Hieroglyphics   

Before the finding of the Rosetta Stone in  July 1799, in the Egyptian village of Rosette (Raschid) , there was not a living soul who could decipher the hieroglyphics of ancient Egyptians, a language separated from ours by countless centuries. It is because of its discovery that  allows for the modern understanding of hieroglyphics. 

Created around 2000 B.C. , it consists of a stone tablet engraved with writing which celebrates the crowning of King Ptolemy V. It is carved on a solid piece of black Basalt measuring  114 cm high by 72cm wide by 28 cm deep. The translation from Egyptian hieroglyphics is only possible because the same message is written on this stone in three different scripts; Demotic, Greek, and lastly in hieroglyphics. Each of the first two translations are necessary to achieve a proper translation of hieroglyphics. This is because of the large gap in time between present day and ancient Egypt, which must be bridged by working up to more and more current languages. Ergo, Greek (which is still spoken today), is translated to Demotic, and then from Demotic to hieroglyphics.

Hieroglyphics (top of stone) : used by ancient  Egyptians Demotic (middle of stone) : used by Arabs  Greek (base of stone) : used by Greeks and other eastern Europeans (still spoken today)

For some examples of this ancient language, but certainly not every sign in existence (there are far to many), turn to:

"a" as in father                        
"i" as in filled                  
"y" as in discovery
"a" as in car
"oo" as in too also "w" as in wet
"b" as in boot
"p" as in pedestal
"f" as in feel also "v" as in viper
"m" as in moon
"n" as in normal
"r" as in right
"h" as in hat
"h" as in ha
"ch" as in loch
"ch" as in ich
"s" as in saw also "z" as in zebra
"sh" as in show
"q" as in queen
"k" as in basket
"g" as in gopher
"t" as in top
"ch" as in church
"d" as in dog
"dj" as in adjust
"x" as in x-ray

For more examples of Egyptian Hieroglyphics, turn to the next available page.