The Egyptian hieroglyphic script was one of the writing systems used by ancient Egyptians to represent their language. Because of their pictorial elegance, Herodotus and other important Greeks believed that Egyptian hieroglyphs were something sacred, so they referred to them as 'holy writing'. Thus, the word hieroglyph comes from the Greek hiero 'holy' and glypho 'writing'. In the ancient Egyptian language, hieroglyphs were called medu netjer, 'the gods' words' as it was believed that writing was an invention of the gods.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original definition at https://www.worldhistory.org/Egyptian_Hieroglyphs/.
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- Why do you think the Egyptians saw writing as a gift from the gods?
- Which use of hieroglyphs in the article do you find most interesting, and why?
- Do you think Champollion's work changed how people understand ancient Egypt?
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