The Ancient Alphabet (I got it!)

[VirtualCLD]

I gave one to Selmak who said he'll post it on his website with a link. I tried attatching the file to the forum but it's too big (54 kB). The forum file attatchment tool is limiting me to 39.4 kB. I'm at work now and won't be home untill 6:30 EDT or in about 7 and half hours. I haven't added K yet, maybe someone else can take the file and modify it. It looks OK for now, but could use some more work. I would also like to (unofficially) nominate sgeureka for a DJ award. Here Here!

[aAnubiSs]

I can host the file. No problem at all.

[Selmak]

***The Ultimate Ancient Alphabet Post***

NOTE: The Ancient Alphabet only works for Ancient writings found in Atlantis (and even there, not always). It doesn't work for Ancient writings found in SG-1 ("Torment of Tantalus", "Window Of Opportunity", "Fifth Race", "Chimera", "Heroes", "Lost City"... etc.). It is possible that they are older dialects of Ancient since it seems they have the same style but are different.

Ancient letters are found everywhere in Atlantis (stairs, puddle jumpers, computer consoles, door openers). Ancient numbers are found on Atlantis consoles.

**The Ancient Alphabet originally deciphered by sgeureka**
NOTE: We are missing the letters Q,X,Z.

Ancient Alphabet And Number Chart by Markey2:


Observed Ancient grammar rules:
1) There are no spaces.
2) There are no capital or lower case letters.
3) There is no punctuation.

Atlantis staircase translation: (In some scenes the letters on the stairs appear to be upside down... but are later corrected.)
01 WE HOLD THESE AS THE TRUTH
02 A HEARTY WELCOME TO THOSE OF OTHER WORLDS
03 VISITING OUR HOME FOR THE FIRST TIME (W)ELCOME AGAIN
04 ABSENCE HAS WEIGHED HEAVILY ON OUR SOULS WE ARE
05 TO THOSE RETURNING YOU Y HAVE BEEN GONE TOO LONG AND YOUR
06 AS WE LEAVE FOR DISTANT WORLDS WE PLEDGE TO RESPECT THE LANDS OF
07 WHOLE AGAIN THAT YOU ARE AMONG US AND WE CELEBRATE YOU BEING HERE AGAIN
08 OUR NEIGHBOURS AND TO ACT WITH INTEGRITY AS AMBASSADORS IN PEACE TIME
09 OF OUR PEOPLE TRAVELLERS WITH OPEN HEARTS WILL ALWAYS BE WELCOME REFUGEES
10 INHABITANTS OF THIS WORLD AND ALL WE MAY EVER KNOW WE WILL ALWAYS STRIVE TO
11 FROM TYRANNY MAY SEEK SHELTER UNDER OUR ROOF AND (?NAT) OUR PEOPLE WILL LAY
12 DOWN THEIR LIVES TO PROTECT THE WEAK AND THE JUST LET THIS BE OUR PLEDGE TO THOSE
13 COME IN PEACE AS WE GO IN PEACE AND YOU WILL BE WELCOME ON OUR SITES FOREVERMORE

Puddle Jumper console translation:
PROTOCOLS MUST BE SET BEFORE LAUNCH
ATTEMPT GATE REENTRY

There is also a lever in the back portion on the Puddle Jumper that opens that back hatch that says EJECT.

*Here's the comparison of all the fonts to date*

To install the fonts:
for Windows: unzip the file to C:\Windows\Fonts\.
for Mac OS X "Panther": unzip the file and double click it, then click install.

Chevron_nine's Font: Times New Ancient


VirtualCLD's Font: Ancient Virtual


WurdBendur's Font: Anquietas


WurdBendur's Font: Ancient Hand

[DownFallAngel]

Is it for Mac or Windows?

[Selmak]

I'm using it on a Mac. Some of the characters seem to be spaced out unevenly.

[Selmak]

I think you can use it on a PC.

[VirtualCLD]

Sorry, I did it for Windows because that's what i was using.

[chiefchucky]

Know all I have to do is learn Latin!

[Selmak]

It may be made for Windows but it works on a Mac... Some of the characters in my version seem unevenly spaced... is it the same for everyone or is it because I'm using it on a mac?

[VirtualCLD]

If someone else also wants to play with it, feel free. I can also try and tweak it a bit when I get home. Maybe I can look at the spacing and see if it is a problem and if so, try and fix it.

I left non-letter chars alone. I didn't know what to do about numbers or punctuation, but so far we haven't seen an example of either in Ancient.

[Selmak]

I just saw the end part of the s7 DVD Atlantis special when the producer guy is pointing out the stairs of Atlantis and says it doesn't matter what it says because no one on earth speaks Ancient... we do hahaha.

[Kaloo]

Off topic but how do you add a new font

[Selmak]

On a Mac... if you have Panther... double click the file.
FontBook is a great app.

[Thor]

On a Windows machine drag & drop the file to C:\Windows\Fonts

[VirtualCLD]

Hmmm... not on my home computer now. I have Windows NT 4.0, but it might be same for 2000/XP. Got to control pannel, then double click on Fonts. Under the File menu should be an option to install new fonts. Not sure though.

I had a question for sgeureka:
Did you have anything to work off of when trying to figure out what glyph represented what letter (i.e. were there any glyphs that you found that were already proven to be a letter) or did you go through the entire Ancient text and find repeated glyphs and try out different letters untill you started forming real words?