
A comparison of the hieroglyphic bird and water symbol, as with the ancient Greek alpha (compare: Ab) and nu (Ѻ) (compare Nun), and modern Roman letters A and N, by Hilda Finnemore (1924), who asserts that the former were the precursors to the latter. [1]

A comparison of the hieroglyphic bird and water symbol, as with the ancient Greek alpha (compare: Ab) and nu (Ѻ) (compare Nun), and modern Roman letters A and N, by Hilda Finnemore (1924), who asserts that the former were the precursors to the latter. [1]

In languages, hieroglyphics, from the Greek hieros- “sacred, sanctified” + -glyphein “to carve”, is pictorial-based writing system, developed in Egypt, based on a combination of logographic, syllabic, and alphabetic elements, with a total of some 1,000 distinct characters.

Overview
In c.3200BC, hieroglyphs showing writing of drawings of animals, plants, and mountains from a tomb of a king called Scorpion I (c.3250-3200BC) (Ѻ), in a cemetery at Abydos, 250-miles north of Cairo, along with records of linen and oil deliveries, which have been radio-carbon dated to 3300BC to 3200BC, were discovered in 1998 by Gunter Dreyer (1943-2019) (Ѻ), director of the German Archaeological Institute in Egypt, an example of which is as follows: [2]

In 1820s, Thomas Young and Jean Champollion translated the Rosetta stone, after which Egyptian hieroglyphics began to be understood, and in the century to follow the study of modern comparative mythology and religion began to emerge (see: religio-mythology scholars).

References
1. Finnemore, Hilda. (1924). A History of the Earth: from Star-Dust to Man (pg. 114). Longmans, Green, and Co.
2. (a) Anon. (1998). “Were the Egyptians the First Scribes?” (Ѻ), BBC.co.uk, Sci/Tech, Dec 15.
(b) Dreyer, Gunter. (2011). “On Excavations at the Royal Tombs of Abydos” (Ѻ), The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, YouTube, Apr 8.

Further reading
● Petty, Bill. (2012). Hieroglyphic Dictionary: a Vocabulary of the Middle Egyptian Language (Amz). CreateSpace.
● Petty, Bill. (2016). English to Middle Egyptian Dictionary: A Reverse Hieroglyphic Vocabulary (Amz). CreatSpace.

External links
● Hieroglyphics – Wikipedia.
● Middle Egyptian language – Wikipedia.