Hieratic

Hieratic was so called because in the Graeco-Roman age it was the usual script employed by the priests (Greek hÄ«eratikos “priestly”).  It’s a cursive form of the hieroglyphic script which developed from the early dynastic period and was used primarily on papyri and ostraca for correspondence and religious and literary texts. The earliest complete hieratic texts are the Abusir papyri of Dynasty 5.