The civilization that arose along the banks of the Nile more than 4000 years ago holds many secrets. Favorable conditions in this area, a mild climate contributed to the very early development of various branches of science and art. The writing and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians is the subject of research by many scientists of the world. The first texts that have come down to us were created around 3000 BC. e., later evolved and are monuments of art and history. Well, consider them in more detail and figure out what secrets the most ancient civilization left behind.
General language and skills
All the information that we have about Ancient Egypt today was obtained as a result of archaeological excavations. Various documents were compiled in dead languages. They have been deciphering for decades. They contained information about all spheres of life within the framework of this civilization, starting with laws and church services, ending with recipes for cooking dishes. It turns out that the writing and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians, which we can study now, are inextricably linked. Having deciphered the grammar of this people, we can discover most of its secrets. Therefore, it is with the history of writing that we will begin by dividing it into four main periods.
Period One: Hieroglyphs
The ancient writing of the Egyptians appeared in the pre-dynastic period, when the state as such did not even exist. However, the gods and priests for this people were always sacred and untouchable, and it was thanks to the ideas about these “rulers of the world” that the Egyptians created their first writing system. The hieroglyphics of Ancient Egypt was very different from modern Chinese or Japanese. These were colorful pictures (today we find them monochrome due to the destructive influence of time), which depicted objects, events, people. In a word, people drew what they saw, simplifying objects a little. Writing hieroglyphs could have any direction - from right to left or vice versa, sometimes even from top to bottom. The main thing is that the result is beautiful.
Period Two: Hieratics
The Hellenistic period for Egypt is closely connected with Greece and the Roman Empire. In addition to exchanges of military experience, language assimilation took place. The writing and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians was systematized thanks to the alphabet that came from ancient Europe. The first type of cursive writing appeared - hieratic. Then this new literary language was accessible only to the cream of society, and sacred texts and legal acts were compiled on it.
Stage Three: Demotics
At the turn of the era, assimilation already occurred in the population of Ancient Egypt. Arabs swam in here, bringing their traditions, beliefs and, of course, language. A fundamentally new type of writing has become popular among all walks of life - demotic, which in appearance resembles modern Arabic. On it, public documents, public literature, biographies and memos were compiled. Nevertheless, hieratics was still the official letter of the country and was used in worship and jurisdiction.
Fourth Period: Coptic
This is the last stage in the development of ancient Egyptian speech and writing, which replaced the demotics. Unlike its predecessors, Coptic writing had its own alphabet, a different manner of pronunciation, writing, adding syllables and words into a sentence. In many ways, this language is similar to Greek, but it belongs to the Afrasian language family. Writing and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians, which date back to earlier periods, scientists were able to decipher only thanks to the Coptic cursive. The Egyptians translated older documents and summaries of their ancestors into this language. Until the 19th century, the Coptic language was used in worship, and later it was already identified in the ranks of the dead.
