ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian

hieroglyph Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct characters. ...

s, the hand symbol represented the phoneme /d/, and was also used as a

determinative A determinative, also known as a taxogram or semagram, is an ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts which helps to disambiguate interpretation. They have no direct counterpart in spoken language, though they ...

for actions performed as if with the hands.

Iconographic usage

Also used in

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

. Pharaoh

Den Den may refer to: * Den (room), a small room in a house * Maternity den, a lair where an animal gives birth Media and entertainment * ''Den'' (album), 2012, by Kreidler * Den (''Battle Angel Alita''), a character in the ''Battle Angel Alita'' ...

of the First Dynasty used the hand as part of his name: ''d + n''. An even earlier usage of hand can be compared to the sister hieroglyph: Hand-fist (hieroglyph). Five fists are held onto a

rope A rope is a group of yarns, Plying, plies, fibres, or strands that are plying, twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have high tensile strength and can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger ...

bordering a hunt scene on a predynastic

cosmetic palette Cosmetic palettes are archaeological Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, originally used in predynastic Egypt, predynastic ancient Egypt, Egypt to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th mil ...

. The damaged Bull Palette from

Hierakonpolis Nekhen (, ), also known as Hierakonpolis (; , meaning City of Hawks or City of Falcons, a reference to Horus; ) was the religious and political capital of Upper Egypt at the end of prehistoric Egypt ( 3200–3100 BC) and probably also during th ...

is notable since each hand forms the base of a

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

en vertical standard, with

god In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

-like animals, one standing on top of each.

Rosetta Stone usage as word: "hand"

The hand as hieroglyphic character also forms the word for 'hand' in the Ancient Egyptian

hieroglyphic Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct characters. ...

language: ''ṯet''. In line 13, (R-13), one of ten ways for honoring the Pharaoh

Ptolemy V Ptolemy V Epiphanes Eucharistus (, ''Ptolemaĩos Epiphanḗs Eukháristos'' "Ptolemy the Manifest, the Beneficent"; 9 October 210–September 180 BC) was the King of Ptolemaic Egypt from July or August 204 BC until his death in 180 BC. Ptolemy ...

was: : ..and let be engraved the Rank: "Priest of the god appearing ( epiphanous), lord of benefits (Greek ''eucharistos'')", upon the rings worn on their hands-(hieroglyph). In the first half of the Rosetta Stone (the Decree of Memphis (Ptolemy V)), supplied by the

Nubayrah Stele The Nubayrah Stele is a mutilated copy of the Decree of Memphis (Ptolemy V) on a limestone stele. The same decree is found upon the Rosetta Stone. From 1848, it was known that a partial copy of the Decree was on a wall at the Temple of Philae, ...

, line N-22, the hand hieroglyph is used as part of an important word that ''implies'' the use of 'hands', or 'action'. The district or town that defiled Pharaoh, and had to be defeated, is referred to as: " ..(the rebels) they led astray-(hand hieroglyph: ''seṯeman-sen'') the nomes".Budge, ''The Rosetta Stone'', p. 146.

The Egyptian hieroglyphic alphabetic letters

The following two tables show the

Egyptian uniliteral signs The Egyptian hieroglyphic script contained 24 uniliterals (symbols that stood for single consonants, much like English letters) which today we associate with the 26 glyphs listed below. (Note that the glyph associated with ''w/u'' also has a hi ...

(24 letters, but multiple-use hieroglyphs).

References

*Budge. ''The Rosetta Stone,'' E.A.Wallace Budge, (Dover Publications), c 1929, Dover edition(unabridged), 1989. (softcover, ) *Wilkinson. ''Reading Egyptian Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Egyptian Painting and Sculpture.'' Wilkinson, Richard H., c 1992. Paperback, c 1994, 2000. Thames and Hudson, (softcover, ) Egyptian hieroglyphs: alphabet-vulture-a-to-cobra-dj Egyptian hieroglyphs: parts of the human body {{AncientEgypt-stub

Iconographic usage

Rosetta Stone usage as word: "hand"

The Egyptian hieroglyphic alphabetic letters

See also

References