Hieroglyphica

The Hieroglyphica is a work by Horapollon, a Greek Egyptian who lived in the 5th century CE. While he had access to good sources, Horapollon could not read hieroglyphic writing himself. He incorrectly believed, following the Greek tradition, that hieroglyphs were symbolic allegories rather than phonetic signs. This misconception influenced Renaissance artists who used his descriptions to create their own hieroglyphic designs for symbolic purposes.1

Hieroglyphs are pictorial characters, primarily used in ancient Egyptian writing. Though they can represent objects, they usually stand for sounds or groups of sounds. The term "hieroglyph" means "sacred carving". The system remained largely unchanged for over 2,000 years, with about 700 signs, until it was replaced by an early form of Coptic around the 3rd and 4th centuries CE.2