Hieroglyphics
by Yulianna Torres
Hieroglyphics is a system of writing that was used in ancient Egypt that employs characters in the form of pictures. Egyptian hieroglyphics were only used for monumental inscriptions.Hieroglyphic texts are found primarily on the walls of temples and tombs, but they also appear on memorials, gravestones, statues, coffins, and other monumental inscriptions. The hieroglyphic writing system consists almost entirely of signs that represent recognizable objects in the natural world, and these can be grouped into three categories; Logogram, phonogram, and determinatives. Logograms provide both sound and meaning, phonograms represent a sound or a series a sounds, and determinatives are used to specify meaning. Hieroglyphics are usually read from left to right but if written in hieratic, the cursive form of hieroglyphics, then the symbols are read from right to left. Since Egyptian monuments were decorated according to strict enforcment of symmetry, the hieroglyphcs adorning the temples and tombs were facing in both directions in order to create a sence of balance. Inscriptions could be written either in horizontal rows or in vertical columns, a feature that was ideally suited for the decoration of monumental walls, doorways, and lintels.