Archaeologists believe that the Egyptians began using hieroglyphs about 3300 or 3200 BCE. They were in use for more than 3500 years. Only the nobles, priests and government officials wrote in hieroglyphs. They were hard to learn and took a long time to write. People stopped using hieroglyphs when Christianity took hold in Egypt. Writing in hieroglyphs became more rare: the last known inscription was made in 394 CE.