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Ancient
Egyptian Hieroglyphs
The
Cartouche
A
cartouche is an oval form which frames the hieroglyphs
that make up the name of a God or Royal person.
It
represents a looped rope which has the magical power to
protect the name that is written inside it.
Cartouches
were first used about 2500 BC. They
were originally circular in shape, but gradually changed
to an oval form with flat sides. This
shape allowed a better arrangement of the hieroglyphs
inside it.
On
becoming king, the Pharaoh would adopt a royal name. This
was called the 'prenomen'. It was often displayed along
with the 'nomen' (the Pharaoah's birth name) in the form
of a double cartouche.
Our
example of the cartouche above is based on Tutankhamun’s
'nomen'. The three hieroglyphs at the top make up the
name 'AMUN' and are placed in the most important position.
The bird with two bread loaves reads 'TUT' and to its
left is the symbol 'ANKH' which represents life. On
the bottom row the crook which means 'ruler' is accompanied
by two signs representing the city of Thebes.
Tutankhamun
( c. 1352 - 1325 BC ) became Pharaoh about the age of
9 and ruled until his death at 18. Little
is known about him and he does not seem to have any major
achievements.
However,
he is one of the most famous pharoahs due to the discovery
of his incredible tomb. It was found in 1922, in the Valley
of the Kings at Luxor, by the British archaeologist, Howard
Carter and his patron, Lord Carnarvon. In
1923, a few months after entering the tomb, Lord Carnarvon
died. At
the same time there was a power failure in Cairo and his
dog in England also died. As
a result, this gave rise to the myth of Tutankhamun's
curse.
Tutankhamun's
tomb was the most complete burial chamber ever found.
While many other tombs had been plundered by thieves,
Tutankhamun's was virtually untouched and filled with
priceless treasures.
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The
A to Z of Hieroglyphs
Click
on one of the hieroglyphs above for more information
Our
simplified Hieroglyphic Alphabet is designed for fun to let you
translate English words into Hieroglyphs.
Before
you translate your words into hieroglyphs, break them down into their
basic sounds of their syllables. For example, the word hieroglyph itself
has ten letters but only eight sounds: h-i-r-o-g-l-y-f. Therefore, you
would only need eight hieroglyphs to represent it.
Treat
all double letters as single sounds. That should help you cut back
on the number of hieroglyphs you need to use.
Sometimes
the same hieroglyph is used to represent different letters. If that happens,
change the colour of the hieroglyphs to avoid confusion.
Arrange your hieroglyphs to create interesting designs rather than the
straight lines that we use to arrange our letters and sentences. |
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