Write Your Name in Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Over 5,000 years ago, ancient Egyptians invented one of the world's first writing systems using tiny pictures called hieroglyphs. Pharaohs had their names carved into stone inside special oval shapes called cartouches so the gods would protect their names forever. When the last person who could read hieroglyphs died around 394 CE, nobody could decode them for more than 1,400 years! Then in 1799, soldiers discovered the Rosetta Stone — an ancient slab that unlocked the whole code. Today you can use that same code to write your name the way a pharaoh would.
What You'll Learn
• Explain what hieroglyphs are and when ancient Egyptians used them • Identify at least six hieroglyphic symbols and the letters they represent • Write your own name inside a cartouche using hieroglyphs • Describe what a cartouche is and why it was so important to ancient Egyptians
What Are Hieroglyphs?
Hieroglyphs (HY-roh-glifs) are picture symbols that stand for sounds, words, or ideas. The word comes from Greek words meaning sacred carving. Ancient Egyptians called their writing medu netjer — meaning words of the gods. They believed the god Thoth invented writing as a gift to humanity. Ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphs for over 3,500 years — from about 3200 BCE until 394 CE. You could find them carved into temple walls, painted on tomb ceilings, and inscribed on jeweled amulets. There were eventually over 700 different hieroglyphic symbols! For everyday writing on papyrus paper, Egyptians also developed a faster script called hieratic — like a cursive version of hieroglyphs. But hieroglyphs stayed sacred for official, royal, and religious purposes.
The Rosetta Stone (now in the British Museum in London) has the same royal message written in three different scripts: hieroglyphs, demotic, and ancient Greek. Because scholars already knew ancient Greek, they used it to decode hieroglyphs in 1822 — a breakthrough that unlocked 3,500 years of Egyptian history that had been unreadable for over a thousand years.
The Hieroglyphic Alphabet
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs do not match English letters perfectly, but here is the closest guide to help you spell your name: A = eagle | B = foot | C = basket (like K) | D = hand | E = arm | F = horned viper | G = jar stand | H = shelter | I = reed | J = cobra | K = basket | L = lion | M = owl | N = water waves | O = lasso | P = mat | Q = hill slope | R = mouth | S = folded cloth | T = bread loaf | U = quail chick | V = horned viper (use like F) | W = quail chick | X = basket plus folded cloth | Y = two reeds | Z = bolt or door For letters that have no exact match, use the closest sound. Egyptians wrote from right to left or left to right — look for which direction the animals face to know which way to read!
Flashcards — click each card to reveal the answer
What Is a Cartouche?
A cartouche (kar-TOOSH) is an oval shape with a line at one end that ancient Egyptians drew around a pharaoh's name. Only royal names were written inside cartouches. The oval represented a loop of rope tied at the bottom — circling and protecting the royal name for eternity. The name cartouche was given by French soldiers who arrived in Egypt with Napoleon in 1799 — the oval shape reminded them of bullet cartridges. Ancient Egyptians called it a shenu, from a word meaning to encircle. When scholar Jean-Francois Champollion found cartouches on the Rosetta Stone in the 1820s, he realized they must contain royal names. By matching those names to Greek names he already knew, he cracked the entire hieroglyphic code in 1822 — one of the greatest puzzles ever solved.
Match each Egyptian term to its correct meaning.
Terms
Definitions
Drag terms onto their definitions, or click a term then click a definition to match.
What is a cartouche?
Why was the Rosetta Stone so important to historians?
Carve Your Cartouche
Draw a large oval shape on paper with a thick border — this is your cartouche! Inside it, write your first name in hieroglyphs using the alphabet from this lesson. Draw each symbol as carefully as you can. If a letter is tricky to draw, write the symbol name inside a small box instead (for example write OWL for the letter M). When you are done: (1) Color your cartouche in gold and blue like ancient Egyptian tomb paintings; (2) Write your name in English underneath so readers can compare; (3) Write one sentence explaining why pharaohs put their names in cartouches. BONUS: If you have air-dry clay or Model Magic, press your cartouche design into it like a real stone carving and let it dry!
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