Thursday, January 22, 2026

What is Hieratic writing in Ancient Egypt?

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Ancient Egyptian Writing - World History Encyclopedia
Hieratic is an ancient Egyptian cursive script used from the third millennium BCE to the mid-first millennium BCE, serving as the principal, faster, and more convenient form of writing for daily, administrative, and literary purposes. Written with a reed brush and ink on papyrus or ostraca, it was derived from hieroglyphs but was significantly more simplified, often written right-to-left. 
Key aspects of Hieratic include:
  • Usage: While hieroglyphs were used for monumental inscriptions, Hieratic was the everyday script for business records, letters, medical texts, and religious documents.
  • Evolution: Developed alongside hieroglyphs, it became distinct by the Old Kingdom and was eventually replaced by Demotic for secular use around 660 BCE, though it remained in use by priests for religious texts.
  • Appearance: It is a, logarithmic system with consonant signs, characterized by highly stylized, rapid strokes that make it faster to write than the pictorial hieroglyphs.
  • Name Origin: The term "Hieratic" comes from the Greek hieratika ("priestly"), as it was later used mainly for sacred texts, despite being used for all purposes earlier in Egyptian history. 

  • Hieratic - Wikipedia
    Hieratic (/haɪəˈrætɪk/; Ancient Greek: ἱερατικά, romanized: hieratiká, lit. 'priestly') is the name given to a cursive writing sys...
    Wikipedia
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Dive deeper in AI Mode

  • Hieratic script | Definition, Hieroglyphics, & History - Britannica
    Dec 1, 2025 — Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience ...
    Britannica
  • Hieroglyphic writing - Ancient Egypt, Symbols, Script | Britannica
    Dec 1, 2025 — Hieratic, the cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphs, was in fact employed throughout the pharaonic period for administrative and li...
    Britannica
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