HIEROGLYPHS

How they were used?
Hieroglyphs were the Ancient Egyptian way of writing. Each hieroglyph represented a certain object which was commonly found in Ancient Egypt. In the beginning hieroglyphic signs were used to keep records of the king's possessions. The Scribes would put down a picture and then a number. If the king had 10 cows the scribe would draw a picture of a cow and then the number of cows next to the picture. Hieroglyphs were written on papyrus. Papyrus was the paper the Ancient Egyptians wrote on.

The History of Hieroglyphs

The Ancient Egyptians called their writing "Words of the Gods" or mdju netjer. Hieroglyphs means ' sacred - drawings' in Greek.
Hieroglyphic writing is like puzzle pictures. Ancient Egytian writing used more than 2,000 hieroglyphs. We think it would be just plain cruel if your teacher asked you to write out that alphabet! Our modern Australian alphabet only uses 26 characters!

Hieroglyphs were the earliest form of Egyptian writing and also the writing longest-lived. They were used by scribes to record information between 3000 BC and 300 AD. After that time Egypt was conquered by Greeks and people began to use the Greek alphabet.

The origins of writing in ancient Egypt are not well known. Around 3000 BC was when hieroglyphs first appeared. They were used for over 3,000 thousand years by the Ancient Egyptians.