Hieroglyphs were in use for over three thousand years

Hieroglyphic writing appeared in Egypt in about 3150 BC and was used until the Graeco-Roman period (the last known texts, found at Philae, date from the fourth century AD). The chronology of ancient Egypt may be divided into 10 periods containing in total thirty one dynasties:

Date Period Dynasty
Fourth millennium B.C.  Predynastic period  
3110-2686 B.C. Protodynastic Period  First to third dynasties
2686-2181 B.C.  Old Kingdom Fourth to sixth dynasties
2181-2040 B.C. First Intermediate Seventh to tenth dynasties
2134-1786 B.C. Middle Kingdom Eleventh to twelfth dynasties
1786-1570 B.C. Second Intermediate Thirteenth to seventeenth
1570-1087 B.C. New Kingdom Eighteenth to twentieth
1087-716 B.C. Third Intermediate Twenty-first to twenty-sixth
716-332 B.C. Late Period Twenty-seventh to thirty-first
332-30 B.C. Ptolemaic Greek Period  

The Sumerians are thought to have introduced the idea of writing to the Egyptians who rather than use the abstract cuniform type of symbols utilized pictograms illustrating the objects they depicted.

The four main stages that Egyptologists identify in the development of the Egyptian language are Old Egyptian, Middle Egyptian, Late Egyptian and Coptic. Old Egyptian was used from Dynasties 1-6. Middle Egyptian was regarded as the classic period, when the written form was close to the spoken. From the 18th Dynasty, Late Egyptian was used which differed substantially from the spoken form. The final incarnation, Coptic is useful in that its vowel sounds are written and can be used to suggest how the previous forms were articulated.