1
The "forktailed Swallow
Representing the "wr" sound

WELCOME BACK!

What did you think of that?  Mdw-Ntr is very interesting and fun to learn, but there are many differences of opinion regarding the history of the language and of Ancient Egypt itself. Do you recall that the Egyptologica Vlaanderen VZW stated in its Introduction: "Scientists speak of the Afro-Asiatic or Hamito-Semitic language group." and this is true.  But there are also scientists who speak of an "African-Egyptian" language group.

So, what difference does it makes whether Mdw-Ntr belongs to an "Afro-Asiatic" group or an "African-Egyptian" group?  The difference is whether the Ancient Nile Valley Civilization was more connected with Asian cultures to the north, or whether it was more  connected with the African cultures to its south.  Linguistic history is like bloodlines, it evidences the history of a culture. REMEMBER HOWEVER, we are talking about cultures, not physical phenotypes that people often refer to as race.

Well, for now, it will be enough to know that the Ancient Nile Valley Civilization was situated on the continent of Africa, and that alone makes it accurate to refer to it as an African Civilization.

So, now, if you are ready, lets begin our next lesson.
 
 

Hotep!  And welcome to the Second Lesson of The Language Of The Gods.

If you learned well the first three lessons of the Egyptologica Vlaanderen VZW, then you are ready to go back and tackle some more of the alphabet of Mdw-Ntr.  But before you do, I would like for you to see how remarkable this writing was.  The picture of Nefertari, and Toth in the first lesson gives us an idea of the beauty and colorfulness of this writing.  But I would like for you to go to the following site, which is a part of Mark Millmore's Ancient Egypt web pages.  Here, through reconstructed glyphs, you can get a much better idea of the colorful world of the Ancient Nile Valley Civilization.
 

First, did you notice the blue letters, words and alphabets?  Those were hot links that took you to graphics of the hieroglyphs in greater detail.  If you missed them, it is worthwhile to go back and take another look.  Not to worry, I’ll still be around when you get back.

Second, if you took a cruise around Mark’s web site, there are comments, which can reasonably be made regarding the nature of Mdw-Ntr and the Ancient Nile Valley Civilization, but they are perspectives with which I do not completely agree.  We will get back to some of these issues when we return to Mark’s pages later.

You may wonder why there is so much disagreement over the specifics of this language and this culture.

One reason, for such disagreement is the fact that this culture existed so long ago, much of its artifacts have been lost or destroyed leaving huge holes in the fabric of its history.  Another reason for the disagreement is that this civilization existed for such a long period of time that it underwent numerous changes in its character.  Do you remember in Lesson 1 of “Reading Hieroglyphs - The First Steps” where it stated that there were several versions of Ancient Egyptian Languages?  Those languages were:

 Old Egyptian
 (ca 2700-2200 BC).

Middle Egytian
 (ca 2200-1800 BC.

New Egyptian
 (ca 1580-700 BC).

Demotic
 (ca 700 BC - 600 AD).

Coptic
 (ca 300 AD – 1000 AD)

As you think about the fact that the Ancient Egyptian Languages were spoken for over THREE THOUSAND YEARS, compare that period of time with the Seven Hundred Years that separate the writing of the “Cantebury Tales” and modern English.   That should give you a perspective on the degree of change that could have taken place.

Chaucer wrote in “Middle English” which extended from 1100 AD to 1500 AD [500 to 900 years ago] and it is incomprehensible to people today who speake Modern English.  Compare:
 
 

Middle English: Whan that aprill with his shoures soote  The droghte of march hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne,

Modern English In April the pleasant showers of rain had pierced the drought of March to the very root And bathed every plant with life-giving moisture. The refreshing west wind had quickened the young shoots in every wood and field and the young sun had completed its second half course in the zodiac sign of the Aries,

Get it??

While we do not know for sure when Hieroglyphs first appeared, we are aware of examples of early forms of such writings that came out of the south with the conquering kings and their armies.

One of these kings was Narmar, whose victory over the inhabitants of the northern Nile River is believed by some to be the actual birth of Egypt [or Km.T].the Valley.  Narmar's victory is recorded in an artifact called Narmar's Pallette. Found on this pallette are Narmar's name written in Hieroglyphs and there are other forms of iconography that probably served as some type of transcription.

Let's go take a look at Narmar's Pallette, and read a little bit about it.  It has two sides, do don't forget to look at them both.

Narmar's Pallette    -    Converse
Narmar's Pallette    -    Obverse
Link to Palette Info.

 

Anyway, lets get back to “Reading Hieroglyphs - The First Steps”

As you can guess, since we have studied the  first three lessons of the Egyptologica Vlaanderen VZW, now we are ready to study lessons four, five and six there.  Those lessons are:
 
 

"Lesson 4: the egyptian alphabet - three-letter signs and phonetic compllements"
"Lesson 5: the noun - gender and number"
"Lesson 6: the Egyptian numerals"

As you study this new set of Hieroglypys, think of what they may have looked like carved into temple walls,remembering  Mark Millmore's Ancient Egypt web pages.

By Now, you should be getting the idea of how Mdw-Ntr and Hieroglyphs work.  So what we are going to do at this time, is read a book in Hieroglyphs.

Ok, ok, don't panic.  This will be really easy - and fun.  Stephen Fryer, who is a student of Hieroglyphs, has put together a very nice, short, online book to help people study Hieroglyphs.  If you don't enjoy Stephen Fryer's "A Little Egyptian Reading Book" I will refund every cent you paid on my course.   So,
on to Stephen Fryer's "A Little Egyptian Reading Book" 

So , What did I tell you?  Wasn't that fun?  So much fun, in fact, I get to give you a Quiz now!
 

 

Osiris ?
Isis ?
Horus ?
Set ?

Index Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Notes Page Help Page

For more on the ANCIENT NILE VALLEY CIVILIZATION, Go To:  THE Km.T LIBERATION FRONT
 

This site was created and prepared by Oscar H. Blayton (c) 2000-2002

Email me at: Blayton_Law@sprynet.com