Pharoah: Ancient Egyptian Cuneiform Symbols

In Egypt, one of the oldest examples of a pictogram is the name of a Pharoah. These ancient Egyptian symbols are called hieroglyphs and are thought to have developed from cuneiform symbols. Gradually a hieroglyph representing a particular word came to represent just the sound of the first letter of that word. For example, the hieroglyph for water was pronounced ‘nu’. The symbol came to stand for the sound ‘n’. This is believed to be the beginning of a written alphabet, or the system of having one symbol for one sound. Cuneiform only had symbols for the consonants and none for the vowels. Acquired in Egypt is the canopic jar. This is a wooden canopic chest of Henutmehyt; two lids; painted black; contains four wooden canopic jars bearing hieroglyphic

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