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Results for hieroglyphic:

hieroglyphic: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Ancient writing form with pictographic or ideographic symbols - used in Egypt, Mesopotamia, etc.
hieroglyphics: SYNONYM: hieroglyphic; hieroglyph
CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: A pictorial script used by ancient Egyptians from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC until the end of the 4th century AD. A hieroglyph was a single character or pictorial element used in hieroglyphics. Literally, in Greek, it means 'sacred carved letters'. The script consisted of three basic types of sign: phonograms, logograms, and 'determinatives' arranged in horizontal and vertical lines. The script was used for funerary and monumental inscriptions as well as more strictly religious ones. The script's development seems to have been so rapid that it may have been in some sense an imitation of the earliest writing of Mesopotamia in its Uruk phase. In both scripts three classes of symbol were used, each a single picture or geometric figure. Pictograms or ideograms represented whole words in pictorial form. Phonograms represented the sounds of words, the picture of an object pronounced in the same way as the desired word being used in its place (this was made easier by the fact that the vowels were disregarded). Determinatives told the reader the class of word spelt by the phonograms, necessary where these were ambiguous. Often all three classes of symbol were used in conjunction. No attempt was made in its long history to simplify the system, even when the more cursive forms of it, hieratic and demotic, were introduced. More loosely the term has been applied to other pictographic writing systems, particularly those of Minoan Crete, the Hittites and the Maya. Many of the symbols consist of a conventionalized picture of the idea or object they represent. Egyptian hieroglyphs were deciphered by Jean-François Champollion in 1822, through his study of the bilingual inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone and an obelisk from Philae. Some 700 signs were employed.
Abydos, Tablets of: CATEGORY: artifact; language
DEFINITION: Two hieroglyphic inscriptions containing the names of Egyptian kings that were found on the walls in a small temple at Abydos, Egypt. The first tablet has the names of the kings of the 12th and 18th Dynasties and it is now in the British Museum. The second tablet begins with Menes, one of the first kings of Egypt, and has a complete list of the first two dynasties as well as a number of names from the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, and 11th Dynasties. It was discovered in 1864 by Auguste Mariette, who published the book Abydos" in 1869."
alphabet: CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: A set of written symbols or characters used to represent the sounds of a language. Each character in an alphabet usually represents a single sound rather than a syllable or group of vowels or consonants. The first alphabets were devised around the eastern shores of the Mediterranean around 1700-1500 BC. The Phoenicians developed what is known as North Semitic and it is considered the ancestor of all modern alphabets. However, Semitic language scripts used only consonants. The Greeks then added vowels when they adopted an alphabet in c 8th century BC. The number of letters in an alphabet varies from 20-30 to hundreds for hieroglyphic and cuneiform scripts to thousands for Chinese in which every sign is an ideogram.
ankh: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: The Egyptian hieroglyphic sign for life" consisting of T-shape surmounted by a loop. It represents a sandal strap or the handle of a mirror. The ankh is commonly shown being carried by deities and pharaohs and was widely used as an amulet. Temple reliefs frequently included scenes in which a king was offered the ankh by the gods thus symbolizing the divine conferral of eternal life. It was used in some personal names such as Tutankhamen. It was adapted by Coptic Christians as their cross."
Breasted, James Henry (1865-1935): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: American Egyptologist, archaeologist, and historian who excavated Megiddo (Armageddon), established ancient Egyptian historical periods, and founded University of Chicago's Oriental Institute (1919). Breasted promoted research on ancient Egypt and the ancient civilizations of western Asia as well as compiled a record of every known Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription and published a translation of these in a five-volume work, Ancient Records of Egypt" (1906). He led expeditions to Egypt and the Sudan (1905-1907) and copied inscriptions from monuments that had been previously inaccessible or were perishing. The Oriental Institute is a renowned center for the study of the ancient cultures of southwest Asia and the Middle East. His other books included "History of Egypt" (1905) and "Ancient Times" (1916) and "Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt" (1912). His excavation at Megiddo uncovered a large riding stable thought to have been King Solomon's and one at Persepolis yielded some Achaemenid sculptures."
Carchemish: SYNONYM: Europus
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An ancient city-state near modern Jarabulus, Syria. The site was a strategic crossing at the Euphrates River for caravans in Syrian, Mesopotamian, and Anatolian trade. The great tell of Carchemish was excavated by David G. Hogarth and later by Sir Leonard Woolley and was first occupied in the Neolithic Period. Halaf ware from the Chalcolithic (5th millennium BC) was found as well as later finds of Uruk-Jamdat Nasr pottery, a product of the southern Euphrates Valley in Sumerian cities of c 3000 BC. There were also tombs from the end of the Early Bronze (c 2300 BC) and the Middle and Late Bronze Age (c 2300-1550; c 1550-1200 BC). Written records concerning Carchemish first appear in the Mari letters -- royal archives of Mari, c 18th century BC. At that time the city was a center for trading wood and shipped Anatolian timber down the Euphrates. The large fortified citadel was important under the empire of the Hittites (14th century BC) and remained so after the fall of the empire, during the period of Syro-Hittite city-states (12th-8th centuries BC). The monumental city gates, temples, and palaces all bore considerable numbers of carved reliefs and inscriptions of the period. The Hittite hieroglyphic inscriptions were of great importance in helping to piece together its history down to its annexation by Assyria in 716 BC.
cartouche: SYNONYM: shenu
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: The name given to the oval or oblong figures in Egyptian hieroglyphics which enclosed characters representing royal or divine names or titles. The term is also used for the amulet of similar design worn in ancient Egypt as a protection against the loss of one's name (i.e., one's identity). In architecture, the term refers to the ornamentation in scroll form, applied especially to elaborate frames around tablets or coats of arms. By extension, the word is applied to any oval shape or even to a decorative shield, whether scrolled or not. Detailed examples of cartouches show that the sign represents a length of knotted rope, looped so that it is never-ending; it thus symbolizes cyclical return. The French word cartouche, meaning 'gun cartridge', was originally given to the royal frame by Napoleon's soldiers, because of its cartridge-like shape.
Champollion, Jean-François (1778-1867): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: French historian and linguist who founded scientific Egyptology and played a major role in the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics by deciphering the Rosetta Stone. A masterful linguist, Champollion started publishing papers on the hieroglyphic and hieratic elements of the Rosetta Stone in 1821-1822, and he went on to establish an entire list of hieroglyphic signs and their Greek equivalents. He was first to recognize that some of the signs were alphabetic, some syllabic, and some determinative (standing for a whole idea or object previously expressed). His brilliant discoveries met with great opposition, however. He became curator of the Egyptian collection at the Louvre, conducted an archaeological expedition to Egypt, and received the chair of Egyptian antiquities, created specially for him, at the Collège de France. He also published an Egyptian grammar and dictionary, as well as other works about Egypt.
classic, Classic, Classical: SYNONYM: Classical Age, Classic Period
CATEGORY: culture; chronology
DEFINITION: A general term referring to the period of time when a culture or civilization reaches its highest point of complexity and achievement. In a broader sense, the term often describes the whole period of Greek and Roman antiquity with the following breakdown: Early Classical Period 500-450 BC, High Classical Period 450-400 BC, and Late Classical 400-323 BC. Specifically, the term describes, in New World chronology, the period between the Formative (Pre-Classic) and the Post-Classic, which was characterized by the emergence of city-states. During the Classic stage, civilized life in pre-Columbian America reached its fullest flowering, with large temple centers, advanced art styles, writing, etc. It was originally coined for the Maya civilization, initially defined by the earliest and most recent Long Count dates found on Maya stelae, 300-900 AD. A division between Early and Late Classic was arbitrarily set at 600 AD, but since in some areas, e.g. Teothihuacan, great civilizations had already collapsed, some scholars regard this date as marking the end of the Classic Period. By extension, the word came to be used for other Mexican cultures with a similar level of excellence (Teotihuacán, Monte Albán, El Tajín). In these areas the cultural climax was roughly contemporary with that of the Maya, and the term Classic took on a chronological meaning as well. The full Maya artistic, architectural, and calendric-hieroglyphic traditions took place during the Early Classic. Tikal, Uaxactún, and Copán all attained their glory then. In the Late Classic, between 600-900 AD, ceremonial centers in the Maya Lowlands grew in number, as did the making of the inscribed, dated stelae and monuments. The breakdown of the Classic Period civilizations began with the destruction of the city of Teotihuacán in about 700 AD. Some date the Classic period to 300-900 AD.
classical: SYNONYM: Classic, Classical
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A general term referring to the period of time when a culture or civilization reaches its highest point of complexity and achievement. In a broader sense, the term often describes the whole period of Greek and Roman antiquity with the following breakdown: Early Classical period 500-450 BC, High Classical period 450-400 BC, and Late Classical 400-323 BC. Specifically, the term describes, in New World chronology, the period between the Formative (Pre-Classic) and the Post-Classic, which was characterized by the emergence of city-states. During the Classic stage, civilized life in pre-Columbian America reached its fullest flowering, with large temple centers, advanced art styles, writing, etc. It was originally coined for the Maya civilization, initially defined by the earliest and most Recent Long Count dates found on Maya stelae, 300-900 AD. A division between Early and Late Classic was arbitrarily set at 600 AD, but since in some areas, e.g. Teothihuacan, great civilizations had already collapsed, some scholars regard this date as marking the end of the Classic Period. By extension, the word came to be used for other Mexican cultures with a similar level of excellence (Teotihuacán, Monte Albán, El Tajín). In these areas the cultural climax was roughly contemporary with that of the Maya, and the term Classic took on a chronological meaning as well. The full Maya artistic, architectural, and calendric-hieroglyphic traditions took place during the Early Classic. Tikal, Uaxactún, and Copán all attained their glory then. In the Late Classic, between 600-900 AD, ceremonial centers in the Maya Lowlands grew in number, as did the making of the inscribed, dated stelae and monuments. The breakdown of the Classic Period civilizations began with the destruction of the city of Teotihuacán in about 700 AD. Some date the Classic period to 300-900 AD.
codex: SYNONYM: pl. codices (from 'caudex', trunk of a tree)
CATEGORY: artifact; language
DEFINITION: Any handwritten manuscript of the Scriptures, either Christian or in Mesoamerica before the Spanish conquest. In Mesoamerica, these documents were written and painted in hieroglyphic or pictographic characters on bark paper of animal skin and they contain information about pre-Columbian and post-conquest life. The surviving codices, of which there are four, were folded concertina-fashion, like a map. The information concerned astronomy, religious ceremonies, calendrics, genealogy, or simple accounting. The best surviving example is the Dresden Codex. A number were commissioned by the Spanish and some are copies of earlier works, including the Mayan Book, of Chilam Balam, the Popol Vuh, and the Aztec tribute lists of the Mendoza Codex. Those written post-conquest might resemble a book in format. The early Christian gospel books were produced in monasteries in the post-Roman era, including Codex Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Vaticanus.
Copán: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A ruined ancient Mayan city, in extreme western Honduras near the Guatemalan border, one of the largest and most impressive sites of that civilization. Copán was an important Maya city during the Classic Period (c 300-900 AD), peaking in the 8th century with as many as 20,000 people. The site has stone temples, two large pyramids, several stairways and plazas, and a ball court for tlachtli. Most of these structures center on a raised platform called the Acropolis and are constructed in a locally available greenish volcanic tuff. Copán is particularly known for the ornate stone carving on the buildings and the portrait sculptures on its many stelae. The Hieroglyphic Stairway, which leads to one of the temples, is beautifully carved with 2500 hieroglyphics total on the risers of each of its 63 steps. During the Classic Period, there is evidence that astronomers in Copán calculated the most accurate solar calendar produced by the Maya up to that time. The site's ruins were discovered by Spanish explorers in the early 16th century and rediscovered by American traveler John Lloyd Stephens in 1839, who purchased" the site for $50. Since then much of the beautiful carving has deteriorated but the highly detailed pen-and-ink drawings of his colleague Frederick Catherwood still survive and are a great source of iconographic detail. Restoration work revealed much of Copán's political and dynastic history through the decipherment of hieroglyphic inscriptions on its monuments. A dynasty of at least 16 kings ruled Copán from about 426-822 AD; the Maya had completely abandoned the site by about 1200. Finds date from the Late Prehistoric period (c 300 BC-AD 250."
demotic: CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: The Egyptian cursive script for secular/everyday use and civil records derived from hieroglyphs by way of hieratic. Although more easily written, its structure was identical with that of the original hieroglyphic. It first appeared in 7th century BC, surviving until the 5th century AD. It was used for the central of the three inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone. The term comes from the Greek demotika, 'popular script' or 'script in common use', also known as enchorial, 'of the country'.
determinative: CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: An indication of which category of objects or beings is in question. In hieroglyphic writing, an ideographic sign next to a word phonetically represented, for the purpose of defining its meaning.
Egyptology: CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: A branch of archaeology specializing in the investigation of ancient Egyptian civilization, especially the study of pharaonic Egypt (c 4500 BC-641 AD) and its relics. Some scholars date the beginning of the discipline September 1822, when Jean-François Champollion wrote his Lettre a Dacier relative a l'alphabet des hierglyphes phonetiques" in which he demonstrated that he had deciphered the hieroglyphic script. Others say Egyptology began when the scholars accompanying Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Egypt (1798-1801) published the "Description de l'Égypte" (1809-28) which made large quantities of source material about ancient Egypt available to scholars."
Evans, Sir Arthur (1851-1941): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: A British scholar and archaeologist who contributed much to the study of Greek archaeology with his excavations at the Minoan palace of Knossos. His first interest was in coins and hieroglyphic seals, and it was the latter which drew his attention to Crete. He began excavations at Knossos in 1899 at his own expense, and in the next 35 years laid bare not only this Bronze Age palace of the Minoans, but in effect their whole civilization. Careful cross-dating with Egypt allowed him to put dates to his sequence, making it a vitally important link in the dating of prehistoric Europe before the discovery of radiocarbon. Though he was unable to decipher the Minoans' three written scripts, his detailed study of them gave the necessary basis for later work, culminating in the reading of Linear B by Michael Ventris in 1952. He was largely responsible for demonstrating the existence of a pre-Mycenaean Aegean civilization, for naming it Minoan (after the legendary King Minos of Crete), and for revealing most of its characteristics. He was the son of Sir John Evans.
glyph: CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: A symbol in a writing system; a painted or incised conventionalized sign. These individual images or design elements make up systems such as hieroglyphics, pictographs, or petroglyphs. Glyphs range from concrete images, such as an animal or a house, to abstractions, such as the use of a footprint to indicate travel, to signs representing the sound of words. In the Mesoamerican system, a glyph may represent an idea, word, sound, syllable, or a combination of them.
hieratic: CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: A cursive form of the Egyptian hieroglyphs developed for everyday use in handwritten documents. It arose from the use of brush pen on papyrus for business and similar non-monumental purposes, starting at the end of the Early Dynastic Period (c 2686 BC). It was gradually replaced by demotic starting in the 7th century BC, but survived for religious use to the end of paganism in Egypt. The word comes from Greek hieratika sacred". Hieratic signs lost the pictorial character of hieroglyphs and are often joined together. Hieratic was written in one direction only from right to left. In earlier times the lines had run vertically and later about 2000 BC horizontally. Subsequently the papyrus scrolls were written in columns of changing widths. There were ligatures in hieratic so that two but no more than two signs could be written in one stroke. As a consequence of its decreased legibility the spelling of the hieratic script was more rigid than that of hieroglyphic writing. Variations from uniformity at a given time were minor; but during the course of the various periods the spelling developed and changed. As a result hieratic texts do not correspond exactly to contemporary hieroglyphic texts either in the placing of signs or in the spelling of words. Hieratic used diacritical additions to distinguish between two signs that had grown similar to one another because of cursive writing. In the life of the Egyptians hieratic script played a larger role than hieroglyphic writing and was also taught earlier in the schools. The latest hieratic texts are from the end of the 1st century or the beginning of the 2nd century AD. Hieratic should not be confused with 'cursive hieroglyphs' which were used for most of the Pharaonic period in such religious writings as the Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead."
Hittite: SYNONYM: Hatti, Kheta
CATEGORY: culture; language
DEFINITION: A people of obscure origin who infiltrated Anatolia and the Levant from the north during the later 3rd millennium BC. In the Old Kingdom (c 1750-1450) they established a state in central Turkey with its capital first at Kussara, then at Boghazköy. They overran north Syria c 1600 and pushed on as far as Babylon. Under the empire (1450-1200) a more stable state was built up over most of Anatolia and north Syria, displacing the kingdom of the Mitanni and successfully challenging Assyria and Egypt. The end came quite suddenly in the Late Bronze Age c 1200 BC, notably by movements of the Peoples of the Sea and Anatolian groups from the north. The Hittite outposts in north Syria, however, survived as a chain of Syro-Hittite or neo-Hittite city-states -- Karatepe, Sinjerli, Sakçe, Gözü, Malatya, Atchana, and Carchemish -- down to their final annexation by the Assyrians in the 8th century BC. They are also known for their metal-working. They exploited and traded copper, lead, silver and also iron; indeed, they were among the first peoples to use iron, and for a period maintained a virtual monopoly in the new metal. Their language, Hittite and Hieroglyphic Hittite, is Indo-European, the earliest to be recorded. Hurrian, the language of the Hurri, was non-Indo-European, as of course was the Akkadian much used for commercial and foreign correspondence. The Akkadian cuneiform script was generally used too, though for monumental purposes local hieroglyphs were preferred. The discovery of the Hittite language was the major advance this century in the field of Indo-European languages -- with archives yielding thousands of tablets in many languages. The great period of the empire was 14th-13th centuries BC when a vast amount of material was recorded -- some in the important sister Anatolian languages of Palaic and Luvian.
ideogram: SYNONYM: ideograph; logogram; pictogram; ideographic writing
CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: A single written symbol representing a concept, idea, or object without signifying a spoken sound -- as the Chinese characters and most Egyptian hieroglyphics. Ideograms were the next stage in the development of writing after pictographs.
Indus civilization: SYNONYM: Indus Valley civilization, Harrapan civilization
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent, identified in 1921-1992 by its two capitals -- Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro -- both in modern Pakistan. It was also the most extensive of the three earliest civilizations, the other two being Mesopotamia and Egypt. It was one of the greatest civilizations of antiquity, but its origins are obscure. By around 2300 BC, the Indus civilization was fully developed and in trading contact with Sargonid Sumer. Radiocarbon dates from several sites support an origin c 2600 BC, and suggest that by 2000 BC the civilization was in marked decline. The Indus River seems to have played a significant part, as many sites show deposits left by frequent catastrophic floods. Exploitation of the vegetation, particularly for the baking of enormous quantities of brick, caused the decline of the countryside. The final collapse seems to have been due to hostile attack. A few inhumation cemeteries have been found associated with the gridiron-plan cities and there were elaborate drainage systems, also. The site of Mohenjo-Daro had a great bath, assembly hall, and other monumental buildings. There was widespread use of an undeciphered hieroglyphic script and standard weights and measures. The economy was based on mixed agriculture and humped cattle were the most important domestic animals. The pottery was mass-produced and plain. Artistically the finest products were square steatite seals, carved with local or mythical animals and brief inscriptions. The civilization's effect on the later culture and religion of India seems to have been considerable.
Kaminaljuyú: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A large and important Maya site near Guatemala City that originally contained over 200 mounds, strongly influenced by Teotihuacán during the Early Classic. As the greatest of the early centers in the highland Maya zone, Kaminaljuyú has a history of occupation dating back to c 1800 BC, but it reached its first climax during the Miraflores phase in the centuries after 300 BC. Its earliest occupation during the Early to Mid-Pre-Classic has Olmec-influenced artifacts such as the 'squashed frog' motif, kaolin pottery, and pits reminiscent of those at Tlatilco. About 200 burial sites from the Late Formative Period, 300 BC-100 AD, have been uncovered, and there are carved stelae in the Izapa manner and a hieroglyphic script unlike that of the lowland Maya.. There are also courts for playing the ball game tlachtli. Because of the lack of stone suitable for construction, pyramids and other structures at Kaminaljuyú were built of adobe and later of other perishable materials. After a period of decline, the site was revived in c 400 when it became an outpost of the Teotihuacán civilization. Kaminaljuyú controlled the obsidian production along the Pacific. Its decline took place after the Late Classic Period c 600-900 AD. Evidence suggests that various Mexican dynasties ruled over the Maya population until the Spanish conquest.
Karatepe: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An 8th century BC Neo-Hittite fortified palace on the Ceyhan River in southwestern Anatolia (Turkey), founded by Asitawandas, king of the Danunians c 740 BC. A series of carved reliefs and inscriptions on two monumental gateways tell a great deal about classical Hittite, Assyrian, and Phoenico-Egyptian, and Syro-Hittite. The gateway inscriptions are bilingual Phoenician-Luwian (Hittite) hieroglyphics, which were instrumental in the decipherment of the Luwian writing system and to understanding of the Hittite language. The Assyrians probably destroyed the city in about 700 BC, when the last remaining principalities in the region were subjugated.
Landa, Bishop Diego de (1524-1579): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Spanish Franciscan priest and bishop of Yucatán who is best known for his classic account of Mayan culture. His book Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan" is the primary resource for interpretation of Maya archaeology. Especially important was the calendar section recorded day and month names and rudimentary explanation of Katun. Landa was sympathetic to the Mayan people but he abhorred their human sacrifices. Landa in his religious zeal ordered all icons and Mayan books to be burned. At the same time he wrote his comprehensive work on Mayan culture his orders to destroy all icons and hieroglyphics obliterated the Mayan language forever helping to undermine and destroy the civilization he so vividly described. Yet his book which was not printed until 1864 provided a phonetic alphabet that made it possible to decipher about one-third of the Mayan hieroglyphs and many of the remainder have since been deciphered."
Lepsius, Karl Richard (1810-1884): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: German Egyptologist who led the Prussian expedition and survey of Egyptian monuments in 1842-1845. He also worked in Sudan and Palestine, sending some 15,000 antiquities and plaster casts back to Prussia. He published the results of the expedition in a 12-volume work, Denkmaeler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien" (1859) which still provides useful information for archaeologists. He is credited with virtually recreating Egyptology as a subject after the premature death of Jean François Champollion doing further work on the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing."
Linear A: CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: A syllabic script created by the Minoans and used in Crete and on other Aegean islands of Greece during the Neopalatial (early palace) period, c 1700-1450 BC (also c 2000/1900-1400 BC). The script has never been deciphered. It was inscribed on clay tablets as administrative records, as well as on stone (religious) vases and bronze double axes. Sir Arthur Evans named the Linear A and B scripts such to distinguish them from the hieroglyphic which preceded them; Linear A is the earlier of the two. Each is a syllabary, and was written with a sharp point on clay tablets. Linear A is of the Middle Minoan III-Late Minoan I. It is in some ways similar to Linear B and has pictograms reduced to formal outline patterns. Linear A tablets have been found in the palaces of Crete itself and also on the Cycladic islands of Melos, Keos, Kythera, Naxos and Thera.
logogram: SYNONYM: logograph
CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: A written or pictorial symbol intended to represent a whole word. Writing systems that make use of logograms include Chinese, Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, and early cuneiform writing systems. No known writing system is totally logographic; all such systems have both logograms and symbols representing particular sounds or syllables. A logogram represents a frequently recurring word or phrase, differing from a determinative in that it furnishes additional information instead of classifying information already given. Many scripts contain a class of logograms, such as $, =, +, and numeric signs in English. Abbreviations, though composed of phonograms, are logographic in function.
Luwian: SYNONYM: Luvian, Luish
CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: An extinct Indo-European language primarily of the western and southern part of ancient Asia Minor of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC, especially important to Arzawa. It was closely related to Hittite, Palaic, and Lydian and was a forerunner of the Lycian language. Knowledge of Luwian comes from cuneiform tablets discovered in the ruins of the Hittite archives at Bogazköy (modern Turkey). The pioneering work on Cuneiform Luwian was done by Emil Forrer in 1922. In addition to Luwian passages in the cuneiform tablets, a number of inscriptions occur in a hieroglyphic system of writing that originated with the early Hittite stamp seals of the 17th and 18th centuries BC. Hieroglyphic Luwian (often called Hieroglyphic Hittite) texts have been found dating from as late as the last quarter of the 8th century BC. The language was deciphered in the 1930s. More was learned about the meaning of the writing after the discovery of the Karatepe bilingual inscriptions, written in both Hieroglyphic Luwian and Phoenician. The Lycian language of about 600-200 BC, written in an alphabetic script, is believed to be descended from a West Luwian dialect. Luwian was probably the language of the Trojans during Trojan War. The language survived in southwest Turkey until the Roman period.
Maya: SYNONYM: Classic Maya
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Very important culture of Mesoamerica, one of the major Classic civilizations, which occupied the peninsula of Yucatan and Belize, the lowland jungle south of it, and the highlands of Guatemala and western Honduras. The civilization developed from other pre-Classic cultures by about 200 BC and continued until being conquered by the Spaniards in 1541 AD. By c 200 BC, at sites like Tikal and Uaxactún, the first pyramids were being built. Population increase and the introduction of new ceramic and architectural forms are accompanied by an artistic transition from Olmec through Izapan to Mayan. The classic Maya civilization dates to c 292 AD, the earliest Long count date found on stele 29 at Tikal. The Early Classic period (200-600) was the golden age of the lowland culture and the great centers acted as foci for administration, religion, and the arts. Architecture, sculpture, and painting were highly developed; records were kept in hieroglyphic writing, and elaborate ceremonies were carried out in the temples on top of their pyramids. A class of astronomer-priests observed the sun, moon, and planets, and had evolved a calendrical system more accurate than the Julian calendar used in Christian Europe. In mathematics the priests used a vigesimal system with the concept of zero and with a positional notation. The Classic Maya culture is characterized by an immense investment of labor in construction of ceremonial architecture, the erection of stelae, and a growing differentiation between the elite and the peasant population. The Maya practiced swidden agriculture as well as intensive agriculture, terracing and raised fields, and arboriculture. Polychrome pottery is a hallmark of the Maya Lowland Classic culture. The Late Classic period (c 600-900 AD) shows development in sculpture and architecture -- and regional styles can be recognized. Northern Yucatan began to come into its own at sites like Chichén Itzá and Uxmal, where fine buildings in the Punc style were erected during the 7th-9th centuries. The later part of this period witnessed the end of civilization in the lowlands; the great centers were abandoned during the 9th and early 10th centuries. The Post-Classic period, c 900 to the Spanish conquest, had strong Mexican influence, particularly at Chichén Itzá where buildings were constructed in the Toltec style of central Mexico, and the art shows representations of Toltec warriors overpowering Maya chiefs. During the collapse in the southern Lowlands, centers in the northern Lowlands began to grow, c 800-1000 AD. The South's decline may have played a role in the North's prosperity. Sometime around 1200, the Itzá were driven from their capital, and Mayapán became the leading city of Yucatan. In about 1440-1450, Mayapán was overthrown and there followed a time of disunity and warfare which lasted until the Spaniards conquered Yucatan in 1541. The Maya kingdoms of highland Guatemala were subdued in 1525, but in the lowlands the descendants of the exiled Itzá held out until 1697. The collapse of Maya culture (in c 900) is a puzzling phenomenon, but its relative suddenness still remains without satisfactory explanation. There are no Long Count dates after 900, after which time lowland populations dwindled by as much as 90 percent. The term Maya also refers to a culture area and is typically divided into the lowland and highland Maya. Descendants of the Maya still occupy the region.
Metsamor: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Sites in Armenia near Yerevan with Kura-Araxes and Late Bronze to Early Iron Age occupations. The latter indicates the existence of pre-Urartian states in Transcaucasia. Objects inscribed in Mesopotamian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphics have been found in the graves dating to the 15th-14th centuries BC. these imply long-distance contacts with southern civilizations.
Monte Albán: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A major ceremonial center of the Zapotec people in Oaxaca, Mexico, built around 900 BC on top of an artificially flattened mountain. Monte Albán (I = 900-300 BC) was probably created to serve as the capital of the entire valley, which had previously been divided among several states. It was an immense complex of monumental construction, with a huge plaza (300 x 200 m) dominated by three central mounds. The plaza was flanked on the east and west by temples, pyramids, and platform mounds; on the northern and southern extremities are more complexes of monumental building, including a ball court. There are also underground passageways. By the end of Period I, the city had between 10,000- 20,000 inhabitants living in houses on hill slope terraces around a nucleus of ceremonial and governmental buildings. Hieroglyphic writing was in use, with bar-and-dot numerals, and dates were expressed in terms of the calendar round. More than 300 carved slabs ('danzantes') depict naked and contorted figures who may be captives, and inscriptions definitely recording conquests occur soon afterwards. In Late I/Early II, the city was surrounded by a defense wall. Period I includes the appearance of Grey Ware and Olmec-influenced monumental art. Period II is characterized by contact with Maya lowland centers and later, by the increasing influence of Teotihuacán. Period IIIA (the 3rd-5th centuries AD) is marked by increased contact with Teotihuacán, reflected in pottery (thin orange ware, cylindrical tripod vases), tomb frescoes, Talud-Tablero architecture, and stela inscriptions. Monte Albán reached the height of its power in Period IIIB, 500-900 AD, during which elaborate funerary urns in Grey Ware make their appearance and when the site reached its peak population of 50-60,000 people. Most of the surviving buildings belong to this time. During Monte Albán IV, 900-1521 AD, building ceased. After 900, the centers of power moved elsewhere and Monte Albán was considerably depopulated. It was essentially abandoned. In Period V, Monte Albán was of only secondary importance as a city and a political force. Mixtec art styles make their appearance in the valley and Monte Albán was used as a cemetery, with earlier Zapotec tombs reused for the Mixtec dead. One of the richest discoveries in ancient Mexico was Tomb 7, with over 500 precious offerings in Mixtec style gold and silver ornaments, fine stonework, and a series of bones carved with hieroglyphic and calendrical inscriptions.
Naj Tunich: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Cave in southeastern Guatemala with Maya cave art of the 8th century AD. There are 100 paintings and some petroglyphs, mostly hieroglyphic texts and human figures.
Olmec: SYNONYM: Tenocelome, La Venta
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The first complex civilization of Mesoamerica and its distinctive art style, beginning in the Early Preclassic (c 1200 BC) and ending c 400 BC. The farming population built and supported great ceremonial centers (La Venta, San Lorenzo, Tenochititlan, Tres Zapotes), importing tons of serpentine and basalt from outside the region. The Olmecs were great stone-carvers whose products ranged from basalt heads almost 2 meters high to small jade figurines in which the attributes of a baby-faced human being merge and blend with those of a jaguar to form a composite monster (were-jaguar). Carvings in this distinctive style have been discovered over much of Mexico and as far south as El Salvador and Costa Rica. They are also noted for a distinctive black, white-rimmed kaolin pottery. Olmec figurines and pottery have been found at various sites in central Mexico and contacts were strong with the cultures of Oaxaca before the construction of Monte Albán. The Olmec are also known for art in jadeite and shell and the first hieroglyphic writing system. The Olmec golden age was the early part of the 1st millennium BC. They developed many of the religious traditions that were to sustain the Maya and other Mesoamerican civilizations such as Teotihuacán. They are not to be confused with historic Olmecs, who were a later group and may have helped destroy Teotihuacan, and whose tyranny was responsible for migration of many Mesoamerican peoples.
ostrakon: SYNONYM: pl. ostraca; ostracon (pl. ostraka)
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A potsherd or, more rarely, a flake of stone, bearing an inscription in ink or paint. In Greece they were employed for voting; in Egypt for memoranda, business accounts, writing exercises, jottings, artist's sketches, and listmaking. They commonly consisted of personal jottings, letters, sketches, or scribal exercises, but also often inscribed with literary texts. They could also be fragments from inscribed jars (e.g. a wine jar inscribed with the details of a vintage). Ostraca are known from all periods, but 19th- and 20th-Dynasty examples are commonest (up to 20,000 have been found) in Egypt. Most of the Egyptian examples are in hieratic or demotic, but there are also cursive hieroglyphic texts and numerous pictures, including drafts of hieroglyphic inscriptions. The term is derived from the classical Greek voting practice of ostrakismos (ostracism), a 5th-century BC political move in which each citizen could write upon a potsherd the name of someone whom he wished to see banished. If sufficient votes were cast against one person (the number seems to have been 6,000), the person named would be banished for ten years. The usage of inscribed sherds seems to have spread to Egypt with the Greek conquest. Ostraca from the New Kingdom are especially numerous. Deir el-Medina's ostraca is a great source of evidence for the life of its workmen's village and community.
Palermo Stone: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A slab of black basalt bearing a record of the first five Egyptian dynasties (Old Kingdom), compiled in the 5th dynasty, c 2400 BC. It is one of the basic sources of information about the chronology and cultural history of Egypt during the first five dynasties (c 2925-c. 2325 BC). Named for the Sicilian city in which one slab is stored, the diorite stela is one of six existing fragments that probably originally stood in Egyptian temples; other slabs are now in London and Cairo. It is inscribed on both sides with horizontal lines of hieroglyphic text, the top row listing the names of predynastic rulers. The following rows, each headed by the name of a different king, are divided into compartments, each compartment signifying one year. Within the compartments the hieroglyphs always list one or more memorable events of that year. Thus the original monument was apparently a year-by-year record of all the kings from the 1st-5th dynasty, although the last name preserved on the stone is that of Neferirkare, the third of the nine kings of the 5th dynasty.
Piedras Negras: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Classic Lowland Maya site located on steep terraces on the Usumacinta River, Guatemala. There were ballcourts, temple pyramids, courtyards, and ceremonial sweatbaths (temescales). It is best known for the finely carved stone monuments in the form of hieroglyphic inscriptions on lintels, stelae, and wall panels. These art works were the main source in Tatiana Proskouriakoff's study which showed that certain hieroglyphs recorded historical rather than ceremonial events. Military themes occur frequently in the art; the seashells are from both the Pacific and Gulf coasts, and obsidian and jade attest to widespread trading. The terminal Long Count date for the site is 795 AD.
Rosetta Stone: CATEGORY: language; artifact
DEFINITION: A basalt stela discovered at Rosetta, at the western mouth of the Nile, during Napoleon's occupation of Egypt, in 1799. This trilingual inscription on stone, a decree of King Ptolemy V (196 BC), was carved in Greek, Egyptian Demotic, and Egyptian hieroglyphic. It provided Jean-François Champollion with the key to the decipherment of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, thus paving the way to modern Egyptology. The Rosetta Stone is now in the British Museum.
sa: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A hieroglyphic sign meaning 'protection', which may have originally represented the rolled-up reed mat that would have sheltered herdsmen or been the papyrus 'life-vest' for boatmen. The sign was used either as an amulet or symbol and held by deities Bes and Taweret.
serekh: SYNONYM: palace facade decoration
CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: Hieroglyphic symbol comprising the recessed paneling described in modern times as 'palace facade' decoration. It is the image of a brick facade to a palace or enclosure, with a rectangular space above. It is believed to have been modeled on the design of the earliest royal residences beginning in the Early Dynastic Period. It is found on mastaba tombs, false door stelae, coffins, sarcophagi, and numerous other funerary and ceremonial contexts throughout Egyptian history. A falcon (the sign for Horus) perches on the top horizontal of the rectangle, which encloses a king's Horus name (the first name in a king's titulary).
Sinjerli: SYNONYM: Zincirli Höyük, Zincirli, Zenjirli, Senjirli, Zinjerli; ancient Sam'al
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Site in the foothills of the Anti-Taurus Mountains, south-central Turkey, of a Late Hittite city-state after the downfall of the Hittite empire (c 1190 BC). It had grown slowly to importance under the Hittites, flourishing after their downfall as the independent state of Sam'al until annexed by the Assyrians in the 7th century BC and then abandoned. Its fortified citadel contained two palaces, each including the architectural unit known as a bit hilani (pillared porch"). Immediately surrounding the citadel was the city itself enclosed by a circular fortification wall topped by 100 towers. The palaces and gateways were freely decorated with the reliefs and hieroglyphic inscriptions of the Syro-Hittites. The identity with ancient Samal was confirmed by the discovery of a victory inscription of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon from 670 BC."
stela: SYNONYM: stele, stelae (pl.)
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: An upright, freestanding stone monument, often inscribed or carved in relief, and sometimes painted. These pillars or tablets of stone were often used to mark a grave or erected as a monument. Inscriptions may commemorate a victory or a major event, or proclaim a formal decree. Stelae are frequently encountered in Maya and Olmec sites of Mesoamerica (often carved with calendrical and hieroglyphic inscriptions), in the Buddhist civilizations of Asia, and in early Greece. The earliest funerary stelae are from a cemetery of 1st- and 2nd-Dynasty kings at Abydos, and are located in publicly accessible superstructures of the tombs. Commemorative stelae were erected in temples. Votive stelae recorded an individual's veneration of a particular deity(ies).
stela or stele: SYNONYM: pl. stelae
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: An upright, freestanding stone monument, often inscribed or carved in relief, and sometimes painted. These pillars or tablets of stone were often used to mark a grave or erected as a monument. Inscriptions may commemorate a victory or a major event, or proclaim a formal decree. Stelae are frequently encountered in Maya and Olmec sites of Mesoamerica (often carved with calendrical and hieroglyphic inscriptions), in the Buddhist civilizations of Asia, and in early Greece. The earliest funerary stelae are from a cemetery of 1st- and 2nd-Dynasty kings at Abydos, and are located in publicly accessible superstructures of the tombs. Commemorative stelae were erected in temples. Votive stelae recorded an individual's veneration of a particular deity(ies).
Tassili n'Ajjer: SYNONYM: Tassili-n-Ajjer
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Site in southeast Algeria with famous but undated rock art covering most of the Saharan sequence. The art is in three styles -- archaic" paintings of large animal and human figures and geometric abstract symbols; a "naturalistic" style with humans and animals portrayed in great detail in scenes showing cattle running and herdsmen with bows; and a "cubist" style with dark shapes and light areas. Stone forms which were probably used as tomb sculpture have also been found at the Tassili site. There is much stone painting but not much stone carving or engraving. Scholars have been unable to decipher the hieroglyphic language that is engraved on the rocks."
writing: CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: Any system for symbolizing the symbols of a language. Writing was developed independently several times in different places and both the writing materials and the types of script show great variation. The earliest true writing developed in southern Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC Uruk culture. The writing material was clay; it was first inscribed and later impressed with a stylus to produce the wedge-shaped cuneiform signs. The earliest signs were pictograms ('picture writing', in which the signs represent stylized pictures of the objects in question), but these rapidly developed into ideograms (the signs indicated not only the original object, but also associated objects or concepts). The Egyptian hieroglyphic script, used for inscriptions on stone, painting on walls, and also writing on papyrus, appears well before 3000 BC. There is dispute as to whether the Egyptians developed writing independently or whether the art was diffused from Mesopotamia. The Harappan Civilization of the Indus Valley had a writing system of its own, dated to the second half of the 3rd millennium BC and is found almost exclusively on stamp seals and seal impressions. It has not been deciphered. The first true alphabet, with signs for individual letters, seems to have developed in the Levant, probably in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. The first definite evidence comes from Ugarit in the mid-2nd millennium BC. The Phoenicians spread the alphabet throughout the Mediterranean and theirs is ancestral to most of the alphabets in use today. In China, writing developed independently, first appearing on oracle bones of the Shang dynasty. In Europe the only pre-Classical writing occurs in the Aegean in the 2nd millennium BC -- the hieroglyphic and Linear A scripts of the Minoans, as yet undeciphered, and the Linear B of the Mycenaeans, used to record an early form of Greek. The development of writing in the Americas occurred only in Mesoamerica -- the glyphic writing of the Maya and related groups, found in inscriptions carved on monuments, and the pictographic writing of Post-Classic groups such as the Mixtecs and Aztecs, found on manuscripts of bark or deerskin known as codices.
Yaxchilán: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Major Classic Maya site on the Usumacinta River, Chiapas, Mexico. It has architectural features like Palenque, hieroglyphic inscriptions on stone lintels and stelae, and monuments depict war. Though there are a number of structures, including palaces with ornamented stucco roof-combs and mansard roofing, temple-pyramids, and two ball courts, the site is best known for its more than 125 carved lintels. It flourished c 600-900 AD. Though the site may have been controlled briefly by the Putun just before 750, it was finally abandoned during the general Lowland Maya collapse.
Young, Thomas (1773-1829): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: English physician, physicist, and Egyptologist who helped decipher the Rosetta Stone. He was the first modern scholar to translate the demotic script. Young began studying the texts of the Rosetta Stone in 1814 and after obtaining additional hieroglyphic writings from other sources, he succeeded in providing a nearly accurate translation within a few years and thus contributed greatly to deciphering the ancient Egyptian language.
Zincirli Höyük: SYNONYM: Zenjirli, Senjirli, Zinjerli, Samal
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Site in the foothills of the Anti-Taurus Mountains, southern Turkey, of Samal, one of the Late Hittite city-states that perpetuated a Semitized southern Anatolian culture for centuries after the downfall of the Hittite empire (c 1190 BC). It was annexed by the Assyrians in the 7th century BC and then abandoned with the downfall of Assyria. The town was surrounded by a wall forming an exact circle and topped by 100 towers; inside there was a fortified citadel with two palaces of the bit hilani type. The palaces and gateways were decorated with relief carvings and inscriptions in the Syro-Hittite hieroglyphic script. The identity with ancient Samal was confirmed by the discovery of a victory inscription of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon from 670 BC.

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