In art this term, Beech and Eucalyptus class have been looking at ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Egyptian hieroglyphs were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. The word hieroglyph literally means “sacred carvings“. The Egyptians first used hieroglyphs exclusively for inscriptions carved or painted on temple walls. This form of pictorial writing was also used on tombs, sheets of papyrus, wooden boards covered with a stucco wash, potsherds and fragments of limestone.
Hieroglyphs consist of three kinds of glyphs:
- Phonetic glyphs, including single-consonant characters that function like an alphabet;
- Logographs, representing morphemes; and
- Determinatives, which narrow down the meaning of logographic or phonetic words.
Hieroglyphs were called, by the Egyptians, “the words of God” and were used mainly by the priests. As you can see from the images below, the children created their own hieroglyphs. They did a fantastic job. To get a larger view of the artwork, please click on the thumbnails below.