Hieroglyphics were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt to represent the Egyptian language. They were composed of more than 1,000 distinct characters combining ideographic, logographic, syllabic, and alphabetic elements. Hieroglyphs were used primarily for monumental inscriptions, religious texts, and to communicate with divinities and spirits of the dead. The Egyptians called their hieroglyphs "the words of God," believing them to be a divine gift that had magical powers. Hieroglyphs were preserved meticulously on temple walls, tombs, objects, jewelry, and papyri, to convey supernatural power and preserve important cultural, religious, and historical information about their society. They preserved not only language but also beliefs, rituals, names, and the essence of objects and concepts important to Egyptian cosmology and afterlife beliefs.
