hieratic - Reflexions

hieratic

A cursive form of the hieroglyphic system. It is the basic system that all scribes use, since the hieroglyphic system is reserved for an elite. Hieratic script allows scribes to write upon things such as wood, papyrus or pottery shards (ostraca). The system was mostly used in administration or in daily life, and continued to be commonly used up until the seventh century B.C.E., when it was further simplified in order to produce the demotic script. A scribe who had to inscribe hieroglyphs upon a monument would recopy them based on notes written in hieratic, or by using painting at an earlier time. Another scribe might make corrections to the work of the first, and at the end of this process, hieroglyphs would be inscribed in stone.