Ancient carvings of hieroglyphs |
Hieroglyphs |
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![]() scribes and lotus columns in low relief (reference) ![]() the owl: symbol for "m" ![]() ![]() incised carvings ![]() the crocodile god in Ptolemaic high relief carving |
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So, I am a scribe of the horses: Eternal WallpaperOn my desktop I have a magnificent photo of a wall carving from the Ptolemaic period showing the Egyptians' typical integration of pictorial images and hieroglyphs. No doubt the Egyptians should be credited with the concept of wallpaper. Their designs are repetitive, visually lyrical, originally vividly painted, and designed to avoid empty spaces. If your computer can display a large photograph, take a virtual tour and enjoy the splendor!
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Writing names in hieroglyphsSimple alphabetic transcription of namesWe begin with a phonetic approximation. Here's an Arabian horse's name spelled in Hieroglyphs twice: Raquii The R a q i and i are the represented sounds, since we call him "Rocky". More complete transcriptions involve the full range of the language, which seldom neatly matches our spoken sounds. Names written with sounds and meaningsMy fancy is to evoke the magic spell of the hieroglyphic word by writing names in that ancient language. To the Egyptians, to name something was to know it. I concur with their magic use of the word. Adding determinatives and interpretations.An example of adding more meaning along with alphabetic transcription of a name is the descriptively written Daughters of the Nile Arabians which includes the acronym in a cartouche: Encircling the name with a cartoucheI sometimes take the liberty of enclosing the goddess Seshet or another name in a cartouche, although the names of Egyptian dieties generally are not treated that way in the ancient texts; human royal names were. Kings merited cartouches in ancient Egypt. My stallion, Raquii, is entitled to royal distinction in my world view, taking great liberties with the Egyptian language. You can make yourself king or queen for a day. That symbol of royalty, the elongated lozenge shape, may originally have been a circle formed by a knotted rope. See the Mandala for more circular symbolism. Since I don't have time to transcribe names into hieroglyphs for others any more, I suggest you design your name yourself using the Webscribe Hieroglyph Designer. You can drag letters into place to spell your name phonetically accompanied by any of four Egyptian designs. Or with WikiHiero you can write hieroglyphs online using Gardiner's sign lists. Try it—it's addictive! |