Below is an example of this writing. It is a document written in around 1600 B.C. and it describes 48 different types of medical treatment. In my opinion, it's absoulely gorgeous.
A close-up look of the pages:
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The difficult part is that many of the characters look almost nothing like the original hieroglyphics, and as I have begun learning Middle Egyptian with the originals, I will have to learn many of the symbols from scratch. This undertaking will be massive and I don't expect to finish any time soon. So, in fact, I hesitate to call it my "next" project, since I'd like to get in some other projects before that. More on that later.
Here are the steps that I will need to take to write an original short story in hieratic:
1. Progress in my Middle Egyptian grammar a few more lessons so as to get a rudimentary understanding of the language (currently I'm on lesson 10 of 33 but a lot of the later lessons are nuances and exceptions that will help you understand Egyptian inscriptions)
2. Write out a story in English that will have simple concepts and thus be easier to translate
3. Translate it into Middle Egyptian hieroglyphics
4. Transcribe the story into hieratic script
5. Format the text on regular paper the way it will appear in the finished product.
6. Using scratch papyrus, practice each line 2 or 3 times so it looks fluid and natural
7. Produce the final papyrus
Step 1 will take the longest, obviously, so while I'm doing that, I will be posting other, simpler projects, as well as ones that I have done in the past. There are still quite a few awesome ones I haven't posted yet.
Stay tuned.
