Why All Modern Writing Systems Date Back to Africa
- Era Writer
- Oct 11, 2019
- 3 min read
By Taylre Rene Malloy~Self-Love Literature Contributing Writer
The ancient Egyptians, along with many other early civilizations, knew the healing powers that creative writing generates and attribute all forms of modern written expression as a gift from the ancient Kemetic deity, Tehuti.
More naturally known as the Kemites of ancient Nubia, the Egyptians classified writing as a sacred act, and thus it became important to document and communicate information about spirituality, government, and society within sacred texts. These written scripts could be used to record information. The most famous of all ancient Egyptian scripts are hieroglyphics and through the use of hieroglyphs, scribes were able to preserve the ancient knowledge, history, and ideas of ancient Kemet across the temples, tomb walls, and papyrus scrolls. These papyrus scrolls were used as blueprints during the reconstruction of the dynasties, healing rituals, and mummification.
The Creation of Writing: The Medu Neter
Did you know that the ancient pyramids across Africa are the world’s eldest books? The word ‘hieroglyphics’ is a Greek word meaning hieroglifikos. Hiero meaning sacred, or holy. Glyph meaning carving. The ancient Egyptians, however referred to their writing system as Medu Neter, or The word of God, as they believed writing had been given to them by the Kemetic deity Tehuti, or Thot (later translated by the Greeks).
Tehuti enlightened human beings with the knowledge of writing and the power of words. Like any benevolent deity, he spread his knowledge liberally. But it was a responsibility he expected of his followers to take the gift of words seriously as words held more spiritual power than most know. Tehuti teaches us that words can hurt, heal, elevate, destroy, condemn, influence and even raise someone from death to life again.
The Power of Words: Tehuti’s Sacred Knowledge
In ancient Egyptian philosophy, words also hold great spiritual energy and were not originally intended for literary or commercial use. Instead, writing was used to provide a means by which certain concepts or events could be brought into existence. The Egyptians believed that if something were committed to writing it could be repeatedly made to happen, by means of manifestation.
The great gift of Tehuti was the ability not only to express one’s self but to literally be able to change the world through the power of words. Before that could happen, however, before the gift could be put to its full use, it had to be understood by those brave enough to seek the origin of its power. Many believed that through the power of words, one can even transcend death. The Egyptian Book of The Dead is a powerful collection of spells that enables the soul of the deceased to navigate the afterlife.
The first funerary texts were the Pyramid Texts, first used in the Pyramid of King Unas of the 5th Dynasty, around 2400 BCE. For the Egyptians death was not the end of life but only a transition from one state of consciousness to another. In an attempt to understand the true meaning behind the words of Tehuti, the original Kemetic name translates to The Book of Coming Forth by Day. The books true purpose, is to instruct the deceased on how to navigate the dangers of the afterlife by enabling them to assume the form of mythical creatures and to give them the passwords necessary for admittance to certain stages of the underworld.
The Egyptian Book of The Dead
Fascinating knowledge to say the least. It is for this very reason that the ancient writing systems of Kemet and Nubia offer much promise to the transcendence and upliftment of humanity no matter the era of time.
תגובות