ABC of Egyptian Hieroglyphs, With illustrations and hieroglyphs by Marion Cox

The ancient Egyptians used pictures - each representing a word, a syllable or a sound - for writing. The alphabet itself consisted of 24 signs and there were over 700 different signs in all. These signs, or letters, are known as Hieroglyphs and were first used around 3000 BC and only replaced by coptic (a form of Greek script) in the fourth century BC as being considered unsuitable for the writing of Christian texts.