IV.

Historical Development

A standardized form of hieroglyphs developed rapidly in the earliest years of Egypt’s Early Dynastic Period (2920 bc-2575 bc)). Little change in the system took place during the following 2,600-year period of Egyptian civilization.

Hieroglyphs were very time consuming to create, so the Egyptians developed a cursive script called hieratic in the early years of hieroglyphic use. The characters of the hieratic script were based on the hieroglyphic symbols, but they were simplified and little resembled their hieroglyphic origins. Hieratic was used for the bulk of writing done with reed pens and ink on papyrus. In the 7th century bc the Egyptians began using a script called demotic, which was even more simplified than hieratic. After this point hieroglyphs continued to be used in carved inscriptions on buildings, jewelry, and furniture, but hieratic was used for religious writings, and demotic for business and literary texts.

A major change in hieroglyphs took place under the Ptolemaic Dynasty (305-30 bc), when Egypt was ruled by a Greek dynasty. During this time the Egyptians created many new glyphs. Priests were especially interested in writing religious texts in more mysterious and complex manners. The priests often used new glyphs to form specialized codes and puns understood only by a group of religious initiates. After the Romans conquered Egypt in 30 bc, the use of hieroglyphs declined, and eventually their use died out. The last firmly datable hieroglyphic inscription was written in ad 394.