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hieratic script, ancient Egyptian cursive writing, used from the 1st dynasty (c. 2925–c. 2775 bce) until about 200 bce.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 to such a medium than were the formal hieroglyphs.
- Overview
- Hieratic script
- Demotic script
- Decipherment of hieroglyphic writing
- Kircher’s attempts at decipherment
1.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.
2.There were ligatures in hieratic so that two or more signs could be written in one stroke.
3.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 of the various historical periods, the spelling developed and changed. As a result, hieratic texts do not correspond exactly to contemporary hieroglyphic texts, either in the placing of signs or in the spelling of words.
4.Hieratic used diacritical additions to distinguish between two signs that had grown similar to one another because of cursive writing. For example, the cow’s leg received a supplementary distinguishing cross, because in hieratic it had come to resemble the sign for a human leg. Certain hieratic signs were taken into the hieroglyphic script.
1.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.
2.There were ligatures in hieratic so that two or more signs could be written in one stroke.
3.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 of the various historical periods, the spelling developed and changed. As a result, hieratic texts do not correspond exactly to contemporary hieroglyphic texts, either in the placing of signs or in the spelling of words.
4.Hieratic used diacritical additions to distinguish between two signs that had grown similar to one another because of cursive writing. For example, the cow’s leg received a supplementary distinguishing cross, because in hieratic it had come to resemble the sign for a human leg. Certain hieratic signs were taken into the hieroglyphic script.
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.
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. This characteristic applied especially to a large number of words that did not occur in the older language and for which no written form had consequently been passed down. The nontraditional spelling could also be used for old, familiar words.
With the possible exception of Pythagoras, no Greek whose writings have survived seems to have understood the nature of hieroglyphic writing, nor did the Greeks obtain guidance from their Egyptian contemporaries. Rather, the Greek tradition taught that hieroglyphs were symbolic signs or allegories. The Egyptian-born Greek philosopher Plotinus interpreted hieroglyphic writing entirely from the viewpoint of his esoteric philosophy. Only one of the numerous works on the hieroglyphic script written in late antiquity has been preserved: the Hieroglyphica of Horapollon, a Greek Egyptian who probably lived in the 5th century ce. Horapollon made use of a good source, but he himself certainly could not read hieroglyphic writing and began with the false hypothesis of the Greek tradition—namely, that hieroglyphs were symbols and allegories, not phonetic signs.
The Middle Ages neither possessed any knowledge of hieroglyphic writing nor took any interest in it. But a manuscript of Horapollon brought to Florence in 1422 stirred great interest among the humanists. Apparently without realizing that ancient Egyptian originals might be available in Rome, Renaissance artists designed hieroglyphs after Horapollon’s descriptions, as well as from their own imaginations. They used hieroglyphs as wisdom-laden symbols in architecture and also in drawings and paintings.
The great German scholar Athanasius Kircher (1602–80) began his attempts at decipherment with the Coptic language and with the correct hypothesis that the hieroglyphs recorded an earlier stage of this language. He also believed, again correctly, that the signs recorded phonetic values. In spite of this, he did not arrive at correct results—with the...
May 23, 2018 · hieratic. hi·er·at·ic / ˌhī (ə)ˈratik / • adj. of or concerning priests: he raised both his arms in an outlandish hieratic gesture. ∎ of or in the ancient Egyptian writing of abridged hieroglyphics used by priests. Compare with demotic. ∎ of or concerning Egyptian or Greek styles of art adhering to early methods as laid down by ...
HIERATIC meaning: 1. relating to or like priests, or ceremonies performed by priests: 2. in or relating to the…. Learn more.
Dec 3, 2022 · Hieratic. Hieratic is the name given to a cursive writing system used by Ancient Egyptians. It was the main 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 mainly written in ink with a reed pen on papyrus.
Dec 6, 2023 · Hieratic scale Scale can refer to any relationship of parts to the whole, but one particular type is of great significance in many periods: Hieratic scale is scale based on relative importance. That is, the more important a figure, the larger he or she is in relation to the figures around him or her.
HIERATIC definition: 1. relating to or like priests, or ceremonies performed by priests: 2. in or relating to the…. Learn more.
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