Posted By Page Strong on March 3, 2010

Hieroglyphs are often a complicated combination of symbols representing sounds. As seen in the previous post, there are three different categories dealing with sound symbols, or phonograms. Looking at the English language, it is imperative to understand the sounds of the words or else the words themselves make no sense whatsoever. Hieroglyphs can be the same way in certain cases. However, there are a set of hieroglyphs that follow the series of symbols representing sounds that provide the meaning of the word without dealing with the pronunciation. These symbols are known as determinatives.

Very simply, determinatives give meaning to the preceding word. For example, the word for “bird” is followed by the image of a bird. More complex ideas are also added to simple words by using the correct determinative. An example of this can be found in Janice Kamrin’s book Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide. She uses the symbol for “house.” Without a determinative, as seen below, the house symbol means just that; a house. With the determinative of two walking legs, a symbol for motion, the word has an entirely different meaning: “to go forth” (Kamrin; Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide; pg. 14).

Hieroglyph for "House"

Hieroglyph for "To go forth"

Determinatives are also used as punctuation. While determinatives are not always used, when used they are helpful in establishing when a word ends and the next begins. The spaces between words that are so often used in the English language, and many other languages, are non-existent in hieroglyphs. Seeing a determinative alerts the reader that the word has ended (Kamrin; Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide; pg. 29).

Hieroglyph for "Man"

Gender-centric words are also resolved using determinatives. A woman’s name, even the word “woman,” is followed by the image of a seated woman. While this is indicative of the gender of what is being described, it does not account for the gender of a word. In romance languages such as Spanish and French, words have gender, much like people have gender. The same holds true in hieroglyphs.
The word for “man” is spelled as followed:

There are three symbols, the “s” symbol at the top, the vertical bar beneath that and the man seated to the right. The vertical bar will be discussed further in a later article. It signifies the single symbol for “s” is all there is to the word.

Hieroglyph for "Woman"

The word for “woman” is similar:

Take note that the vertical bar from the word for “man” has changed. The changed hieroglyph in the word for “woman” preceding the determinative is the phonogram for “t.” Many words, though not all, are shown to be feminine with the ending of the “t” hieroglyph (Kamrin; Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide; pg. 32).

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Posted By Page Strong on February 24, 2010

Hieroglyphs are entirely different from most western languages.This difference does not simply stem from the visual difference of using an alphabet such as the Roman-based alphabet of English, German, French and other western languages. The base structure of the hieroglyphs is entirely different from western languages.

There are three categories to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. The first are sound signs or phonograms. Second are determinatives, or labeling signs. Finally, there are ideograms or logograms which stand for single ideas (Kamrin, Janice; Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide; pg. 13-14). For this article, the focus will be on phonograms.

Unilateral Hieroglyphs with Translation and Transliteration

Phonograms are made up of three types of hieroglyphs. The uniliteral hieroglyphs are comparable to modern western alphabets with a single letter standing for a single sound. For example, the eagle symbol in hieroglyphs stands for the sound “A.” These unilateral symbols are used in modern cartouche jewelry where the name of a person is written in hieroglyphs. This is known as transliteration, not translation (Kamrin, Janice; Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide; pg. 15).

To this point, the examples have been from the English language. The ancient Egyptian language is something quite different. As seen in the graph below, most of the uniliteral symbols have corresponding sounds in English. Notice, however, that many English letters are represented multiple times. In the English language, such symbols as “h” have but one sound. In the ancient Egyptian language, it is thought that “h” had sounds that do not exist in the English language. When performing transliteration, the first step in translating hieroglyphs, these extra sounds are represented by special characters. The transliteration alphabet looks something like what is seen above (Kamrin, Janice; Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide; pg. 15).

Triliteral Hieroglyphs with Translation and Transliteration

Biliteral Hieroglyphs with Translation

Biliteral and triliteral symbols make up the majority of hieroglyphs and are somewhat more complicated than the above uniliterals.

Biliteral symbols represent two sounds. Whereas in the English language, two letters are needed to represent the “-sh-,” “-th-,” “-ph-,” and “-ch-” sounds, only one symbol would be needed to represent the same sounds in hieroglyphs (Kamrin, Janice; Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide; pg. 43).

Triliteral symbols, as one may guess, represent three sounds. As writers of the English language know, three symbols are needed for the sound “-ing,” but in hieroglyphs only one symbol would be used (Kamrin, Janice; Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide; pg. 56).

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Posted By Page Strong on February 17, 2010

In the dig season of 1897/1898, James Quibell and Frederick Green excavated what is known as the Main Deposit at Hierakonpolis, or Nekhen to the ancient Egyptians, in Upper Egypt. This was the main center for an early Horus cult. It was a difficult excavation and, despite Quibell being trained under William Flinders Petrie, the excavation was poorly conducted. Regardless of the difficulties, some of the best artifacts dating to the Predynastic (or Protodynastic) period came from this excavation, though their exact provenance has been lost due to poor excavation techniques. Of the three famous artifacts came from the Main Deposit, the Narmer Palette, the Narmer Macehead, and the Scorpion Macehead, this article will focus on King Scorpion as depicted on the Scorpion Macehead (Shaw, Ian; The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, pg. 60).

King Scorpion is known mainly from the macehead bearing his ideograms, a scorpion and a seven-petaled flower associated with kingship. He is also known by a number of labeled wine jars found in an Abydos tomb, many of which contained wine infused with medicinal herbs. Who this early pharaoh was can only be determined through analyzing the artwork in which he is portrayed and artifacts associated with his life and death (Shaw, Ian; The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, pg. 60).

The Scorpion Macehead depicts King Scorpion as just that, a king. He wears the white bulbous crown of Upper Egypt and holds in his hand a hoe. This could be representative of a ceremony of furrowing fields, or the construction of a dam. This ceremony is one of peace and prosperity, showing the King participating in activities to benefit his country and his people. Surrounding the King are jubilating dancers, courtiers seeing to the King’s needs, and people making offerings to the living Horus, their king. Above the King are standards. These standards are often understood to be territories under the King’s command, possibly territories the King conquered. These standards show the power and control King Scorpion had over his people and his enemies (http://www.ancient-egypt.org). As these scenes are depicted on a macehead, the stone cap to the club-like mace, the essence of war is portrayed through the very medium through which the peaceful scene is depicted.

Unfortunately, the macehead is severely damaged. Only the above scene survives. It is possible more of the story was inscribed on the rest of the macehead, but those scenes have long been lost. They have been speculated upon, some people theorizing that King Scorpion is depicted wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt not far from where he is depicted wearing the crown of Upper Egypt. These theories, however, may never be upheld by physical evidence (http://www.ancient-egypt.org).

Abydos, known as one of the most ancient cities in Egypt, is the site of the royal necropolis for the earliest kings of Egypt, even stretching into the Predynastic (or Protodynastic) periods. One such tomb, excavated in 1988, contained a number of artifacts that have been attributed to King Scorpion. The tomb was heavily damaged by ancient looters, but the jars of ancient wine and their labels were relatively untouched. The labels appear to sport the earliest of hieroglyphs. Many of these labels bore the hieroglyph of the scorpion and the flower, connecting them to King Scorpion (http://www.touregypt.net). They date to around the 31st century BC, approximately 150 years before Aha, otherwise known as Menes, who is the supposed first pharaoh of ancient Egypt, according to Herodotus and Manetho (http://touregypt.net). Furthermore, the wine and the jars were not native to Egypt, but were probably imported from Palestine. This shows the power of King Scorpion, as he was in contact with peoples far from his country. It also shows his wealth as he could afford to have such a large quantity of wine (400 jars) imported for his tomb (Shaw, Ian; The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, pg. 60).

It can be theorized, then, from the artifacts associated with King Scorpion, that he was a great ruler. He was lord over many territories, either by force or by law. He was seen as a great warrior, but also a just leader. It appears that King Scorpion set the precedence for all the future pharaohs, as they were depicted as the same type of ruler as King Scorpion, whether they were good warriors, just leaders, or not.

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Posted By Page Strong on February 10, 2010

There was a time when nearly any antiquity could be bought for a price. In the early 20th century there lived a man named Alfred Chester Beatty who was a great collector of all things Oriental.

Alfred Chester Beatty was a mining millionaire, having made his fortune in copper mines from places such as Cripple Creek, Colorado. He was a naturalized British citizen by 1933 and was made an honorary Irish citizen in 1957. His life was interesting, but more interesting still were scraps of papyri he bought and bequeathed to both the British Museum and a library bearing his name in Dublin, Ireland (http://wikipedia.org).

These papyri span many subjects, the most intriguing being the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, written in Greek, sporting such works from the Bible as Genesis, Ecclesiastes, and Revelations, all dating from around the 3rd and 4th centuries AD (http://wikipedia.org). Another interesting grouping within the Chester Beatty collection are the Medical Papyri dating from around 1200 BC (http://wikipedia.org).

A different grouping exists within the Chester Beatty Papyrus collection that is not mentioned very often. It is a set of poems from Ancient Egypt. Notable among these poems are the romantic poems.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day.

1  Sister without Peer
My one, the sister without peer,
The handsomest of all!
She looks like the rising morning star
At the start of a happy year.
Shining bright, fair of skin,
Lovely the look of her eyes,
Sweet the speech of her lips,
She has not a word too much.
Upright neck, shining breast,
Hair true lapis lazuli;
Arms surpassing gold,
Fingers like lotus buds.
Heavy thighs, narrow waist,
Her legs parade her beauty;
With graceful step she treads the ground,
Captures my heart by her movements.
She causes all men’s necks
To turn about to see her;
Joy has he whom she embraces,
He is like the first of men!
When she steps outside she seems
Like that the Sun!
First Stanza, Beginning of the sayings of the great happiness, from Papyrus Chester Beatty I

2  My Brother Torments My Heart
My brother torments my heart with his voice,
He makes sickness take hold of me;
He is neighbor to my mother’s house.
And I cannot go to him!
Mother is right in charging him thus:
“Give up seeing her!”
It pains my heart to think of him,
I am possessed by love of him.
Truly, he is a foolish one,
But I resemble him;
He knows not my wish to embrace him,
Or he would write to my mother.
Brother, I am promised to you
By the golden of women!
Come to me that I see your beauty,
Father, mother will rejoice!
My people will hail you all together,
They will hail you, O my brother!
Second Stanza, from Papyrus Chester Beatty I

3  My Heart Flutters Hastily
My heart flutters hastily,
When I think of my love of you;
It lets me not act sensibly,
It leaps from its place.
It lets me not put on a dress,
Nor wrap my scarf around me;
I put no paint upon my eyes,
I’m even not anointed.
“Don’t wait, go there,” says it to me,
As often as I think of him;
My heart, don’t act so stupidly,
Why do you play the fool?
Sit still, the brother comes to you,
And many eyes as well.
Let not the people say of me:
“A woman fallen through love!”
Be steady when you think of him,
My heart, do not flutter!
Fourth Stanza, from Papyrus Chester Beatty I


4  I Passed before His House
I passed before his house,
I found his door ajar;
My brother stood by his mother,
And all his brothers with him.
Love of him captures the heart
Of all who tread the path;
Splendid youth who has no peer,
Brother outstanding in virtues!
He looked at me as I passed by,
And I, by myself, rejoiced;
How my heart exulted in gladness,
My brother, at your sight!
If only the mother knew my heart,
She would have understood by now;
O Golden One, put it in her heart,
Then will I hurry to my brother!
I will kiss him before his companions,
I would not weep before them;
I would rejoice at their understanding
That you acknowledge me!
I will make a feast for my goddess,
My heart leaps to go;
To let me see my brother tonight,
O happiness in passing!
Sixth Stanza, from Papyrus Chester Beatty I


5  Sickness Invaded Me
Seven days since I saw my sister,
And sickness invaded me;
I am heavy in all my limbs,
My body has forsaken me.
When the physicians come to me,
My heart rejects their remedies;
The magicians are quite helpless,
My sickness is not discerned.
To tell me “She is here” would revive me!
Her name would make me rise;
Her messenger’s coming and going,
That would revive my heart!
My sister is better than all prescriptions,
She does more for me than all medicines;
Her coming to me is my amulet,
The sight of her makes me well!
When she opens her eyes my body is young,
Her speaking makes me strong;
Embracing her expels my malady—
Seven days since she went from me!
Seventh Stanza, from Papyrus Chester Beatty I

6  How well She Knows to Cast the Noose
How well she knows to cast the noose,
And yet not pay the cattle tax!
She casts the noose on me with her hair,
She captures me with her eye;
She curbs me with her necklace,
She brands me with her seal ring.
Third Stanza, from The Nakht-Sobak Cycle of Papyrus Chester Beatty I

(Poems supplied by http://www.humanistictexts.org/egyptlov.htm)

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Posted By Page Strong on February 3, 2010

Early in the Old Kingdom, or perhaps even in the Pre-Dynastic period, the ancient Egyptians based their calendar off the lunar cycle. For the most part, this simple form of tracking time was quite adequate for any people’s needs (Strudwick, Helen; The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, pg. 446). The ancient Egyptians, however, quickly noticed that the lunar cycle spans twenty-nine and a half days, making one year have, not the regular twelve-moon cycle, but a thirteen-moon cycle. Furthermore, the ancient Egyptians wanted to base their new year off the annual inundation of the Nile floodwaters. This was difficult to predict when using the lunar calendar (http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk).

In their observations of the sky, the ancient Egyptian priests noticed the brightest star in the sky was Sopdet, or “One Who Is Sharp,” otherwise known as Sirius in the modern world. The priests noticed Sopdet disappeared beneath the horizon for seventy days. These seventy days became so important to the ancient Egyptians, the days were introduced in one of ancient Egypt’s most sacred and famous rituals: the ritual of mummification (http://www.egyptianmyths.net). The priests also noted that once Sopdet returned to the night sky, the Nile flood was soon to follow. Once this discovery was made, a change in how time was calculated took place. The new year began when Sopdet rose. This time period was broken into three seasons, each with four lunar months of thirty days. By these calculations, there were 120 days in one season and 360 days in one year (http://www.egyptmonth.com).

Realizing that this did not exactly coincide with the rise of Sopdet, the ancient Egyptians found that five days were remaining in the year. Instead of adding or subtracting days from each month, the ancient Egyptians simply added five to the end of their year. These five days were explained in their mythology (Studwick, Helen; The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, pg. 449).

The myth explaining the five extra days of each year began with the goddess Nut and her brother, the god Geb. Nut the sky goddess and Geb the god of the earth were considered passionate lovers, but were forbidden to join together as Nut was married to Ra, the sun god. During the day, the god of the air, Shu, separated Nut from Geb, but at night, Nut lay with Geb. Angered by this, Ra refused to let her bear her children on any day of the year as punishment. Desperate to bear her children, Nut went to Thoth, the scribe god and god of the moon, who stole light from the moon to create five new days to add to the end of the year. These days were not considered part of the calendar, so Nut was able to give birth to one child each of those five days: Osiris, Seth, Horus the Elder, Isis, and Nepthys (http://www.yourdiscovery.com). These five “non-days” were days of celebration for the ancient Egyptians (Studwick, Helen; The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, pg. 449).

As we know today, each year is 365 days and six hours. Without compensating for the six hours, the solar and civil calendars would coincide only once every 1,460 years. This discrepancy was rarely noticed by the ancient Egyptians as they never moved to correct it. However, during the reign of Ptolemy III (246-222 BC), an extra day was added to every four years, evening out the discrepancy and beginning the use of a “leap year” (Studwick, Helen; The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, pg. 449).

The five “non-days” come at the end of the year and correspond with five gods’ birthdays:

Osiris – 14 July; Horus the Elder – 15 July; Seth – 16 July; Isis – 17 July; Nephthys – 18 July

{Table recreated from Studwick, Helen; The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, pg. 448}

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