Egyptian Scripts Research Articles

Semantic classifiers (determinatives) and categorization in the ancient Egyptian writing system: Rules, list of classifiers, and studies by iClassifier on the Story of Sinuhe

In the last two decades, we have extensively explored the semantic classifiers in ancient Egyptian scripts, showing how they encode the world from two complementary perspectives: universal cognitive tendencies of classification along with Egyptian society's categorization of the world. Our central hypothesis is that each graphemic classifier in the Egyptian writing system heads a conceptual category. The assemblage of words classified by a particular classifier presents us with a dynamic map of an emic category in the mind of a culture. Classifiers in the Egyptian script allow us to trace central and marginal members of conceptual categories, spot interrelations and overlaps between categories, observe diachronic developments and changes, and discover incompatibility of categories. The number of classifier occurrences in complex script systems amounts to millions (i.e., big data). In the last decade, we developed in the ArchaeoMind Lab the digital tool iClassifier 1 (© Goldwasser, Harel, and Nikolaev) designed to check our hypothesis on a large scope of texts from different periods and different scripts. We mark classifiers in imported digitalized corpora—in ancient Chinese, ancient Egyptian, and Sumerian cuneiform. This contribution introduces the reader to the rules of the classifier system in the Egyptian script and presents new results from a pilot project on a genuine Egyptian corpus (variants of the Story of Sinuhe).

KAYIP BİNYIL: İSLAM DÜNYASINDA HİYEROGLİFLER VE ESKİ MISIR-Okasha el-Daly(Ukâşe ed-Dâlî)

The Arab study of Ancient Egypt was the result of a universal understanding of history rather than the narrow purpose of verifying scriptures. They were critical of pre-Islamic written sources and did not accept even texts based on eyewitnesses uncritically. The Arabs' work, which included accurate descriptions of ancient monuments, was aimed at understanding their symbolic value and function. They noticed the relationship of the ancient Egyptian language to Coptic, the phonetic value of hieroglyphs, and that some were grouped like alphabets. Arab writers interested in deciphering Egyptian script were primarily alchemists and often Sufis. Access to Ancient Egyptian texts written in Demotic and Coptic – often in Greek translations – has helped Arab scholars better understand the complex nature of Egyptian religion.
 
 Studies of the origin of Sufism tend to concentrate on India and Persia, without mentioning the Egyptian sources. However, for example, Akhenaten's comparison of Suhrawardi- Illuminationism (Ishraqiyya) with sun hymns and studies on Mandaeanist/ Sabianist religious traditions in Iraq and Iran will shed light on the similarities between Egyptian religion and especially rituals and beliefs. 
 Medieval writers tried to find common ground between Islamic teachings and Ancient Egyptian religion.
 Studies of Arabic philosophy can shed light on the problems of Ancient Egyptian philosophy. Because some basic concepts of Ancient Egyptian philosophy formed the basis of later Arab and Greek philosophy. Arab writers, like their classical predecessors, thought that this country had been home to science and wisdom since Hermes of Egypt, to whom they attributed the invention of writing, alchemy and medicine. They knew that the pharaoh Moses was dealing with was not a typical pharaoh but an exception. Pharaohs were portrayed as skilled rulers, knowledgeable and pious figures who cared for the welfare of the people.
 Cleopatra is described in Arabic sources as a philosopher and scholar, without reference to her physical attractiveness.
 Despite more than two centuries of domination of Egyptology by the Eurocentric view that ignored the thousand-year Arab contribution, archaeologists working in other parts of the Near East have also begun to realize the problem of Western dominance among them. But we also owe much to our Western colleagues for their invaluable contributions.

Egyptian Centres and the Distribution of the Alphabet in the Levant

The article contends that the adoption of the alphabetic script in the Levant in the LB II–early Iron Age is best explained by the scribal activity of the Empire’s representatives in the Egyptian centres of government and by the display of artefacts written in the hieroglyphic script in these centres. The early alphabetic inscriptions clustered mainly in regions located near the Egyptian centres of Gaza, Joppa, Beth-shean and Kumidi and the city-states of Lachish and Byblos. The latter was the first city that developed extensive writing in the alphabetic script and the first to form a scribal school under the patronage of its royal court. Although the Egyptian display inscriptions and scribal culture inspired the local Canaanite elites, the latter, rather than adopting the prestigious Egyptian script and language, absorbed only the idea of writing, and applied it to their culture in the revolutionary medium invented hundreds of years earlier in the Sinai Peninsula.

Ptah-Sokar-Osiris Statuette of 6A-Irj.t, Daughter of Amenhotep, the Priest of Amen-Re

This paper investigates one of plastered and polychromed wooden statuettes of a lady called 6A-Irj.t, daughter of a priest of Amen-Re called Amenhotep. The provenance is unknown to us; however, mummiform figure must have belonged to a rich tomb of a large cemetery and to a wealthy character based on rich colors, decorations, and inscriptions. Based on Raven Typology (1978-1979), statuette fits in type III: Ptah-Sokar-Osiris with green as evident from its features. These features include: a green face with black and white details in eyes, ornamented tripartite hair wig with strips colored in blue, anDty headdress, existence of a back pillar, long base with a deep rectangular cavity before statuette possibly once filled by a figure of falcon that depicts god Sokar. The green color of face represents an obvious identification with Osiris, the Great Green, to indicate resurrection. The affiliation of figure to Type III in Raven topography addresses its dating to 26th dynasty. Also, occurrence of anDty crown is a major feature of 26th Dynasty statuettes. The back pillar was also a fixed component of statuettes during 26th Dynasty as Schneider (1977) emphasized. Moreover, base cavity was also a typical feature of 26th Dynasty statuettes of this type. Texts also reflect same conclusion; owner name 6A-Irj.t was popular among women during Late period, use of (T) instead of (t) in owner's name occurred in Late Period variations of name as addressed by Ranke (1935), use of Late Period compound proposition m-bAH, and omitting of feminine analytical endings was a feature of Late Egyptian script. Jewelry contributed to guarantee protection of deceased in hereafter. The broad collar wsx protects neck and throat of deceased who is identified with Osiris in his 'joining earth' day as echoed in chapter 158 of Book of Dead. The texts and iconography probably denote an abstract version of chapter 151 of Book of Dead which reveals burial and embalming of deceased and cope with purpose of statuettes. This means that statuette is functioning as a little coffin where this chapter used to be inscribed as Gabolde (1990) explained. Thus, purpose of was to facilitate transition from death to hereafter and to imitate resurrection of Osiris as Schneider (1977) highlighted. Gods and goddesses displayed in iconography and/or mentioned in texts cooperated to assure full protection of deceased. winged scarab Khepri on feet carries Sn sign by its legs preserves deceased's corpse from decay and; therefore, exist forever. Also, Khepri rescues deceased from enemies in hereafter and helps deceased to build herself, i.e. resurrect every day. Eventually, Khepri forms a part of a composition including: deceased as Osiris, flanked by names of Isis and Nephthys as displayed in chapter 110 of Book of Dead. Beside two protector goddesses of deceased Osiris Isis and Nephthys, figures of four sons of Horus preserve mummified internal organs of deceased. Imesty, Dwamutef, Hapy, and Qebehsenuef protect liver, stomach, lungs, and intestines respectively. Atum guarantees deceased a seat in his night bark or his sacred seat for millions of years. Re protects face and head of deceased. He helps deceased to open her closed eyes to see sun disk illuminating like 'the horizon dwellers. Maat sustains deceased's hearing in 'Silent Land' so that he could hear judges in judgement court. He hears truth that no sins are held against her. The deceased wishes to deliver breath from Shu to tip of her nose which will help her to resurrect. Geb protects deceased as he does to Osiris, opens double doors of earth and receive her, and takeover enemies of deceased. Anubis opens two gates of horizon for deceased and protects her like he does to Osiris. Finally, Eye of Horus encompasses deceased, prevents storms from her, keeps her sound for life, and models its magical protection about her flesh as mentioned in Chapter 15 of Book of Dead.

Imitating the Egyptian Hieroglyphic Script in the Roman Era

Summary: The present paper studies a unique monument discovered in 1979 by the Romanian researcher Nicolae Vlassa. Unfortunately due to his sudden pass-away, the stela/obelisk remained hidden from the scientific community until now. Although it is a stray discovery and not from an archaeological context, the author, with the help of geo-petrographical analysis, tries to “remove the dust” of this monument, putting it in the proper place, namely in the corpus of the aegyptiaca finds coming from the Roman province of Dacia Porolissensis.

“The Curious Mixture of Signs” That Is Hieroglyphics

“The Curious Mixture of Signs” That Is Hieroglyphics* COLIN WELLS In the early pages of Wuthering Heights, Lockwood , the narrator, gets snowed in at the remote farmhouse from which Emily Bronte’s only novel takes its title. Exploring the place, he comes across a cache of dilapidated and mildewed books. On the shelf where the books rest, he sees writing scratched into the paint: “This writing, however, was nothing but a name repeated in all kinds of characters, large and small—CATHERINE EARNSHAW, here and there varied to CATHERINE HEATHCLIFF, and then again to CATHERINE LINTON.” When he examines the books more closely, Lockwood notices that the margins have been filled with scribbled notes that, he realizes, amount to a sort of diary. “An immediate interest kindled within me for the unknown Catherine, and I began forthwith to decipher her faded hieroglyphics.” Of course, we’re not meant to think that Catherine’s diary was actually written in hieroglyphics, just that her writing resembled the ancient Egyptian script in being old and hard to read as well as mysterious and highly alluring. Such writing seems to hold out the promise of unlocking ancient, hidden secrets. It certainly does so in Wuthering Heights, since this is how Lockwood begins to uncover the story of revenge and timeless love that has captivated readers ever since (and which, despite numerous film versions, continues somehow to elude movie audiences). *Andrew Robinson, Cracking the Egyptian Code: The Revolutionary Life of Jean-François Champollion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. 272 pages. $29.95 cloth. arion 20.3 winter 2013 Characteristically, Emily Bronte chose the perfect metaphor here and deployed it with breathtaking, seemingly casual precision . When Wuthering Heights came out in 1847, the decipherment of hieroglyphics was fresh and very much alive in popular imagination. The big breakthrough had come only a quarter-century earlier, in 1822, and important progress was still being made and widely followed by a very interested public . The Heathcliffesque genius who figured out hieroglyphics, Jean-François Champollion, had died at the age of 41 just a decade and a half before the novel, in 1832. More specifically, though, Bronte’s use of the metaphor is precise not only because it picks up on the repetition of names, which in fact played a central role in the decipherment, but also because the key to understanding the script was Champollion’s 1822 insight that it did, indeed, embrace “all kinds of characters”— what Champollion’s fellow Egytpologist Karl Richard Lepsius, in 1837, called “the curious mixture of signs of a totally different nature that comprise one and the same alphabet.” Not to mention that, from the beginning of nineteenth century, the romance of ancient Egypt had kindled the interest of Europeans like nothing else. In his recent biography of Champollion, journalist and author Andrew Robinson does full justice to all aspects of this story for the general reader. It’s a narrative with great visual appeal, and one of the book’s strengths lies in its generous graphics, with plentiful, well-chosen black-and-white illustrations interwoven with the text and two fine selections of color plates. In addition, the examples of the hieroglyphic signs themselves, which appear frequently in the text, are cleanly and crisply reproduced. And for the most part, Robinson finds just the right level of detail in laying out the many complexities of the Egyptians’ baffling script clearly and understandably , while offering an enthralling yet judicious portrait of the first person since late antiquity who truly grasped it. The book’s graphic excellence may have something to do with its publishing history, since the British edition was published by Thames & Hudson, who also published several of “the curious mixture of signs” 162 Robinson’s other books on related subjects. Robinson, a former literary editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement , has carved out a niche for himself with well-illustrated books of popular synthesis on the history of writing systems and the modern decipherment (or lack thereof) of some early ones. His previous books include The Story of Writing and Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World’s Undeciphered Scripts, as well as The Man Who...

The Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian Scripts. Gordon J. Hamilton.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsThe Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian Scripts. Gordon J. Hamilton.Anson F. RaineyAnson F. Rainey Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research Volume 354May 2009 A journal of the American Schools of Oriental Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/BASOR25609319 Views: 18Total views on this site Journal History This article was published in the Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research (1921-2021), which is continued by the Bulletin of the American Schools of Overseas Research (2022-present). Copyright 2009 The American Schools of Oriental ResearchPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian Scripts (review)

The Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian Scripts (review)

Seth is Baal - Evidence from the Egyptian script

Inhalt:N. ALLON: Seth is Baal – Evidence from the Egyptian Script; H. BARNARD: Additional Remarks on Blemmyes, Beja and Eastern Desert Ware; M. BIETAK and I. FORSTNER-MÜLLER: Ausgrabung eines Palastbezirkes der Tuthmosidenzeit bei cEzbet Helmi/Tell el-Dabca, Vorbericht für das Frühjahr 2007; E.C.M. VAN DEN BRINK, R. GOPHNA and A. OVADIAH: Burial Cave 2 in the Azor-Holon Cemetery: An Early Bronze Age I Tomb with Egyptian Finds; I. FINKELSTEIN and E. PIASETZKY: Radiocarbon Dating and Philistine Chronology with an Addendum on el-Ahwat; I. FORSTNER-MÜLLER: The Colonization/Urbanization of the Tell Area A/II at Tell el-Dabca and its Chronological Implications; I. FORSTNER-MÜLLER, T. HERBICH, W. MÜLLER, Ch. SCHWEITZER and M. WEISSL: Geophysical Survey 2007 at Tell el-Dabca; F. HÖFLMAYER: Ägyptische Skarabäen auf Kreta und ihre Bedeutung für die absolute Chronologie der minoischen Altpalastzeit (MM IB–MM IIB); J.K. HOFFMEIER and K.A. KITCHEN: Reshep and Astarte in North Sinai: A Recently Discovered Stela from Tell el-Borg; E.S. MARCUS: Amenemhet II and the Sea: Maritime Aspects of the Mit Rahina (Memphis) Inscription; M.A.S. MARTIN and R. BEN-DOV: Egyptian and Egyptian-Style Pottery at Tel Dan; N. Ch. MATH: Eine innere Chronologie der Badarikultur? Möglichkeiten und Aspekte; D. MORANDI BONACOSSI: The Chronology of the Royal Palace of Qatna Revisited. A Reply to a Paper by Mirko Novák, Egypt and the Levant 14, 2004; T. MÜHLENBRUCH: Die Synchronisierung der nördlichen Levante und Kilikiens mit der ägäischen Spätbronzezeit; H. REFAI: Zur Entwicklung der königlichen Jenseitsabsicherung in den thebanischen Totentempeln des Neuen Reiches; R. SCHIESTL: The Coffin from Tomb I at Byblos; A. WINKELS: Restauratorisch-naturwissenschaftliche Untersuchung von tuthmosidischen Putzen aus cEzbet Helmi/Tell el-Dabca – Ein Beitrag zur Erforschung altägyptischer Kalkputztechnik; E. YANNAI: New Typology and Chronology of the Grey Lustrous Wheel Made Ware in Israel

Periodicals and Collected Essays

PERIODICALS AND COLLECTED ESSAYS Compiled by David Marcus and Cynthia L. Miller HEBREW LINGUISTICS I BALSHANUT cIVRIT. Volume 45 (November 1999). All articles in Hebrew with English abstracts. Esther Borochovsky and Pnina Trumer, "From Formal-Syntactic Study to Semantic-Syntactic Study: The Scientific Achievements of Eliezer Rubinstein," pp. 5-36; Luba Charlap, "On Some Types of Ambiguity in the Biblical Text: A TextualSemantic Aspect Seen through the Exegesis of Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra," pp. 37-52; Maika Muchnik and Hadassa Kantor, "Personal Titles in UltraOrthodox Communication," pp. 53-60; Dorit Ravid, "Derived Nominals in Modem Hebrew: A Morphological Analysis:' pp. 61-78; Isaiah Shen, ".After strangling him. she quickly lay down on the floor': Important Infonnation Units in Literary Texts," pp. 79-94. Book reviews by Efraim Nisan of J. E. Hoch. Semitic Words in Egyptian Texts 0/the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period and D. Sivan and Z. Cochavi-Rainey, West Semitic Vocabulary in Egyptian Script 0/the 14th to the 10th Centuries BCE. pp. 95-100. HEBREW LINGUISTICS I BALSHANUT cIVRIT. Volume 46 (March 2(00). All articles in Hebrew with English abstracts. Michal Ephratt. "Defmition of the Hebrew Root," pp. 5-54; Ron Kuzar, "'a!rei hama'amin' and Similar Constructions in the Different Phases of Hebrew." pp. 55-68; Zohar Livnat, "Punctuation as a Rhetoric Means." pp. 69-80; Maya Fruchtman, "Language-Literature; Literature-Language: Intentions and Deeds." pp. 81-88. Book review by Nasir Basal of The Dawn 0/ Hebrew Linguistic~The Book of Elegance of the Language of the Hebrews by Saadia Gaon; Introduction and Critical Edition by Aron Dotan, pp. 89-95. Book review by Dalia Cohen-Gross ofGidon Avraham.A Bridge o/Words. pp. 97-98. HEBREW LINGUISTICS I BALSHANUT cIVRIT. Volume 47 (June 2(00). All articles in Hebrew with English abstracts. Noga IIani. "Internal Object in Modem Hebrew," pp. 5-19; Keren Dubnov. "Synthetic and Hebrew Studies 41 (2000) 366 Periodicals and Collected Essays Analytic Possessive Pronouns Related to Nouns in Spoken Hebrew:' pp. 21-26; Nissan Netzer, "'Barosh shelcha Iitfos rosh tovT-On the Semantic Development of the word 'Rosh' (Head) in 'Popular' Hebrew," pp. 27-38; Edit Doron, "The Passive Participle," pp. 39-62; Galia Hatav, "Time Movement in Biblical Hebrew," pp. 63-84; Bruria Margolin, "On the Punctuation of Focalized Sentences in Hebrew," pp. 85-92. Book review by M. Z. Kaddari of Yaakov Bentolita and Aharon Komem, Concordance to Nathan Alterman's "Shirim Shemi/evar," pp. 93-96. MODERN HEBREW LITERATURE. Volume 24 (Spring/Summer 2(00) Volume topic: Looking Backward. An editorial by Gershon Shaked, p. 2. Moshe Shamir, "On the Near and the Far," pp. ~. Excerpts from the novel. Moshe Shamir, "The Bridal Veil," pp. 4-9; Dan Tsalka, "A Thousand Hearts," pp. 9-12; Shulamit Lapid, "Gai Oni," pp. 13-16; Itamar Levy, "ZeJig Maintz and His Longings for Death," pp. 17-22; Yitzhak Ben-Ner, "Protocol," pp. 23-27. A story by Haim Hazaz, "He Ordained," pp. 28-31. Poems. Aharon Shabtai, "To My Friend," p. 32; Hanoch Levin, "This Is a Wonderful Hour," "I Thought That with Us It Would Be Different," p. 33. Book reviews. Arnold Band of Haim Be'er's The Pure Element o/Time, pp. 34-35; Rachel Furstenberg of Alona Kimchi's Weeping Susannah, pp. 35-37; Emily Miller Budick of Aharon Appelfeld's The Ice Mine; All that I have Loved; The Story 0/a Life, pp. 38-40; Lily Rattock of Judith Katzir's Inland Lighthouses, pp. 40-41; Yigal Schwartz of Eyal Megged's Early Grace, pp. 42-43; Eli Hirsch of Edna Mazya's An X-Ray Burst, pp. 43-44. The Labour of Reading: Desire, Alienation and Biblical Interpretation. Fiona C. Black, Roland Boer, and Erin Runions, eds. Semeia Studies 36. pp. xii + 317. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 1999. Paper. Eighteen essays in honour of the retirement of Robert C. Culley follow a Preface and Appreciation of the honoree by the editors and a bibliography of his writings. Part 1. Pleasurable Labour/Laborious Pleasure. Francis Landy, "Seraphim and Poetic Process," pp. 15-34; Fiona C. Black, "What is My Beloved? On Erotic Reading and the Song of Songs...

Two Notes on Egyptian Script

Research Article| April 01 1996 Two Notes on Egyptian Script John Gee John Gee Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Book of Mormon Studies (1992-2007) (1996) 5 (1): 162–176. https://doi.org/10.2307/44747537 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation John Gee; Two Notes on Egyptian Script. Journal of Book of Mormon Studies (1992-2007) 1 January 1996; 5 (1): 162–176. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/44747537 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressJournal of Book of Mormon Studies Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 1996 Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies1996 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

REVIEWS

REVIEWS Get access DANIEL SIVAN and ZIPORA COCHAVI-RAINEY, West Semitic Vocabulary in Egyptian Script of the 14th to the 10th Centuries BCE (Studies by the Department of Bible and Ancient Near East, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev). Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press, Beer-Sheva 1992. Pp. xii + 93 + [2].ISBN: 0334-225. K.A. KITCHEN K.A. KITCHEN UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Semitic Studies, Volume XL, Issue 1, SPRING 1995, Page 91, https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/XL.1.91 Published: 01 March 1995

Northwest Semitic Incantations in an Egyptian Medical Papyrus of the Fourteenth Century B. C. E.

THE London Medical Papyrus, published seventy years ago by W. Wreszinski,' contains a number of short Northwest Semitic magical texts transcribed into hieratic syllabic script (group writing).2 The only attempts I know of to decipher any of these texts have been by Egyptologists;3 Semitists seem to have ignored them entirely.4 This neglect is quite undeserved, since the papyrus in question is early by Northwest Semitic standards (fourteenth century B.C.E.)5 and since the Egyptian syllabic script is, in many ways, more informative than the native scripts of the Northwest Semitic languages. So far as I know, these incantations have the distinction of being the earliest Semitic texts written in an Egyptian script.6 The Amorite material in the Execration Texts, etc.,7 is much earlier, but it consists solely of names. The Northwest Semitic texts in the

Writing left and right

This paper explores the relationship between the structure of orthographies and the way they are laid out spatially. Following Robert Lafont (1984) and Geoffrey Sampson (1985), it is argued that orthographies are strongly correlated with specific linguistic features of the languages they represent. The Greek alphabet developed in the high-density area of different Mediterranean cultures combines features of the Sumerian and the Egyptian scripts, adapted to the specific properties of the Greek language.