Hieroglyphs

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     The stamp shows the development of a single Egyptian hieroglyph from a pictograph (2700-2600 b.c.), through hieroglyphic book script (ca. 1500 b.c.) and a form of hieratic script (ca. 1500 b.c.), b.c.), to demotic (400-100 b.c.). The table from which these forms were taken is in David Diringer, The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind, 3rd edition. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1968, Vol. 2, p. 42, 2.6.c.

SCN 71

     There are three “cartouches,” the oval which contains a king’s name. The left cartouche is Neb-kheperu-Re, the throne name of Tut-ankh-amun, which is the content of the middle cartouche. The right cartouche is Ankh-Hesen-Amun, Tut’s wife, and possibly his sister, or at least his step-sister.

SCN 66

SCN B315

Hieratic Script

     The hieratic script was based on hieroglyphic writing from ca. 2900-200 b.c. It was written on papyrus with a reed pen, vertically and later horizontally from right to left.
     The Ebers papyrus is a medical text written in hieratic, dating from ca. 1500 b.c. It is about 20 meters long and about 30 cm high. It was discovered in Luxor in the 1870s and is in library of Leipzig University.
     The Sotis Calendar is on the back of column 1 of the Ebers Papyrus, also written in hieratic. Sotis is the Egyptian name for the star Sirius, the brightest star in the northern hemisphere. Titles and numbers are written in red, the remaining text is in black.

SCN 2207

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