19 [Glyph] s Inundated(?) Garden (Pool) Shi 20 [Glyph] t Semicircle Tu 21 [Glyph] θ { Lasso (sugar-tongs-shaped) Ti { Noose 22 [Glyph] ṭ Hand Ti 23 [Glyph] t' Snake -- 24 [Glyph] ... Chick ui 25 [Glyph] χ Sieve Khi About 600 B.C., during the XXVIth dynasty, many hieroglyphs, about a hundred in number, which previously were used as ideographs only, had assigned to them a phonetic value, and became henceforth alphabetic signs as well as ideographs. In consequence of this innovation, in the last ages of the Egyptian monarchy, we find many hieroglyphs having the same phonetic value. Such hieroglyphs are called homophones, and they are sometimes very numerous; for instance, as many as twenty hieroglyphs had each the value of _a_, and _h_ was represented by at least thirty homophones. In spite of the great number of homophones, the Egyptians usually spelled their words by consonants only, after the manner of the ancient Hebrews; thus, _hk_ stood for _hek_, a ruler; _htp_ for _hotep_, an offering; _km_ for _kam_, Egypt; _ms_ for _mes_, born of. The Egyptians began at an early age to use syllabic signs for proper names. Osiris was a well-known name; and as _os_ in their spoken language meant a throne, and _iri_, an eye, a small picture of a throne followed by that of an eye, stood for _Osiri_, the name of their god. An ideograph was often preceded and followed by two phonetic signs, which respectively represented the initial and final sound of the name of the ideograph. Thus a chessboard was an ideograph, and stood for a gift, and sometimes a building. It was called _men_, and sometimes the chessboard is preceded by an owl, the phonetic sign of _m_, and followed by a zigzag line, the phonetic sign of _n_. Such complementary hieroglyphs are intended primarily to show with greater precision the pronunciation of _men_, and they are known by the name of complements. Phonetic hieroglyphs are often followed by a representation or ideograph of the object referred to. Such explanatory representations and ideographs are called determinatives, because they help to determine the precise value of the preceding hieroglyph. They were rendered necessary on the monuments from the fact that the Egyptians had few vowel sounds; thus _nib_ meant an ibis; _nebi_, a plough; _neb_, a lord; but each word was represented by the consonantal signs _n-b_; and consequently it was necessary to put after _n-b_ a determinative sign of an ibis or a plough, to show which of the two was meant.