what is hieratic script

by Aron Ortiz Published 3 years ago Updated 3 years ago

Hieratic Script

Hieratic script was written in one direction, from right to left.
Diacritical additions were implemented as the language developed to help distinguish between signs that had grown similar to one another because of the cursive writing style.
Commonplace documents such as letters, catalogs, and official writs were all written in Hieratic script. ...

Full Answer

What are the characteristics of hieratic script?

Characteristics. Hieratic is often present in any given period in two forms, a highly ligatured, cursive script used for administrative documents, and a broad uncial bookhand used for literary, scientific, and religious texts. These two forms can often be significantly different from one another.

What is the origin of the hieratic script?

Hieratic script. Hieratic script, ancient Egyptian cursive writing, used from the 1st dynasty ( c. 2925– c. 2775 bc) until about 200 bc. Derived from the earlier, pictorial hieroglyphic writing used in carved or painted inscriptions, hieratic script was generally written in ink with a reed pen on papyrus; its cursive form was more suited...

What was hieratic writing used for?

One of four official letters to vizier Khay copied onto fragments of limestone (an ostracon). Through most of its long history, hieratic was used for writing administrative documents, accounts, legal texts, and letters, as well as mathematical, medical, literary, and religious texts.

What is the meaning of hieratic?

Hieratic (/haɪəˈrætɪk/; Ancient Greek: ἱερατικά, romanized: hieratiká, lit. 'priestly') is a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian, and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the 33rd century BCE until the rise of Demotic in the mid 1st millennium BCE.

What is hieratic script used for?

Hieratic was a simplified form of hieroglyphics used for administrative and business purposes, as well as for literary, scientific and religious texts. Demotic, a Greek word meaning "popular script", was in general use for the daily requirements of the society.

When was hieratic script used?

hieratic script, ancient Egyptian cursive writing, used from the 1st dynasty (c. 2925–c. 2775 bce) until about 200 bce.

How do you write a hieratic script?

Hieratic was written in one direction only, from right to left. In earlier times the lines were arranged vertically and later, about 2000 bce, horizontally. Subsequently the papyrus scrolls were written in columns of changing widths.

What is the meaning of word hieratic?

Definition of hieratic 1 : constituting or belonging to a cursive form of ancient Egyptian writing simpler than the hieroglyphic. 2 : sacerdotal. 3 : highly stylized or formal hieratic poses.

What is letter written in hieratic script on papyrus?

Letter written in hieratic script on papyrus ca. 1479–1458 B.C. New Kingdom. In the letter below - written on papyrus—a man named Tet tells “his lord” Djehuti in rather forthright terms to rectify a bad situation he had caused by insulting a dependent of the high priest of Heliopolis.

What were the different uses of hieroglyphic and hieratic script?

Generally, Hieroglyphics were used for monumental inscriptions and decorative texts, and Hieratic was used for administrative texts which placed more importance in content than appearance, which were written by hand, and which needed to be written quickly.

What is ancient Egypt language called?

The Egyptian language was an Afroasiatic language that was spoken in Ancient Egypt. It has been written 5000 years, which makes it one of the oldest written languages known today. The Coptic language is the modern form of the Egyptian language. The Egyptian language changed into it over time.

Who called their scripts hieroglyphic?

The ancient EgyptiansThe ancient Egyptians used the distinctive script known today as hieroglyphs (Greek for "sacred words") for almost 4,000 years. Hieroglyphs were written on papyrus, carved in stone on tomb and temple walls, and used to decorate many objects of cultic and daily life use.

What is the Egyptian script called?

Egyptian hieroglyphsEgyptian hieroglyphsScript typeLogography usable as an abjadTime periodc. 3200 BC – AD 400Directionright-to-left scriptLanguagesEgyptian language10 more rows

Was hieratic a language?

Hieratic (/haɪəˈrætɪk/; Ancient Greek: ἱερατικά, romanized: hieratiká, lit. 'priestly') is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BC until the rise of Demotic in the mid-first millennium BC.

What is a hieratic in art?

noting or pertaining to certain styles in art in which the representations or methods are fixed by or as if by religious tradition. highly restrained or severe in emotional import: Some of the more hieratic sculptures leave the viewer curiously unmoved.

Who was a famous scribe?

Scribes generally wrote on papyrus with reed brushes dipped in ink. One of the most famous scribes was called Imhotep. Imhotep was the architect of the Egyptian Pharaoh Djoser and was said to be responsible for the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. Our statue was made to honor the scribes in ancient Egyptian history.

When was the hieratic script invented?

Hieratic developed as a cursive form of hieroglyphic script in the Naqada III period of Ancient Egypt, roughly 3200–3000 BC. Although handwritten printed hieroglyphs continued to be used in some formal situations, such as manuscripts of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, noncursive hieroglyphic script became largely restricted to monumental inscriptions.

What is hieratic writing?

Through most of its long history, hieratic was used for writing administrative documents, accounts, legal texts, and letters, as well as mathematical, medical, literary, and religious texts. During the Græco-Roman period, when Demotic (and later, Greek) had become the chief administrative script, hieratic was limited primarily to religious texts. In general, hieratic was much more important than hieroglyphs throughout Egypt's history, being the script used in daily life. It was also the writing system first taught to students, knowledge of hieroglyphs being limited to a small minority who were given additional training. In fact, it is often possible to detect errors in hieroglyphic texts that came about due to a misunderstanding of an original hieratic text.

Why was hieratic writing important?

In general, hieratic was much more important than hieroglyphs throughout Egypt's history, being the script used in daily life. It was also the writing system first taught to students, knowledge of hieroglyphs being limited to a small minority who were given additional training.

What is the influence of Hieratic?

Influence. Hieratic has had influence on a number of other writing systems. The most obvious is that on Demotic, its direct descendant. Related to this are the Demotic signs of the Meroitic script and the borrowed Demotic characters used in the Coptic alphabet and Old Nubian .

What is the name of the script used to write the Egyptian language?

Hieratic ( / haɪəˈrætɪk /; Ancient Greek: ἱερατικά, romanized : hieratiká, lit. 'priestly') is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BC until the rise of Demotic in the mid-first millennium BC.

Why are hieratic characters diacritical?

Several hieratic characters have diacritical additions so that similar signs could easily be distinguished. Hieratic is often present in any given period in two forms, a highly ligatured, cursive script used for administrative documents, and a broad uncial bookhand used for literary, scientific, and religious texts.

What are hieratic texts written on?

There are also hieratic texts written on cloth, especially on linen used in mummification.

When did hieratic script become demotic?

In offices, hieratic was replaced by demotic in the 7th century bce, but it remained in fashion until much later for religious texts of all sorts. The latest hieratic texts stem from the end ...

Why were there ligatures in hieratic script?

There were ligatures in hieratic so that two or more signs could be written in one stroke. As a consequence of its decreased legibility, the spelling of the hieratic script tended to be more rigid and more complete than that of hieroglyphic writing. Variations from uniformity at a given time were minor; but, during the course ...

What is the demotic system?

The demotic system corresponds to the hieratic and hence ultimately to the hieroglyphic system. Alongside the traditional spelling, however, there was another spelling that took account of the markedly altered phonetic form of the words by appropriate respelling.

What is the Egyptian cursive script called?

The Egyptian cursive script, called hieratic writing , received its name from the Greek hieratikos (“priestly”) at a time during the late period when the script was used only for sacred texts, whereas everyday secular documents were written in another style, the demotic script (from Greek dēmotikos, “for the people” or “in common use”).

What were the hieratic signs?

Certain hieratic signs were taken into the hieroglyphic script. All commonplace documents—e.g., letters, catalogs, and official writs—were written in hieratic script, as were literary and religious texts. In the life of the Egyptians, hieratic script played a larger role than hieroglyphic writing and was taught earlier in the schools.

Why did hieratic characters change?

Changes occurred in the characters of hieratic simply because they could be written rapidly with brush or rush and ink on papyrus. Often the original pictorial form is not, or not easily, recognizable.

When was demotic script first used?

Demotic script is first encountered at the beginning of the 26th dynasty, about 660 bce. The writing signs plainly demonstrate its connection with the hieratic script, although the exact relationship is not yet clear. It appears that demotic was originally developed expressly for government office use—that is, for documents in which the language was extensively formalized and thus well suited for the use of a standardized cursive script. Only some time after its introduction was demotic used for literary texts in addition to documents and letters; much later it was employed for religious texts as well. The latest dated demotic text, from December 2, 425, consists of a rock inscription at Philae. In contrast to hieratic, which is almost without exception written in ink on papyrus or other flat surfaces, demotic inscriptions are not infrequently found engraved in stone or carved in wood.

What is hieratic script?

The hieratic script is a broad term, covering finer gradations of cursiveness, that can be defined by period and by purpose according to the following generalised categories: Old Hieratic - the cursive script of the Old Kingdom, used for example in the Abusir Papyri.

When was hieratic used?

The term hieratic really applies to the periods when demotic was in use, after about 700 BC. However, for convenience Egyptologists use the term hieratic for the less cursive script at all periods, even though, until 700 BC, it was used for everyday purposes as well as sacred purposes.

What dynasty was the hieratic script used in?

During the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, Demotic replaces the more cursive southern script, and Late Hieratic is used for religious manuscripts and, until the Thirtieth Dynasty , literary compositions. See too the list of Petrie collection hieratic ostraca, mainly from Deir el-Medina.

When was the hieroglyphic script first used?

The hieroglyphic script remained the anchor of writing in Egypt from the first writing in the late fourth millennium BC until the Roman Period.

When was the Middle Hieratic period?

early Middle Hieratic - the cursive script of the early Middle Kingdom (about 2025-1700 BC), found in letters and accounts until the reign of Senusret III (in provincial centres perhaps later); examples from the end of this period are to be found among the fragmentary accounts papyri from Lahun, e.g. UC 32326.

What is the most troublesome aspect of reading hieratic?

Undoubtedly the most troublesome aspect of reading Hieratic is the large number of signs that resemble one another to a greater or lesser degree. In some cases, e.g., the similarity of certain earthenware vessels, the distinction between forms is, to a certain extent, academic.

Is hieratic the same as Egyptian?

In addition to the mono-literals, determinatives, and logograms outlined above, Hieratic also utilizes bi- and tri-literal signs at more or less the same frequency as Hieroglyphic Egyptian. In addition, the use of phonetic complements with multi-literal signs is roughly comparable to Hieroglyphic.

What is the Hieratic script?

Hieratic script. The Hieratic script was invented and developed more or less at the same time as the hieroglyphic script and was used in parallel with it for everyday purposes such as keeping records and accounts and writing letters. It was used until the 26th Dynasty, though by that time, it was only used for religious texts, ...

What is the script of the 25th dynasty?

There were a number of regional variations, one of which, a northern version, developed into the Demotic script by the 25th Dynasty.

Overview

Hieratic is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BC until the rise of Demotic in the mid-first millennium BC. It was primarily written in ink with a reed pen on papyrus.

Etymology

In the second century, the term hieratic was used for the first time to describe this Ancient Egyptian writing system by the Greek scholar Clement of Alexandria. The term derives from the Greek for "priestly writing" (Koinē Greek: γράμματα ἱερατικά) because at that time, for more than eight and a half centuries, hieratic had been used traditionally only for religious texts and literature.

Development

Uses and materials

Characteristics

Hieratic script, unlike inscriptional and manuscript hieroglyphs, reads from right to left. Initially, hieratic could be written in either columns or horizontal lines, but after the twelfth dynasty (specifically during the reign of Amenemhat III), horizontal writing became the standard.
Hieratic is noted for its cursive nature and use of ligatures for a number of char…

Influence

Hieratic has had influence on a number of other writing systems. The most obvious is that on Demotic, its direct descendant. Related to this are the Demotic signs of the Meroitic script and the borrowed Demotic characters used in the Coptic alphabet and Old Nubian.
Outside of the Nile Valley, many of the signs used in the Byblos syllabary apparently were borrowed from Old Kingdom hieratic signs. It is also known that early Hebrew used hieratic numerals.

Unicode

The Unicode standard considers hieratic characters to be font variants of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, and the two scripts have been unified. Hieroglyphs were added to the Unicode Standard in October 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

Notes

1. ^ McGregor, William B. (2015). Linguistics: An Introduction. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 306. ISBN 978-0-567-48339-3.
2. ^ Goedicke 1988:vii; Wente 2001:2006. The reference is made in Clement's Stromata 5:4.
3. ^ Definition of hieratic, Free Online Dictionary. Retrieved 2011-10-23.