mission 4: Code Name: Hieroglyphics

Mission 4:
Code Name: Hieroglyphic

This is a picture of hieroglyphics

How did Ancient Egyptians Communicate with each other in writing?

Your mission has been successful so far because of your hard work and leadership. You must continue to work hard. Remember, our world depends on you! We have successfully used our vast connections to obtain a place for you in a local school for scribes. The rigorous education that you receive here will ensure that you can read and write using Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs. We suggest that you start with the information below and then access your computer and the books to learn more about the Hieroglyphs of the Ancient Egyptian Pharos.

Background Information

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Hieroglyphs, what the heck are they? Hieroglyphs are drawings that made up Ancient Egypt's written language. The earliest Hieroglyphs were simple pictures that showed what the scribe (writer) wanted to communicate. For instance, a picture of a mouth meant to speak.

As time went by, this written language became more refined so that certain pictures stood for certain sounds instead of whole words. In that way Ancient Egyptians could spell out words. Also, Egyptians developed numeral Hieroglyphs so they could do math problems.

Could every Ancient Egyptians read and write with Hieroglyphs? No, only the sons of wealthy Egyptians could be trained. They were called scribes (writers.) This was tough work; the scribes had to learn over 750 hieroglyphic signs.

I Want to Learn More

Hieroglyphic Offline Resources

Here are a few books on Daily life in Ancient Egypt. For a full listing check out our Ancient Egyptian Annotated Bibliography.

Der Manuelian, Peter. Hieroglyphs from A to Z. Scholastic, New York. 1996
Giblin, James Cross. Riddle of the Rosetta Stone: Key to Ancient Egypt. 1993
Hart, George, ed. Ancient Egypt. The Nature Company Discoveries Library, 1995.
James, John and Louise. How We Know about the Egyptians. Peter Bedrick Books, New York. 1997.

Hieroglyphic Online Resources

Egyptian Hieroglyphics

Ancient Hieroglyphics
The Write Stuff - Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics
Basic Hieroglyphic Alphabet
Common Cartouche Symbols
Odyssey Online Hieroglyphics
Hieroglyphics
Papyrus
Write Your Name in Hieroglyphics
Discovering Writing
Crack the Code
Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Hieroglyphic Directory
How to read Hieroglyphs

Egyptian Numeral Hieroglyphics

Egyptian Numerals
Egyptian Numerals
Ancient Egyptian Number Symbols
Egyptian mathematics
Egyptian Numerals

Hieroglyphic Activities

Operation Cartouche

You have done very well at your studies as a scribe. Your wise instructor has told you to design and make a cartouche with your name. You will need to study and become familiar with Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and what a cartouche is. You will need to create your own cartouche with your name on it. This test will help us to determine if you understand Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics. It is crucial that you succeed here since you will need these skills to decipher the secret message inside King Tut's Burial Mask.

Other Suggested Activities:

Hieroglyphics Activity
Make Your Own Cartouche
Letter to Hieroglyphics Encoder Activity
Sentence to Hieroglyphics Decoder Activity

Revisit the Question

How did Ancient Egyptians Communicate with each other in writing?

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Created: June 24, 1998
Updated: June 27, 2003

Ancient Egypt Webquest

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