Definition of Hieratic Writing

In books, whether printed or digital, human concerns are expressed as a whole. The Chinese invented paper and the Greeks perfected the alphabet of earlier civilizations. One of the historical episodes related to the writing it happened in Ancient Egypt.

From complex hieroglyphs to simpler writing

In the civilization From Ancient Egypt, specifically in the Pharaonic period, a very advanced culture was established. Among the ruling classes of society were the scribes. The good functioning of the social organization Y politics depended on the activity of these professionals, who worked in different areas of the administration. To achieve the status of scribe it was necessary to train in other languages, laws, accounting and history.

The phonetic signs and the hieroglyphic characters they used had a sacred character (the word hieroglyph means precisely sacred writing). This type of writing had a strong aesthetic sense.

As for its reading, it could be done from left to right or vice versa. The

figures humans or animals determined the beginning of the reading, which was usually done from top to bottom.

The set of signs and figures used in hieroglyphs were used in religious texts (for example, the Book of the Dead), on temple walls, in funerary frescoes or on vessels. The material used as a support was normally clay.

This mode of writing was not practical for certain administrative tasks and for this reason the ancient Egyptians devised another parallel version, the hieratic writing. In this new version a simplification of the complex hieroglyphs was carried out. Hieratic texts were written in italics.

Egyptian scribes normally used the hieroglyphic system and the hieratic system interchangeably

As is logical, Egyptologists must know these two forms of writing, since each of them fulfilled specific functions. The signs used in both versions are similar but have important differences.

With the use of papyrus the scribes were able to carry out their task more effectively

The support material used in hieratic writing was papyrus. It was written in black ink using a reed as an instrument. This form of writing was used for all types of documents until 1200 BC. C. They were read from right to left and a series of abbreviations were used.

In the last stage of Ancient Egyptian civilization, hieratic writing was reserved exclusively for religious issues, since in daily use a new modality, writing, became more important demotic.

With the passage of time, the Greek alphabet was introduced in the different texts.

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