WATCH: Emoglyphs exhibition shows emoji and hieroglyphics connection

A member of an international delegation sketches the site of the Bent Pyramid. Picture: AP

A member of an international delegation sketches the site of the Bent Pyramid. Picture: AP

Published Dec 24, 2019

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In an age where emojis are dominating our texts on social media, many millennials find it hard to identify the old ways of communications, including the use of hieroglyphics in Egypt many centuries ago. 

Thanks to The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, millennials and other curious travellers can step into the world of emoglyphs. 

The famed museum launched "Emoglyphs" exhibition last week. The exhibition will use emojis to explain the importance of hieroglyphics so that digital audiences can understand how symbolic it is. 

It is also a perfect marketing tool to attract new visitors.

The museum’s website described the exhibition as the "wealth of artefacts from ancient Egypt displayed against the contemporary use of imagery."

Curator Shirley Ben Dor Avin told AFP that she wanted to find a way to explain how hieroglyphs were used as a script. Avin said that the use of pictures, ie emojis, was a good way to explain it and that it would have relatable to the digital audiences. 

"There is a similarity in design and shapes, which is very interesting because there are thousands of years and very big cultural gaps between those two systems.

"My goal as an Egyptologist is to show to people that something ancient is still relevant to their lives today," she told the publication. 

The exhibition will include new items from the museum's collection and others from abroad. 

Some of the artefacts will include a necklace made of linen and papyrus and covered with gold. 

The exhibition will run from December 16, 2019, to October 12, 2020.

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