simple. easy. fun to make anyway.

This is a transliteration of “hitRECord” into hieroglyphics. The ancient Egyptians believed that when something was recorded it became part of eternity. They therefore recorded everything like crazy, at least the good stuff…famines, plagues and military defeats, eh, not so much. (On the flip side, if something wasn’t recorded it never “really” happened. Due to this belief they tended to “forget” to record the above mentioned defeats/etc and were also big fans of defacing the artifacts of people they didn’t like, in essence erasing their enemies from existence.). Language was art and art was language. Everything in their art and language had meaning and significance because it rippled into eternity.

Some notes for those who might enjoy it:

Aesthetics were very important to Egyptian writing, more important than spelling and grammar even. Shifting around letters and words to make the writing look pretty was completely acceptable. “Pretty”, in hieroglyphics, meant “in nice little boxes”. I’ve written “hitRECord” vertically because it looks prettier this way.

Egyptian writing left out most vowels so there is no “i”. Signs, in order from top to bottom, represent a courtyard (h), loaf of bread (t), mouth (r), double reed (long e), basket (k), lasso (o), mouth (r) and hand (d). The last sign is called a determinative. Because of all the missing vowels, and the rearranging of letters for pretty’s sake, Egyptians added a type of idea-sign (determinative) at the end of each word that hinted (helped you determine) what word they actually meant. This determinative, a man and woman with three plurality strokes, is used for “community”, “family” and the like.

I think that’s it.

(The gads of extra blue are just to keep this record from resizing into something ten feet long. ;-)

When my mom saw the original I made, she requested I make a colored version. Here is my "practice sheet". Now I will do it again in pencils and paints.

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"Whoever drinks the water that I give will never be thirsty. The water that I give will become in that person a well of life that lasts forever" -Jesus