Write like a Pharaoh: Egyptian kids can now rock Hieroglyphics3 min read

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Now, kids in Egypt may have a lot more in common with ancient Pharaohs than ever before. They will soon be able to communicate in Hieroglyphics!

Hierogly- what?

You’ve probably seen these symbols in movies about mummies and treasure hunters, but in truth, they were far from fantasy. The Egyptian Hieroglyphic Alphabet is the oldest evidence of some form of a human language. (well, sort of, the inner ears of Neanderthals suggest that they possibly had some form of a complex language too).

Hieroglyphics date back thousands of years but were put out of use by an invading king. Four thousand years of a painstakingly developed language almost went to waste… until, 1,700 years later, one particular artefact known as the Rosetta Stone was discovered.

Owliver’s Obscure Observation: Egyptian hieroglyphs, the independent symbols that make up Hieroglyphics, are really just intricate pictures. Hieroglyphs were called, by the Egyptians, ‘the words of God’ and they were used mainly by priests on the walls of temples. Some hieroglyphs represent alphabets, while others represent entire words.

Use these tables to write your friends some secret messages:

So why are we talking about this now?

Well, schools in Egypt have decided to teach their students Hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics are crucial to understanding the history of Egypt’s ancient civilizations and heritage. The government has decided that children in classes four and up will learn Hieroglyphics from September of 2021. The government states that learning Hieroglyphics is crucial to studies in Egyptian tourism and Archaeology. Since millions of tourists flock to Egypt every year to see the marvels of its ancient past, it is no surprise that the government would like to focus on teaching its people about the country’s rich past.

Owliver’s Obscure Observation:Egypt also plans to teach kids about its ancient pharaonic civilization using other intriguing methods. For instance, they are creating an atlas that will map out ancient Egypt over the years and create a clearer picture of how things went down in the age of mummies, gold, pharaohs and the pyramids.

Are the children of Egypt about to bring Mummies back from the dead? Who can say? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Try this short quiz to unlock the secrets of Hieroglyphics yourself:

With Excerpts From: Egypt Today, Egypt Independent,and Discoveringegypt.com.