Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. 17th-century artwork showing a range of hieroglyphics inscribed on monuments from Ancient Egypt that had been erected in Rome. Nearly 50 obelisks had been erected in Rome by various emperors following the Roman conquest of Egypt, and over the centuries the inscriptions were studied by many scholars. Hieroglyphics were a system of pictorial writing invented in Egypt around 3000 BC. The symbols may represent the objects they depict but usually stand for a sound or group of sounds. Artwork from 'Obelisci Aegyptiaci' (1666) by resident of Rome, German Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher (circa 1601-1680).