Hieroglyphic

   Modern term derived from the Greek word used to describe the standard form of Egyptian writing to express the Egyptian language. The earliest forms appear at the end of the Predynastic Period and the Early Dynastic Period, but the script does not become fully intelligible until the Old Kingdom. The writing consists of two types of signs: phonograms that represent single consonants or consonantal clusters (biliterals or triliterals) and ideograms that indicate the sense of the word, usually written at the end of the word to reinforce the meaning. The basic consonantal alphabet consists of 24 signs; vowels were not written. Hieroglyphic writing was soon replaced by hieraticfor ordinary usage, and the hieroglyphic script was reserved for monumental work in stone or paint and for religious texts. The script was deciphered in modern times by Jean-Francois Champollion, building on the work of Thomas Young, with the help of bilingual texts such as the Rosetta Stone. The subsequent realization that Coptic was a later form of the same language immeasurably aided the understanding of ancient Egyptian texts.

   See also Demotic.

Historical Dictionary Of Ancient Egypt by Morris L. Bierbrier