<em>Ostrakon with Demotic Inscription</em>, 305-30 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 10 3/16 x 9 5/16 x 1 3/16 in. (25.9 x 23.7 x 3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1821E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.37.1821E_erg456.jpg)

Ostrakon with Demotic Inscription, 305-30 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 10 3/16 x 9 5/16 x 1 3/16 in. (25.9 x 23.7 x 3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1821E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.37.1821E_erg456.jpg)

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I just saw this Ostracon with Demotic Inscription and wondered whether Demotic script has anything to do with the written Arabic language today?

The two scripts are indirectly related. The root alphabet that many Western and Near Eastern scripts can be traced back to is known as Proto-Canaanite or Proto-Sinaitic. This alphabet is directly based on a dramatically simplified version of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs; Demotic is a cursive form of hieroglyphs.

Modern Arabic comes from Nabataean, which is based on Aramaic, which is based on Phoenician, which comes directly from Proto-Canaanite.

Thank you!

Tell me more

Scholars use the word ostrakon to described scraps of stone or pottery that have been written on drawn on. These materials, in the ancient Mediterranean, functioned much like we use scrap paper today.

They were often used for quick records, like this prayer that was likely written down to archived in a temple to Amun.

Ostrakon with Demotic Inscription

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor

Demotic script first appeared about 700 B.C.E. It is more cursive than hieratic, and many demotic signs do not correspond exactly with the hieroglyphs used to write the same word. The large number of surviving demotic documents, many of which are not the work of professional scribes, suggests that literacy in Egypt had become more widespread by the time this script appeared. This ostrakon (inscribed stone or pottery fragment) records a prayer to the god Amun to restore a blind man’s sight. It concludes with the words: “Return to me, my great Lord, Amun. I am defenseless; let me not perish; do not forget me.”

MEDIUM Limestone, pigment

Reportedly From: Thebes, Egypt

DATES 305-30 B.C.E.

PERIOD Ptolemaic Period

DIMENSIONS 10 3/16 x 9 5/16 x 1 3/16 in. (25.9 x 23.7 x 3 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor

EXHIBITIONS

ACCESSION NUMBER 37.1821E

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

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CAPTION Ostrakon with Demotic Inscription, 305-30 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 10 3/16 x 9 5/16 x 1 3/16 in. (25.9 x 23.7 x 3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1821E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.37.1821E_erg456.jpg)

IMAGE overall, CUR.37.1821E_erg456.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 9/5/2007

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Trapezoidal-shaped limestone ostracon inscribed on one side with 22 lines of Demotic script in black ink. Condition: Chips out of left edge.