Hieratic is considered the "priestly" script, and was extensively used on manuscripts and paintings in the ancient Egyptian world up to about 650B.C.. It was adapted from hieroglyphic script for a quicker record of events or literature that were of less significance. The early hieratic has a more fluent form than hieroglyphs, and the individual signs are less pictorial and more abbreviated. The hieratic inscriptions were usually written in black ink with a brush made of reed. The image to the left displays (top) a hieratic text with its hieroglyphic (bottom) translation.