Module 2: Hieroglyphics

After being spoiled by only looking at pictures for the first field journal, this second assignment felt really overwhelming reading-wise, but I guess it catches us off guard and now we can anticipate how the workload will be for this class. Thank goodness, though, that the material isn't boring, and it's actually historical events and origins that are interesting to read up about.

The section that I was most keen about was the first chapter, (I feel like I'm a sucker for the Paleolithic age and early Egyptian civilization stories) especially the parts describing the Ancient Egyptians and their use of hieroglyphics as their form of formatted communication. It's interesting to compare our modern alphabet and writing system with the Egyptian's. We have 26 letters in our alphabet; the Egyptians had 2,000+ symbolic characters to express themselves with. In comparison, I guess it's easier to live in this modern world of not having to memorize so many characters, but I must admire in awe at how complicated their system was back then. Hieroglyphics translates to "sacred writings" which was exactly how the people perceived it as. The writings were reserved mainly for the elite, such as pharoahs and the higher class, to understand and utilize. I believe that hieroglyphics hold much more reverence and importance when used compared to how we write today. We simply use writing as a tool for communication, while hieroglyphics were respectfully used for glorifying.

Often times, most hieroglyphics were found inscripted on the walls of pyramids or covered on tombs. Using hieroglyphics was popular for "books of the dead", which were basically written to help aid the deceased please the realm of the gods and avoid damnation. Pharoahs often were regarded with expensive hieroglyphics that avidly illustrated their majestic life. Pictographs and phonographs were used to symbolize events that happened during an important person's lifetime. Most of the drawings were 2-dimensional and involved drawings of the revered gods, humans, and often animals were correlated into the picture, such as cats or owls. Anubis, the god of death, was included respectfully on hieroglyphic murals in order to appease to his bidding and help the deceased hopefully pass his test of virtue. 

For many centuries historians were unable to understand how hieroglyphics were used as a visual language, and it was for a long time a hidden, secret sort of use of communication. However, recently researchers have been able to decode the characters used, especially with the recent discovery of the Rosetta Stone, which also was translated in several other languages. 

Sources: 

http://www.greatscott.com/hiero/hiero_over.html

http://www.eyelid.co.uk/hiromenu.htm

Meggs History of Graphic Design, 5th edition

http://archive.ncsa.illinois.edu/Cyberia/VideoTestbed/Projects/Mummy/hieroglyphics.html