  hieratic (greek  hieratika; literally "priestly") is a cursive writing system used in the provenance of the pharaohs in egypt and nubia. it developed alongside cursive hieroglyphs,goedicke 1988:viiâviii. to which it is separate yet intimately related. it was primarily written in ink with a reed brush on papyrus, allowing scribes to write quickly without resorting to the time-consuming hieroglyphs. ==etymology== in the 2nd century ad, the term hieratic was first used by saint clement of alexandria.goedicke 1988:vii; wente 2001:2006. the reference is made in clement's stromata 5:4. it derives from the greek phrase  (grammata hieratika; literally "priestly writing"), as at that time hieratic was used only for religious texts, as had been the case for the previous thousand years. hieratic can also be an adjective meaning "[o]f or associated with sacred persons or offices; sacerdotal."definition of hieratic, free online dictionary. retrieved 2011-10-23. ==development== in the proto-dynastic period of egypt, hieratic first appeared and developed alongside the more formal hieroglyphic script. it is an error to view hieratic as a derivative of hieroglyphic writing. indeed, the earliest texts from egypt are produced with ink and brush, with no indication their signs are descendants of hieroglyphs. true monumental hieroglyphs carved in stone did not appear until the 1st dynasty, well after hieratic had been established as a scribal practice. the two writing systems, therefore, are related, parallel developments, rather than a single linear one. hieratic was used throughout the pharaonic period and into the graeco-roman period. around 660 bc, the demotic script (and later gre
Ancient_Egyptian_language Egyptian_languages Scripts_not_encoded_in_Unicode Writing_systems Writing_systems_of_Africa