DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3720#0228
VARIOUS KINDS OF HIEROGLYPHS. 2U
He has found devoted followers in MM. TJhlernann1 and
Parrat.2
Having thus far succinctly traced the history of the dis-
covery of the mode of reading this extinct language, every
hope of the recovery of which had at one time heen lost to
Europe, it is now necessary to enter upon the considerations
of the particular nature of each class of hieroglyphs, their
script or mode of writing, the nature of the hieratic and
demotic writing, and some account of the purport of the
inscriptions and of the literature. AVithout this, it is not
possible to appreciate either the extent of the discovery, and
its importance in universal history, or the scope and object of
the colossal monuments, magnificent temples, and remarkable
sepulchral remains with which Egypt abounds. Aided by the
light of philology, the present age penetrates the gloom of
thirty centuries, and unseals the closed lips of the dead.
The writing of the Egyptians was peculiarly monumental,
and was principally employed for the temples and public
edifices. It was also used for all the ordinary purposes of
life, being painted or inscribed on wood, papyri, terra cotta
and various other substances, and incised or engraved on the
various kinds of stone, such as granite, basalt, breccia, calca-
reous stone, and on wood, glazed terra cotta, &c. On the
■earliest sculptures the hieroglyphs are in a flat bas-relief raised
above the surface of the subject; while in the incuse or cavo-
relievo style, as it has been called, they are sunk below it.
There are, however, in this style great differences in execution.
Sometimes, both at the earliest and latest period, the objects
1 De Veterum .ffigyptiorum Lingua et Litteris, Svo. Lipsia?, 1S51 ; In-
scriptionis Rosettaiiie Hieroglyphics Decretum Sacerdotale, 4to. Lipsise,
1853.
- Le Nilomotre, a fly-sheet published at rorrcntruy, ".iiJS.
v 2
He has found devoted followers in MM. TJhlernann1 and
Parrat.2
Having thus far succinctly traced the history of the dis-
covery of the mode of reading this extinct language, every
hope of the recovery of which had at one time heen lost to
Europe, it is now necessary to enter upon the considerations
of the particular nature of each class of hieroglyphs, their
script or mode of writing, the nature of the hieratic and
demotic writing, and some account of the purport of the
inscriptions and of the literature. AVithout this, it is not
possible to appreciate either the extent of the discovery, and
its importance in universal history, or the scope and object of
the colossal monuments, magnificent temples, and remarkable
sepulchral remains with which Egypt abounds. Aided by the
light of philology, the present age penetrates the gloom of
thirty centuries, and unseals the closed lips of the dead.
The writing of the Egyptians was peculiarly monumental,
and was principally employed for the temples and public
edifices. It was also used for all the ordinary purposes of
life, being painted or inscribed on wood, papyri, terra cotta
and various other substances, and incised or engraved on the
various kinds of stone, such as granite, basalt, breccia, calca-
reous stone, and on wood, glazed terra cotta, &c. On the
■earliest sculptures the hieroglyphs are in a flat bas-relief raised
above the surface of the subject; while in the incuse or cavo-
relievo style, as it has been called, they are sunk below it.
There are, however, in this style great differences in execution.
Sometimes, both at the earliest and latest period, the objects
1 De Veterum .ffigyptiorum Lingua et Litteris, Svo. Lipsia?, 1S51 ; In-
scriptionis Rosettaiiie Hieroglyphics Decretum Sacerdotale, 4to. Lipsise,
1853.
- Le Nilomotre, a fly-sheet published at rorrcntruy, ".iiJS.
v 2