07 December 2006

Ancient Egyptian Titles (I)

ROYAL TITLES:

"lord of the two lands" (nb tAw)
"great royal wife" (Hmt wrt nsw)
"son of the king, prince" (sA nsw)

"sovereign, ruler" (ity)

"majesty" (Hm)

"ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt" (nsw biti)

"hereditary prince" (rpa)

20 November 2006

Stela of Nakhty

(see hieroglyphic text below)

Transliteration:

Htp di nsw wsir nb Ddw nTr aA nb AbDw di=f prt xrw t Hnqt kA Apd Ss mnxt xt nbt
nfrt wabt anxt nTr im ddt pt qmAt tA innt Hap(y) m Htp
di nsw TAw n anx nDm st snTr wab n kA n HAty-a nxti mAa xrw ms n nxti mAat xrw

Translation:

LINE 1 An offering which the king gives to Osiris, lord of Busiris, great god, lord of Abydos, so that he may give voice offering of bread, beer, ox, fowl, alabaster and linen, everything ....
LINE 2 .... good and pure on which a god lives, which the sky gives, which the land creates, and which the inundation brings as an offering which the king ....
LINE 3 .... gives, the sweet breath of life, the scent of pure incense for the ka of the governor Nakhti, the justified, born of Nakhti, the justified.

16 November 2006

Stela of Sarenenutet

(see hieroglyphic text below)

Transliteration:

Htp di nsw wsir nb Ddw nTr aA nb AbDw di=f xA
m t Hnqt kA Apd Ss mnxt xt nbt anxt nTr im n kA n imAxy dd Htpw nTr n
nTrw Hsb Snwty imy-r pr sA-rnnwtt mAa xrw ms n bA-mkt

Translation:

LINE 1 An offering which the king gives to Osiris, lord of Djedu (Busiris), great god, lord of Abydos, so that he may give (voice offering) thousand ....
LINE 2 .... in bread, bear, ox, fowl, alabaster and linen, everything on which a god lives, for the ka of the revered one, the offering giver to ....
LINE 3 + vertical + LINE 4 .... the gods, the counter of the double granaries and steward Sarenenutet, the justified, born of Bameket.

How to Read Egyptian Cartoushes?

Some of the most common words to be found inside of a cartoushe and their meaning:

15 November 2006

Examples of Offering Formula

Stela of Sarenenutet - BM EA 585















Stela of Nakhty - BM EA 143

05 October 2006

Gardiner's Sign List

"English Egyptologist, Sir Alan Gardiner, compiled a list of 700 seperate signs used in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. His book "Egyptian Grammar", and this list has become the standard in Egyptology. Both are an absolute "must" for any serious study of ancient Egyptian writing."

 

SIGN LIST for download:

http://showcase.netins.net/web/ankh/gardiner.html 

(4 .gif files, low and high quality)

 

Categories in the list:

 

 1  A Man and his occupations. A1-A56, (+A59 Man w/Club).
 2  B Woman and her occupations. B1-B7. [also B8-B12; see hieroglyphs.]
 3  C Anthropomorphic deities. C1-C20.
 4  D Parts of the human body. D1-D63.
 5  E Mammals. E1-E34. Ox -Rabbit.
 6  F Parts of Mammals. F1-F52.
 7  G Birds. G1-G54.
 8  H Parts of Birds. H1-H8.
 9  I Amphibious animals, reptiles, etc. I1-I15
10  K Fishes and parts of fishes. K1-K7.
11  L Invertebrata and lesser animals. L1-L7.
12  M Trees and plants. M1-M44.
13  N Sky, earth, water. N1-N43.
14  O Buildings, parts of building, etc. O1-O51.
15  P Ships and parts of ships. P1-P11.
16  Q Domestic and funerary furniture. Q1-Q7.
17  R Temple furniture and sacred emblems. R1-R25.
18  S Crowns, dress, staves, etc. S1-S45.
19  T Warfare, hunting, butchery. T1-T35.
20  U Agriculture, crafts, and professions. U1-U41.
21  V Rope, fibre, baskets, bags, etc. V1-V38.
22  W Vessels of stone and earthenware. W1-W25.
23  X Loaves and cakes. X1-X8.
24  Y Writings, games, music. Y1-Y8.
25  Z Strokes, signs derived from hieratic geometrical fiqures. Z1-Z11.
26  Aa Unclassified. Aa1-Aa31. (Aa32 is also in Warfare.)

 

Jim Loy Egyptology pages - Gardiner's Sign List:

http://www.jimloy.com/hiero/gardner0.htm

04 October 2006

Hieroglyphic Texts in MdC Format

Collection of texts in the Manuel de codage format on Serge Rosmorduc's website:

http://www.iut.univ-paris8.fr/~rosmord/hieroglyphes/hieroglyphes.html 

(many have also GIF, JPG, PDF version, and translation in French)

 

Files containing Manuel de codage have .hie extension which is read by most hieroglyphic text editors (like JSesh, TkSesh).

 

 

Texts include:

 

- Louvre C14 stela

- The Shipwrecked Sailor

- the Coffin Text 160

- A papyrus from Gurob

- Un graffiti du Wadi Hammamat

- The wisdom of Amenemope

- Year two stela of Sethnakht in Elephantine

- The teaching of Kagemni (or Gemnika, ...)

- Antef Stela (Louvre C26)

- The "Lebensmüde" (or dispute between a man and his Ba)

- Stela of 400 Years

- Inení's texts

- Iykhernofret stela

- The two brothers

- The Doomed Prince

- Unnamon's travels

- Horus and Seth

- The tales of papyrus Westcar

03 October 2006

New JSesh Version - 2.3.2

New JSesh version has been released.

("The JSesh Project : a free Hieroglyphic editor and Java library for processing Egyptian Hieroglyphs.")

2/10/2006 : version 2.3.2 : Improvement in text layout, bug fixes, updated documentation.

Download link: http://kent.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/jsesh/J...

More info: http://www.iut.univ-paris8.fr/~rosmord/JSesh/

New OpenGlyph version 1.1 Beta

J. A. G. Sanchez:

I've removed the next "problematic" (for copyright reasons) texts in
the OpenGlyph's distribution:


-Faulkner dictionary
-Amduat texts


Also i've removed a bug with the texts' tree (when you expand/close a
section don't throws an error alert)

 

  


You can download the last version in "Files" section at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/openglyph/

24 September 2006

Where Can You Find Hieroglyphic Texts?

The best guide to online hieroglyphic texts can be found on EEF website:

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/4482/EEFtexts.html

List of indexed texts collected by Michael Tilgner:

THE EEF GUIDE TO INTERNET RESOURCES
FOR ANCIENT EGYPTIAN TEXTS

Old Kingdom & First Intermediate Period

A Seal of Pharaoh Peribsen (in tomb P at Abydos)
The Inscriptions of the Statue of mTn / Metjen (Berlin 1106)
The Cannibal Hymn (PT Utterances 273-274)
The Annal Stone (Palermo Stone and associated Fragments)
Three Letters of Pharaoh Djedkare Isesi
The Pyramid Texts
The False Door of Mehu in his tomb in Saqqara
The Decree of Pepi I for the Pyramid City of Snofru (Berlin 17500)
The Autobiography of Weni the Elder (CG 1435)
The Letter of Pepi II to Harkhuf (in his tomb in Qubbet el-Hawa, no. 34)
The Autobiography of Pepinakht called Heqaib in his tomb in Qubbet el-Hawa (QH 35)
The Instruction of Kagemni (pPrisse 1,1 - 2,9)
The Instruction of Ptahhotep

Middle Kingdom & Second Intermediate Period

Rock inscriptions from the Wadi Hammamat of an expedition under Mentuhotep IV
The Stela of the Priest Mentuhotep (Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum E.9.1922)
The Autobiography of Amenemhet called Ameni in his tomb (Beni Hassan 2)
The Autobiography of Khnumhotep II in his tomb in Beni Hassan (BH 3)
Semna boundary stelae of Sesostris III (Berlin 1157; Berlin 14753)
A Cycle of Hymns to King Sesostris III (papyrus Kahun LV.1 / papyrus UC 32157 recto)
A Stela of Ikhernofret (Berlin 1204)
The Transport of the Colossal Statue of DHwti-Htp(.w) / Thot-hotep
The Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor (pPetersburg 1115)
The "Kahun Medical Papyrus" or the "Gynaecological Papyrus" (pKahun (med.) / London UC 32057)
The Dispute of a Man with His Ba (pBerlin 3024)
The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant
The Stelae of Ameniseneb / imny-snb (Louvre C 11 and C 12)
King Kheops and the Magician / Papyrus Westcar (pBerlin 3033)

New Kingdom & Third Intermediate Period

The Autobiography of Ahmose, son of Abana
The Stela of Ahmose from Abydos / Tetisheri Stela (Cairo CG 34002)
The Donation Stela of Ahmose-Nefertari
The Coronation Announcement of Thutmosis I (Cairo CG 34006, Berlin 13726)
The Abydos Stela of Thutmose I (Cairo CG 34007)
The Northampton Stela of General Djehuty
The Obelisk Inscriptions of Queen Hatshepsut in the temple of Karnak
Dedication of the Obelisks by Hatshepsut (block 302 of the Red Chapel)
Graffito of Senenmut in Sehel concerning his work on Hatshepsut's obelisks
The Myth of the Divine Birth
The Speos Artemidos Inscription of Hatshepsut
The Poetical Stela of Thutmosis III (CG 34010)
The Temple Festival Calendar of Thutmosis III in Karnak, South of the granite sanctuary
The King-list of Thutmosis III in Karnak (now: Louvre E 13481bis)
The Obelisk of Thutmosis III, now in Istanbul
The Battle of Megiddo (of Thutmosis III)
The Dream Stela of Thutmosis IV
The Stela of Suti and Hor (BM EA 826)
The Commemorative Scarabs of Amenophis III
Hymns to the Aten
The Boundary Stelae of Amarna
A Graffito from Pawah in the tomb of Pere / pA-jrj (TT 139)
The Restoration Stela of Tutankhamun (CG 34183)
The Great Hymn to Osiris on the Stela of Amenmose (Paris Louvre C 286)
The Myth of the Destruction of Mankind / The Book of the Heavenly Cow
The King-lists on monuments of the 19th Dynasty
The Taking of Joppa (pHarris 500 = pBM 10060, verso)
The Tale of the Doomed Prince (pHarris 500, vs., 4,1-8,14)
The Stela of the Era of 400 Years (JE 60539)
The Obelisk of the Luxor Temple, now Paris, Place de la Concorde
A Satirical Letter (pAnastasi I = pBM 10247)
The Victory Hymn of Merenptah / "Israel Stela"
The Book of Caverns
The Quarrel of Apophis and Seknenre (pSallier I / BM 10185)
The Harem Conspiracy
The Year 4 Abydos Stela of Ramesses IV in Honour of Osiris (JE 48876)
The Great Abydos Stela of Ramesses IV for Osiris and the Gods (JE 48831)
The Contendings of Horus and Seth (pChester Beatty I, recto 1,1-16,8)
The Misfortunes of Wenamun (pMoscow 120)
The Instruction of Amenemope (pBM 10474)
The Stela of Banishment (Louvre C 256)
The Piankhi / Piye Stela (JE 48862)
The Shabaka Stone / "The Memphite Theology" (BM EA 498)
The Stela of Tanutamun / Tanutamani (JE 48863)
The Election Stela of King Aspelta (JE 48866)

Late Period & Greco-Roman Era

The Long Biographical Inscription of Petosiris
The Bentresh Stela (Louvre C 284)
The Satrap Stela (Cairo CG 22182)
The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys (pBerlin 3008)
The Mendes Stela (CG 22181)
The invasion of Ptolemy III into Mesopotamia
The Decree of Canopus
The Decree of Memphis (Rosetta Stone and associated Fragments)
The Graffito of Esmet-Akhom (Philae 436)

15 September 2006

KV63 Info & Photos

 

 

The first tomb to be uncovered in the Valley of the Kings in nearly a century was discovered by a team of American archaeologists led by professor Otto Schaden, field director of the Amenmesse Tomb Project of the University of Memphis. The newly discovered tomb was filled with rubble, but also some exciting archaeological finds.

 

 

Alongside more than 20 pottery jars, the team found seven coffins that have been a source of food for termites for thousands of years. Now each piece must be brought to the surface in fragments to prevent any further damage.

 

 

A miniature coffin was found under some pillows. The coffin is only about 16 inches to 17 inches long and could not have been used for a body bigger than that of a premature child. One theory is that it was a mummiform to be used as a kind of a double for the deceased, to handle any heavy labor the dead person might have had to endure in the afterlife.

 

 

The coffin is decorated with gold leaf on the top and sides. There are theories that in one of the two unopened coffins may rest the body of someone important, such as Queen Nefertiti, King Tut's mother Kia, or his wife.

 

 

The discovery of KV 63 means that the Valley of the Kings still has secrets to share. Since British archaeologist Howard Carter unearthed King Tut's tomb in 1922, many thought the Valley was virtually empty of big finds.

 

(Discovery Channel)

New Version of OpenGlyph

"There is an OpenGlyph's new version (0.4 beta).
This new version includes:


-A database of text in MdC format (about 1000 MdC texts)
-Multilanguage support (English and Spanish)
-GUI multiwindow


You can download the new version at:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=159656


You can see a screenshot of this new version at:
http://sourceforge.net/project/screenshots.php?group_id=159656


The OpenGlyph's main page:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/openglyph "

 

J. A. G. Sanchez announced on GlyphStudy.

12 September 2006

Introducing Egyptian Hieroglyphs by C.I. Burkinshaw

Early representation

As early human settlements developed and were able to support non-agricultural specialization, a method was required to record basic information. Typically this occurred within the frameworks of religion and government.

Records were kept of inventory on tablets. Strokes for the number with pictures ('pictograms') of an animal or object. ...

 

Time frame

Hieroglyphs were in use for over three thousand years. In part, the longevity of the Egyptian civilisation was imbued by the Nile, but whereas a written language in any culture has a tendency to change, hieroglyphs exhibit an unusual stability. One reason is that hieroglyphs were considered the language of the gods (hieroglyphs Greek, sacred writing) or more precisely, from Egyptian, ‘the God’s Words’. ...

 

Ideograms and phonograms

In addition to the single consonants listed above, there are symbols that represent double or triple consonants (bilaterals and trilaterals).

There are about 130 bilaterals but just a handful are commonly used. Again, a bilateral or trilateral can often also represent an object. ...

 

Classification

The standard classification is the one set out by Gardiner. It allocates each sign to one of 26 categories (A-I, K-Z, Aa) and numbers each within that category. ...

 

Read the complete article on this page: http://www.psifer.com/hier.htm

 

More on psifer.com:

Hieroglyhic Fonts: (download link) http://www.psifer.com/httf.zip

Introduction as a Word document: http://www.psifer.com/hier.doc (1MB)

31 August 2006

Coptic Alphabet












- used from 4th century AD for writing the Coptic language
- it mainly uses greek letters
- letters for the sound which weren't used by Greeks are derived from Demotic script
- 31 letters



















This is how the signs are called (with transliteration below):
(follow in the table - from top to bottom)


1st column

alfa
a

beta
b, v

gamma
g

delta
d

eie
e

sou
(so)

zeta
z

eeta
ē

theta
th


2nd column

iota
i, y

kapa
k

lavla
l

mi
m

ni
n

exsi
ks, x

o
o

pi
p


3rd column

ro
r

sima
s

tav
t

epsilon
v, u, y

fi
ph, f

ki
kh

epsi
ps

oou
ō


4th column

shai
sh

fai
f

khai
h

hori
h

janja
g, j

chima
c, kj, ch

ti
ti

30 August 2006

OpenGlyph - New Hieroglyph Software

"OpenGlyph is an Egyptian hieroglyph database useful for learn and translate ancient Egyptian texts."

OpenGlyph, made by J. A. G. Sanchez, is a new Hieroglyph Dictionary.
It has great search options. You can search for an English word or Egyptian (transliteration or Gardiner code), and you don't have to type all the letters - just the beginning, middle or end (useful when some signs canÂ’t be read).
Although it is written in Spanish, the options are quite simple and easy for use.

You can download it from here, free:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=159656&release_id=441130

Java is needed. It is based in JSesh.

OpenGlyph has an online database with more than 1000 text in MDC format:
http://openglyph.cvs.sourceforge.net/openglyph/openglyph/textos/

19 August 2006

Egyptian Cartoushes

(Tutankhamun's cartouche)

- King's names were written inside of cartouches (sometimes the names of gods and queens who ruled as a pharaoh).
- It's form developed from the shen hieroglyph .
- They symbolized protection.
- First used by 3rd Dynasty ruler Huni.

Cartouches are written after titles -Son of Re-:




and -King of Upper and Lower Egypt- :





More info
- The Ancient Egyptian Cartouche
by Jimmy Dunn:
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/cartouches.htm

28 July 2006

What does Amenhotep's name mean?

This is a cartouche of one of the Amenhoteps (Amenhotep I, II, III, IV - Akhenaton). These kings ruled during the New Kingdom. The cartouche contains their birth name (nomen) which was introducted by "son of Re" (sa ra) title.

it is transliterated: imn htp
translation: Amun is content

words:
imn - Amun (god) (i and n uniliterals, mn - biliteral, n is phonetic complement of mn)
htp - content, pleased (htp - triliteral, t and p uniliterals)


More about the kings:

http://touregypt.net/featurestories/amenhotep1.htm
- Amenhotep I, the Second King of Egypt's 18th Dynasty

http://touregypt.net/featurestories/amenhotep2.htm
- Amenhotep II, 7th Pharaoh of Egypt's 18th Dynasty

http://touregypt.net/featurestories/amenhotep3.htm
- Amenhotep III, the Ninth King of Egypt's 18th Dynasty

http://www.touregypt.net/18dyn10.htm
- Amenhotep IV, Akhenaten

Digital Egypt Website


Take a look at this wonderful new website! It has amazing Quicktime panoramas and photos of Giza and Luxor.

http://egypt.ebeling.ee/

(to see panoramas you need QuickTime and Macromedia Flash plug-ins)

21 July 2006

Why some female names don't end in t?

(this question was asked in one of the comments)

Why female names like Isis, Hathor, Nephthys, and Qetesh don't end in t as other female words do? Every female name in ancient Egyptian is ending in t. Just that some of them we now know by their Greek version.

- Isis was called by ancient Egyptians most probably Aset (could have been pronounced Iset, Ast. Eset, Auset...)
- Het-Hert (-house of Horus-) is the Egyptian name for Hathor (Greeks called her Hathor).
- The Egyptian name of Nephtys is Nebt-Het (-mistress of the house-) - Nephtys is a Greek version too.
- Qetesh was originally a Syrian deity, so this is a foreign name/word

17 July 2006

Write a word - Egypt

Ancient Egyptians called their country kmt (Kemet), which literally means "black land".



kmt




km (tail of a crocodile), biliteral, code I6


-m (owl), phonetic complement, G17
-t (loaf), X1




is a determinative for town/city/nation (niwt), O49



more info:

Tour Egypt article: The Origin of the Name, Egypt
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/kmt.htm

10 July 2006

Phonetic complements

Phonetic complements are alphabet signs written after biliterals or triliterals to help with reading and sometimes for estethic reasons (or filling up the spaces left). They are not to be read.

Example:

nfr (good, beautiful) is usually written with three hieroglyphs - first is triliteral and then come f and r as complements.




- "A uniliteral sign following a biliteral sign is almost always a phonetic complement and not an additional letter".
-great number of biliterals use complement for their second consonant.
-alphabet signs can sometimes precede 2lit. or 3lit.

20 June 2006

More websites on learning hieroglyphs

AEL - Learning Ancient Egyptian (http://www.rostau.org.uk/Aegyptian-L/index.html)

Learn to read hieroglyphs! : Introductory lessons in middle Egyptian.

Exercises for beginners : Some interesting and fun exercises.

Fun with hieroglyphs : Identify these signs! Puzzling exercises by Geoffrey Graham, Yale University.

Gardiner Exercises : Hints and tips for studying from Alan Gardiner's Egyptian Grammar. [Compiled by Michael Dyall-Smith]

Learning hieratic : The cursive script that scribes commonly used. [Stephen Fryer's web site]

Beginning Coptic : The last phase of egyptian language; and it is still spoken today! [by Geoffrey Graham,Yale Uni.]

Reference : More useful reference material for working with Ancient Egyptian


Ancient Hieroglyphs
http://www.greatscott.com/hiero/index.html

The ancient Egyptian picture (?) language
http://members.aol.com/egyptnew/glyph.html

Hieroglyphs for kids:
http://www.kidzone.ws/cultures/egypt/hieroglyph.htm

18 June 2006

Dictionaries on the web

Very nice dictionary for Ancient Egyptian language can be found on Hieroglyphs.net website.
There is a search box for english, transliteration and Gardiner code:
http://www.hieroglyphs.net/000501/html/000-016.html




Jim Loy's Egyptian
Hieroglyphics
and Egyptology Page has
"My Egyptian Hieroglyphic
Dictionary":
http://www.jimloy.com/hiero/e-dict.htm




The Beinlich wordlist, An Internet-searchable database by Nigel Strudwick (in german)
http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/egypt/beinlich/beinlich.html
(the whole dictionary can be downloaded as a .txt file (and opened in MS Word or something like that):
http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/egypt/beinlich/beinlich.txt.zip)

12 June 2006

Software

Serge Rosmorduc's software for typing hieroglyphs is very useful (and free!). JSesh, word processor, uses Java and here you'll find the new version (for Mac and Win):
http://www.iut.univ-paris8.fr/~rosmord/JSesh/download/

I have Java installed but can't open it :(, so I use TKsesh:
http://webperso.iut.univ-paris8.fr/~rosmord/TKSESH/

Another free and interesting program is Luca Brigatti's HieroWord:
http://home.rochester.rr.com/lucabri/
It is not a text processor but a very useful dictionary. It uses more than 800 hieroglyphs (from Gardiner's Sign list). You can add words yourself or use some of the dictionaries which are also available for download on his website.

He made a program called Hieroglyphs too, a flashcard that shows only signs (not words) - but it's also useful!
See the link above.

MacScribe, a professional hieroglyphic text processor only works on Macintosh.
http://www.macscribe.com/ (in French)
Costs ~ $250

HieroNote - Type in Hieroglyphs, try the demo version (2.84MB):
http://www.download.com/HieroNote-Type-in-Hieroglyphs/3000-2279_4-5080971.html
Free to try; $19.95 to buy

GlyphTutor is a program for memorizing the phonetic values of the most common signs.
http://www.softlookup.com/download.asp?ID=2315
Free to try (3 MB)

That's what I've found for now. If someone can think of any other good program, or has experience with some, please tell us.

If you want to see how your name look in the cartouche see this link.
http://webperso.iut.univ-paris8.fr/~rosmord/nomhiero.html



... my full name :)

Dating Inscriptions (II)

In few older words ...



g


... is used for



g







X
is first interchanging with S and later (sometimes) with x



S




x

05 June 2006

Dating inscriptions

Each stage of ancient Egyptian introduced changes and by knowing its grammar one can easily determine which form of the language he's reading, and thus the historical period in which the text was written.



Few tips for beginners:

- sound w is alternately written by its hieratic form (see below).
This is the original one.



w (later form)






m (original)




m (later)







n (original)


n (later)




Will be continued in the next post...

22 May 2006

Gender in Egyptian

Egyptian has just two genders: masculine and feminine. (no neuter)
How can you distinguish them?

- feminine words have the ending t (it is added to the root of the word)
- masculine words have no special ending (but some may add w or j to their root)
(some of the masculine words end with t, but it is just a part of their root - not an added ending)

Example:
(in personal nouns the gender is clearly marked by determinative)


nb

lord, ruler



nbt

mistress

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