The earliest forms of Egyptian writing began around 3100 BC in the forms of pictographs. Pictographs are simply a pictorial symbol for the word or phrase trying to be described. The pictographs were the thing that made up the Egyptian language known as Hieroglyphics. Many of the imagery used in their writing system were there to literally represent that object, however as hieroglyphics advanced the Egyptians began using certain images to represent sounds or spell out the sounds of the words. As this written language began evolving and being used for record keeping and even poetry, the Egyptians needed to find a way to differentiate the people being written about from the actual information being recorded. This was done using something called a cartouche. On many documents where there are Hieroglyphs as well as illustrations of people, you will find an enclosed oval shaped object that they saw as a magical rope with hieroglyphs inside sitting next to the people Illustrated. These are what they used to give names in their writings. Cartouches were only at first something worn by those higher up, such as a pharaoh. The reason the Egyptians would enclose the name written with a magic rope was because it was said to protect them from evil spirits in life and after death. The cartouche was placed on the tombs of the dead not only to keep track of the person, but because it was believed if their name was recorded there then they would not disappear after death.
During the time of hieroglyphics, name writing was done in a particular shape because it carried out a spiritual significance which provided protection to that person. The cartouche was written in an oval and was to be read from left to right starting at the top and working your way to the bottom of the column. Each symbol was illustrated in the same size and perfectly stacked on top of one another for a sense of hierarchy when deciphering it. Today however, We write names in a much different manner. Aside from our written language using the 26 letters of the English alphabet rather than hieroglyphs, our names are only written from left to right and are not stacked inside of a column. Often when names are presented on a document they are placed in the top left-hand corner to mark who wrote that document. In our record keeping today there are no forms of illustration to represent the people being mentioned in the way that the Egyptians depicted. There is a much more sterile, listing way of recording information as one would imagine considering the modernization that has taken place over thousands of years. It is interesting to consider that everyone now has equality when it comes to having a name, whereas during the Egyptian era the cartouche was usually held aside for those higher up. Name writing has played a crucial role in keeping accurate recordings of our history and allows us to continue keeping accurate records of events today regardless of how it is done.
Admin. “Cartouche.” Ancient Symbols, https://www.ancient-symbols.com/symbols-directory/cartouche.html.
Ager, Simon. “Omniglot: a Guide to Writing Systems.” Choice Reviews Online, vol. 40, no. 07, Jan. 2003, doi:10.5860/choice.40-3753.
Haley Locke 