabets, Hieroglyphs and Pictograms, London: Thames & Hudson.
• Angelika Rauch (1997). The Hieroglyph of Tradition, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press.
• Douglas J (2007). Egypt and the Egyptians, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Janice Kamrin (2004) Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide. New York, Abrams

[edit] See also

• Glyph
• Character (sign)
• Sememe
• Hieroglyphica
• Writing in Ancient Egypt
• Bronze Age writing
• List of hieroglyphs

[edit] External links

• Futuristic Abstract Hieroglyphs

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hieroglyphs