Hor was an Egyptian priest 2200 years ago. He was a prolific writer and had the great good luck to have many of his works survive the millennia to be discovered in the twentieth century. His extensive writings included descriptions of his dreams, which were pretty dull. Hor wrote in the demotic script, which was one of three scripts used in Egypt. The first was the classic hieroglyphic system which you already know:
There was another system called ‘hieratic script’. Hor wrote in the third system, called ‘demotic’; it was generally the easiest to learn. Here’s an example:
The reason I include Hor in this compendium of obscure people is that Hor is excoriated by one modern scholar for having atrocious penmanship. It’s difficult to identify particular authors of Egyptian writing; they seldom signed their works. But Hor’s writing stands out for its sloppiness. He was a good speller, but a lousy penman.
Let this be a lesson to you: thousands of years from now, somebody might come across something you’ve written by hand, and you’ll be remembered in history for bad penmanship. Is that the legacy you want?
