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Hieroglyphic Cache Mystery Cache

Hidden : 11/20/2005
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
3.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:


The cache is not at the posted coordinates

Hieroglyphic writing

So you want to write like an Egyptian, huh? Hieroglyphs are pictures that were used to write the ancient Egyptian language. In the beginning hieroglyphic signs were used to keep records of the king's possessions. Scribes could easily make these records by drawing a picture of a cow or a boat followed by a number. Eventually the language consisted of more then 750 individual signs.

As in other languages, words in Egyptian were made up of sounds, partly of consonants and partly of vowels. But, the writing of hieroglyphs constantly ignored and omitted vowels. Thus the two signs which represent "mt", could be read as met, mat, amta, emt or any other combinations of vowels and "mt". Since the ancient language has never been heard, we are not sure how this word would be pronounced. In order to avoid this, we need a method of writing and pronouncing these glyphs consistently . The course usually adopted is to use the English vowel "e" and in a some cases "a" between the two glyphs. So we can pronounce as "met".

The pronunciation of a word is the crucial element in using hieroglyphics, how a word sounds is more important then how it is spelled. For instance, the word that is spelled "cat" is actually pronounced "kat". The name that is spelled "Cleopatra" is pronounced "Kliopadra". So, these word would be written in hieroglyphs the way they sound. Because the words "where" and "wear" sound alike they could be written using the same hieroglyphic signs. The same could be said of the words "there" and "their".

Hieroglyphics are more then just a way of writing, they are also pictures, and as such they are meant to be esthetically pleasing. The picture signs can be written from right to left; from left to right; or vertically, reading downwards. To determine which way to read a line of hieroglyphs, look for pictures of men or animals. See which way the pictures are facing, the text is read towards the faces. If they are facing to the left, the inscription is read from the left to the right. If they are facing right, the inscription is read from right to left.

Hieroglyphic numbers

As early as 3500 BC, the Egyptians had extended their use of numbers to include hundreds of thousands and millions. One of the earliest examples of Egyptian writing were the hieroglyphs on Narmer or Menes, the first king of upper and lower Egypt (3000 BC). The numerals on the hieroglyphs cited the existence of thousands of heads of cattle and thousands of prisoners. This numerals used indicates that numerals and hieroglyphs already had a long history.

The Egyptians had a decimal system using seven different symbols.
1 is shown by a single stroke.
10 is shown by a drawing of a hobble for cattle.
100 is represented by a coil of rope.
1,000 is a drawing of a lotus plant.
10,000 is represented by a finger.
100,000 by a tadpole or frog
1,000,000 is the figure of a god with arms raised above his head.

To find the cache you must decipher the hieroglyphic message

 

 

 

 

 

Use magnetic North

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Gur gbc gnt vf gur qvfgnapr va zrgref Gur obggbz gnt vf gur ornevat. hfr zntargvp Abegu cebwrpgvba

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)