HIEROGLYPHICS, in antiquity, mystical characters, or symbols, in use among the Egyptians, and that as well in their writings as inscriptions; being the figures of various animals, the parts of human bodies, and mechanical instruments.
The word is composed of the Greek hieros, sacer, "holy," and graphein, sculpere, "to engrave;" it being the custom to have the walls, doors, &c. of their temples, obelisks, &c. engraved with such figures.
After
After Hermes, and the Egyptian priests who succeeded, had, by long study and speculation, formed a system of theology, and natural philosophy, in which God, the supreme cause of all, was the universal soul diffused through the whole creation, they endeavoured to express the divine attributes and operations of the Deity, in the works of nature, by the properties and powers of living animals, and other natural productions, as the proper symbols of such amazing causes.
In order to choose the most proper symbols, and, at the same time, the most expressive of the divine attributes, and of the effects of Divine Providence in every part of the universe, they studied with great application and care, not only the peculiar properties of those animals, birds, and fishes, herbs and plants, which Egypt produced, but also the geometrical properties of lines and figures; and by a regular connection of these in various orders, attitudes, and compositions, they formed the whole system of their theology and philosophy, which was hidden under hieroglyphic figures and characters, known only to themselves, and to those who were initiated into their mysteries.
In this system their principal hero-gods, Osiris and Isis, theologically represented the Supreme Being, and universal nature; and physically signified the two great celestial luminaries, the sun and moon, by whose influence all nature was actuated. In like manner, the inferior heroes represented the subordinate gods, who were the ministers of the supreme spirit; and physically they denoted the inferior mundane elements and powers. Their symbols represented, and comprehended under them, the natural productions of the Deity; and the various beneficial effects of Divine Providence, in the works of creation: and also the order and harmony, the powers and mutual influence of the several parts of the universal system.
This is the sum and substance of the Egyptian learning, so famed in ancient times throughout the world. And in this general system, the particular history of their hero-gods was contained, and applied to physical causes, and theological science. The hieroglyphic system was composed with great art and sagacity; and was so universally esteemed and admired, that the most learned philosophers of other nations came into Egypt on purpose to be instructed in it, and to learn the philosophy and theology conveyed by these apposite symbols.
In this hieroglyphic system the hero-gods not only represented, and were symbols of, the supreme God, and subordinate deities; but they had each their animal symbol, to represent their peculiar powers, energy, and administration: and their figures were compounded of one part or other of their symbols, to express more sensibly the natural effects of divine energy attributed to them.
Thus Osiris, when he represented the power and all-seeing providence of the Supreme Being, had a human body with a hawk's head, and a sceptre in his hand, and decorated with the other regalia or ensigns of royalty. Under the same form also he represented the sun, the great celestial luminary; and, as it were, the soul of the world: his symbol now was a bull, and the scarabæus or beetle, which expressed the sun's
motion, by rolling balls of dung, containing its seed, backwards, or from east to west, his face being towards the east. The symbolic bull was likewise of a particular form and make, to denote the various influences of the sun.
Osiris was also delineated sometimes with a bull's, and sometimes with a lion's head, to represent the heat, vigour, and influence of the sun, especially in the inundation of the Nile, when the sun was in the celestial sign Leo; and likewise to express the solar influence in all the productions of nature. And it is also observable, that the bull and lion were parts of the Jewish cherub's symbol; and as the one was the head of the wild, and the other of the tame beasts, they represented, in conjunction, the animal-creation; while the other two parts, namely, the eagle and human figure, represented the aerial, rational creation.
Isis was formed with many beasts, to represent the earth, the universal mother; and with a cornucopia in her hand, denoting the nutritive and productive powers of nature: her symbol was a cow, part black and part white, to represent the enlightened and dark parts of the moon.
Pan had the horns and feet, and sometimes also the head, of a goat, which was his symbol, to shew the generative power of nature, over which he presided. At the same time, he symbolically represented universal nature, the cause of all things.
Hermes had a dog's head, which was his symbol, to denote his sagacity in the invention of arts and sciences; especially in his watchful diligence in the culture of religious rites and sacred knowledge: at the same time he symbolically represented the Divine Providence, and was worshipped as the chief counsellor of Saturn and Osiris; he who communicated the will of the gods to men, and by whom their souls were conducted into the other world. He was likewise represented by the ibis, and with the head of this bird, which was at the same time his symbol, to signify his conveying literature to the Egyptians, which they believed was done under the form of this bird, and confined to their nation only, as the ibis was known to live no where but in Egypt.
Ammon represented the deity called Amun, and his symbol was a ram. He was also delineated with a ram's head and horns, to denote the creative power of God, and his beneficial and diffusive influence through the works of nature, making every thing fruitful, to produce and multiply its kind; and cherishing and preserving them by the warmth of the sun, and an internal vital heat and vigour.
The universal soul itself was beautifully represented by a winged globe, with a serpent emerging from it. The globe denoted the infinite divine essence, whose centre, to use the expression in the Hermetic writings, was every where, and circumference no where. The wings of the hawk represented the divine all-comprehensive intellect: and the serpent denoted the vivifying power of God, by which life and existence are given to all things.
Typhon represented the most powerful demon, or evil genius; who was continually at war with Osiris and Isis, the most benevolent geniuses of Egypt. His symbol was an hippopotamus, or river-horse, a very treacherous and cruel animal.
Orus was a principal deity of the Egyptians; and, according to his hieroglyphic forms and habits, signified sometimes the sun, and sometimes the harmony of the whole mundane system. At the same time, being the offspring of Osiris and Isis, he was always represented young. He also represented the order and fitness of the several parts of the external sensible world, formed by the wisdom of Divine Providence, expressed by Isis; and by the intellect, power, and goodness of the supreme God, represented by Osiris. Hence, and also because Osiris and Isis represented physically the sun and moon, who, by their diffusive light, heat, and influence, preserve the visible system, Orus was called their offspring.
To express the hieroglyphic mean of Orus, as representing the world, he was represented with a staff, upon the top of which was the head of the upupa, to signify, by the variegated feathers of that bird, the beautiful variety of the creation. In one of his hands he held a lituus, to denote the harmony of the system; and a gnomon in the other, to shew the perfect proportions of its parts. Behind him was a triangle inscribed in a circle, to signify that the world was made by the unerring wisdom of God. He had also sometimes a cornucopia in his hand, to denote the fertility and productions of the earth.
Harpocrates was described holding one of his fingers on his lips, to denote the mysterious and ineffable nature of God; and that the knowledge of him was to be searched after, with profound and silent meditation, and, at the same time, that they are not to be uttered or divulged.
Upon the whole, almost all the Egyptian deities and symbols centered in two, namely, Osiris and Isis; who represented, under various hieroglyphic forms, both the celestial and terrestrial system, together with all the divine attributes, operations, and energy, which created, animated, and preserved them.
The Egyptians likewise concealed their moral philosophy under hieroglyphic symbols; but these were not the subjects of the hieroglyphics delineated on obelisks. And as hieroglyphic and symbolical figures were very ancient in Egypt, and first invented, at least formed into a system, there; so they were thence carried into other countries, and imitated in all religious mysteries as well as in political and moral science.
The preceding symbolical figures making the substance of hieroglyphics, and all belonging to Osiris, his family, and contemporaries, they were probably formed into a system soon after the death of those herods, by some who had been instructed, in the art of hieroglyphics, by Hermes the inventor of them. The first he formed himself; and the others were probably added by his learned successors, who had been instructed by him in all his mysterious learning.
This hieroglyphic system was, in its beginning, more simple, and less compounded, than afterwards; for it had been improving for several ages before it appeared on the obelisks of the temples. And hence we may infer the time of the first Egyptian hieroglyphic symbols; for, in all probability, they were not older than the time of the famous Hermes, who flourished in the reign, and some time after the death, of Osiris.
The hieroglyphic symbols were, in early times, car-
ried into Greece; and gave the first occasion to the fables of the poets, with regard to the metamorphoses of the gods, which they improved from inventions of their own; and from the knowledge of them, the Greeks ascribed peculiar arts and inventions to their gods, whose names they first received from Egypt.
But besides the hieroglyphics in common use among the people, the Egyptian priests had certain mystical characters, in which they wrapped up and concealed their doctrines from the vulgar. It is said that these something resembled the Chinese characters, and that they were also the invention of Hermes. Sir John Marsham conjectures, that the use of these hieroglyphical figures of animals introduced the strange worship paid them by that nation: for as these figures were made choice of according to the respective qualities of each animal, to express the qualities and dignity of the persons represented by them, who were generally their gods, princes, and great men, and being placed in their temples as the images of their deities, hence they came to pay a superstitious veneration to the animals themselves.