Introductory Late Egyptian Hieratic

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HP1: Hieratic Paleography Introductory Late Egyptian
by Sheldon Gosline
Contents _______________________________________ i....Contents ii...Introductory Remarks iii..Stroke Sequence Manual 1....1) Brush Stroke 1-long vertical 15...2) Brush Stroke 2-short vertical 27...3) Brush Stroke 3-long horizontal 35...4) Brush Stroke 4-short horizontal 48...5) Brush Stroke 5-long backslash 57...6) Brush Stroke 6-long forwardslash 59...7) Brush Stroke 7-short backslash 73...8) Brush Stroke 8-short forwardslash 84...9) Brush Stroke 9-large backcurve 89..10) Brush Stroke 10-large forwardcurve 96..11) Brush Stroke 11-small backcurve	ORDER NOW Unlocking the secrets of an ancient language system is like cracking a code. This is archaeo-cryptography! ISBN 0-9677201-0-9 Cloth Bound Price $39.50 US Single Orders Volume Orders Excerpt Below
108.12) Brush Stroke 12-small forwardcurve 121..Complex Signs - Enlarged 156..Gardiner Sign List Reference 207..Number List 208..Gardiner Index The Author Prof. Sheldon Lee Gosline is the founding director of the Hieratic Font Project of the Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations. Reviews "I thoroughly enjoyed this book and cannot wait for the others in the series. It makes a big step in de-mystifying hieratic." - Kevin J. Snyder from Roselle, Illinois USA

EXCERPTS

Introductory Remarks

A year ago, I wrote an �Apology� in beginning of my book, Writing Late Egyptian: A Beginner�s Primer, because I did not include hieroglyphic equivalents in the body of the text, and because I had no hieratic font.  Not knowing that I would be able to create a font prototype so quickly, I suggested that we might consider the long discarded project in the future.  In 1865, W. Pleyte attempted to introduce a standard font for hieratic.  Since then, all hopes of a standard hieratic font were discarded �once and for all,� according to Gardiner, writing in 1929.  Now, seventy years later, I am pleased to offer, through this present book, an introductory hieratic font for Late Egyptian, based on a standardized stroke sequence.

This font and paleography provide a beginning step in a new approach to studying hieratic texts.  The stroke sequence manual presents the first systematic ordering for any possible hieratic sign, ligature or group writing.  The Gardiner sign list provides a cross reference with that long established classification system.

As I come to the end of working on this reference work, I realize that it falls short of its ultimate goal.  As a �paleography,� it does not yet accurately reproduce the handwriting of any particular Egyptian scribe. As a �font manual�, it does not yet provide a simple solution for every hieratic sign.  Furthermore, the two goals of the work may rightly be considered to be in opposition to one another.  The ultimate goal of paleography is to analyze past handwriting variability as a dating and locating tool.  The goal of creating a font is to standardize and systematize writing.  At the risk of doing neither, I have endeavored to take a middle course in this introductory reference work, and try to do both.  It is �introductory�, because it does not replicate any paleographic hand completely, and it does not provide anything close to a complete set of fonts.  It does provide a wide variety of both paleographic styles and fonts.  It also provides an easy reference system, whereby hieroglyphic equivalents for different hieratic signs can be studied.  In that respect, it is also a useful supplement to M�ller�s century old reference work, which we may eventually replace.

We of course have no evidence that Egyptian hieratic signs were organized in any particular manner.  This is a new research tool, a system to assist modern scholars, based on standard princlples of calligraphy.  It allows for the first simple, consistent group classification and ordering of single signs, ligatures and group writings.  It also attempts to reflect a reconstruction of ancient writing sequences, which may become more understood, with further application of this analytical approach.

Sheldon Lee Gosline
Hieratic Font Project

Click HERE to read about Prof. Gosline's most recent research on the famous Egyptian beauty, Queen Nefertiti, of the Amarna Period!