Egyptian demotic

Egyptian Demotic is the ancient Egyptian script, which was used for writing the Egyptian language. This script was used from the Late Period of ancient Egypt (around 600 BC) until the Byzantine era (around AD 400). The term "Demotic" comes from the Greek word δημοτικός (dimotikos), which means "of or for the people". The Demotic script was developed from the earlier hieratic script. Hieratic was used for religious texts, while Demotic was used for secular texts. The two scripts were used side by side for about a thousand years. Eventually, Demotic became the exclusive script for writing Egyptian. The Demotic script is a cursive script, meaning that the characters are written in a flowing, connected style. This made the script more efficient for writing lengthy texts. The Demotic alphabet consists of 24 letters, which are based on the earlier hieroglyphic alphabet. However, Demotic also includes a number of additional characters, which are used for punctuation and other purposes. The Demotic script was written from right to left, like most other Semitic scripts. However, unlike other Semitic scripts, Demotic was not written in a abjad, or consonant-only, alphabet. This made Demotic more suitable for writing Egyptian, which is a language with a large number of vowels. The first known example of Demotic script dates back to the late 8th century BC. It was found on a stone monument known as the "Nestor cup", which was discovered in 1896 in Saqqara, Egypt. The cup is inscribed with a short text in Demotic, which is thought to be a record of a legal transaction. The Demotic script continued to be used until the 4th century AD. By this time, it had evolved into a highly cursive form, which made it difficult to read. As a result, the Coptic alphabet, which is based on the Greek alphabet, was developed in the 3rd century AD. This new alphabet was easier to read, and it eventually replaced Demotic as the exclusive script for writing Egyptian.