Ancient Egypt

Hieroglyphics
 What are hieroglyphics?
 Ancient Egyptians started using pictures to make a written
language called hieroglyphics.
 It was one of the very first writing systems in the world!
 They wrote hieroglyphics on temples and monuments.
 Write like an Egyptian
 Scribes had to go to school and work hard to learn how to
read and write the 750 pictures used in hieroglyphics!
 We only have to learn 26 letters in our alphabet!
 Egyptians made up a drawing for each letter sound.
 They used pictures of things from their everyday lives.
 Scribes
 Scribes would write on papyrus which is a paperlike material
 They wrote on pieces of pottery, stones, and tomb walls too!
 Only scribes and rich men and women could read
hieroglyphics
 Reading Hieroglyphics
 We read from left to right.
 But Ancient Egyptians read from right to left, left to right or
from top to bottom.
 To figure out which way to read a line, Ancient Egyptians
had to look for pictures of animals and see which way they
were facing.
 If the animals were facing the right, they would start
reading from the right.
 Cartouches
 Cartouches are oval boxes that were drawn around people’s
names
 Usually, only the pharaoh would have a cartouche.
Now let’s write in
hieroglyphics!