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Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Practical Guide - A Step-by-Step Approach to Learning Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs
What do the enigmatic images on ancient Egyptian artifacts mean? What royal names adorn the walls of some of the world's oldest temples? What kind of lives did the people buried in the ancient tombs lead? The keys to unlock this fascinating civilization lie within the glyphs of their sacred language. Appearing a little before 3,000 B.C., Egyptian hieroglyphs were used for thousands of years to write names, label commodities, commemorate historical events, and convey complex stories.
This definitive educational tool provides a systematic, step-by-step approach to learning ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, complete with fun and increasingly challenging exercises and easy-to-reference sign and word lists. By the end of chapter one, readers will begin to decipher simple inscriptions; after completing the entire book, readers will be ready to tackle tomb and temple walls. While learning to decipher the language of the ancient Egyptians, readers will also learn about their history, social structure, and funerary beliefs. An invaluable resource, this book will appeal to amateur Egyptologists, as well as those looking to enhance their museum-going and travel experiences. AUTHOR Janice Kamrin holds a Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Pennsylvania, and she has taught, written, and lectured widely on the subject of ancient Egypt. She currently works with Zahi Hawass, Secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, on many of his publications.
This definitive educational tool provides a systematic, step-by-step approach to learning ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, complete with fun and increasingly challenging exercises and easy-to-reference sign and word lists. By the end of chapter one, readers will begin to decipher simple inscriptions; after completing the entire book, readers will be ready to tackle tomb and temple walls. While learning to decipher the language of the ancient Egyptians, readers will also learn about their history, social structure, and funerary beliefs. An invaluable resource, this book will appeal to amateur Egyptologists, as well as those looking to enhance their museum-going and travel experiences. AUTHOR Janice Kamrin holds a Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Pennsylvania, and she has taught, written, and lectured widely on the subject of ancient Egypt. She currently works with Zahi Hawass, Secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, on many of his publications.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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87 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 2, 2020
I started this book previously and did not finish it. This time around I started it 07/14/19 and finished 12/25/19. My journey learning Middle Egyptian has been quite enjoyable. Kamrin’s is not my first book on the subject nor would it be the one I would recommend to start out with. That recommendation goes to Manley’s Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Complete Beginners. However, Kamrin’s book has many great features to recommend it to beginning students. The stated purpose of the book is to help students translate inscriptions as you “tour Egypt and visit museums.” Many of the inscriptions used in the book come from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The book has seven chapters and 46 lessons. Because the book is aiming to teach you to read inscriptions you are not going to be able to read literature (line Sinuhe or the Shipwrecked Sailor). The language covered in the book will allow you to recognize and translate common words and phrases. Another fun skill will be your new ability to instantly tell if someone is reading a hieroglyphic text in the correct direction. For example the actors in the Mummy (1999) are not. I’ll next give you a quick summary of the highlights of the chapters and their helpful features as well as a few suggestions to improve the textbook.
Pros: The chapter and lesson format of the book is nice. I mentioned previously the book has seven chapters and 46 lessons. Each chapter has around 30 pages and contains several short straightforward lessons.
Chapter 1 introduces categories of signs, transliteration, pronunciation, and the alphabet, Each lesson introduces new glyphs and explains what the images represent and the sounds they correspond to. This is a helpful strategy since starting in Chapter 3 students will need to start using the sign-list in the back of the book to look up unfamiliar words. Another nice feature of the first chapter is that in lessons 3-4 students get into writing their names in Egyptian glyphs. This is very helpful for students if they ever go to Egypt and want to make their own cartouche necklace--with these skills you can check the craftsman’s work. This chapter also get into labeling signs, (determinatives) adjectives, suffix pronouns (your seat), a reminder that glyphic spelling is not standardized, and sentences with and without verbs.
Chapter 2 moves from single sound signs (monoliterals), two sound signs (bilaterals), three and four sound signs (tri and quadrilaterals), phonetic compliments (extra signs added to words), possession, honorific transposition, participles and relative forms, common phrases, cardinal directions, scene labels, and the nine bows (the traditional enemies of Egypt).
Chapter 3 gets into royal names and titles. Since royal names were one of the first things deciphered by the budding field of Egyptology it is a great topic to cover. I also really liked how this chapter used the current chronology of kings and queens throughout Egyptian history to introduce these names and titles. In this chapter you get to translate a lot of interesting artifacts including pectorals, pillars, palettes, pyramidions, thrones, lintels, and boxes. This chapter also introduces royal dating.
Chapter 4 explores titles. Ancient Egypt was a highly stratified society. According to Kamrin they had over 1,000 titles. The titles are explained based on social area. The royal family including queens, princes, and princesses, and court titles. The administrative titles, priestly titles, and parentage. This chapter asks students to start looking up vocabulary based on the sign list and vocabulary out the back of the book. This chapter also allows you to translate the stela of Tetisheri.
Chapters 5, 6, 7, focus on the offering formula parts and appeals to different gods, more verbs, a curse and my two favorite inscriptions the autobiography of Harkuf and the bulletin version of the battle of Qadesh. This inscription is the hardest of the book.
Cons: sometimes the the photos in the book need to be clearer. Additional vocabulary with “flexible” spelling should be provided in the glossary in the back of the book as variants.
However, the book is very enjoyable and well worth your time to complete. I highly recommend it.
Pros: The chapter and lesson format of the book is nice. I mentioned previously the book has seven chapters and 46 lessons. Each chapter has around 30 pages and contains several short straightforward lessons.
Chapter 1 introduces categories of signs, transliteration, pronunciation, and the alphabet, Each lesson introduces new glyphs and explains what the images represent and the sounds they correspond to. This is a helpful strategy since starting in Chapter 3 students will need to start using the sign-list in the back of the book to look up unfamiliar words. Another nice feature of the first chapter is that in lessons 3-4 students get into writing their names in Egyptian glyphs. This is very helpful for students if they ever go to Egypt and want to make their own cartouche necklace--with these skills you can check the craftsman’s work. This chapter also get into labeling signs, (determinatives) adjectives, suffix pronouns (your seat), a reminder that glyphic spelling is not standardized, and sentences with and without verbs.
Chapter 2 moves from single sound signs (monoliterals), two sound signs (bilaterals), three and four sound signs (tri and quadrilaterals), phonetic compliments (extra signs added to words), possession, honorific transposition, participles and relative forms, common phrases, cardinal directions, scene labels, and the nine bows (the traditional enemies of Egypt).
Chapter 3 gets into royal names and titles. Since royal names were one of the first things deciphered by the budding field of Egyptology it is a great topic to cover. I also really liked how this chapter used the current chronology of kings and queens throughout Egyptian history to introduce these names and titles. In this chapter you get to translate a lot of interesting artifacts including pectorals, pillars, palettes, pyramidions, thrones, lintels, and boxes. This chapter also introduces royal dating.
Chapter 4 explores titles. Ancient Egypt was a highly stratified society. According to Kamrin they had over 1,000 titles. The titles are explained based on social area. The royal family including queens, princes, and princesses, and court titles. The administrative titles, priestly titles, and parentage. This chapter asks students to start looking up vocabulary based on the sign list and vocabulary out the back of the book. This chapter also allows you to translate the stela of Tetisheri.
Chapters 5, 6, 7, focus on the offering formula parts and appeals to different gods, more verbs, a curse and my two favorite inscriptions the autobiography of Harkuf and the bulletin version of the battle of Qadesh. This inscription is the hardest of the book.
Cons: sometimes the the photos in the book need to be clearer. Additional vocabulary with “flexible” spelling should be provided in the glossary in the back of the book as variants.
However, the book is very enjoyable and well worth your time to complete. I highly recommend it.
May 28, 2008
While this is not Gardiner's grammar which is th definitive guide in my mind its a lot better than some of the teach yourself books.
September 20, 2024
I loved drawing the little hieroglyphs, but I think this book needed better editing. I made some notes on perceived errors on Goodreads while reading, but now I can't access them.
In learning something like this, I recommend doing a half an hour a day. I set a timer. Well, I set it for ten minutes, but I find I get so involved that I go the full 30 all at once. I draw all the hieroglyphs as they are introduced and the ones in the exercises and then pencil translations around them.
I think the most useful hieroglyphic sentence I learned was: Reed leaf, quail chick, seated man, mouth, walking hobble, walking man with stick, bowtie (belt really) vulture head, viper. "I will wring his neck." This will fit in with my only Latin: Hoc salsum esse putas?
So now that I'm done, what do I do? Back to Greek? Back to German? Or go through this whole hieroglyphic thing again?
In learning something like this, I recommend doing a half an hour a day. I set a timer. Well, I set it for ten minutes, but I find I get so involved that I go the full 30 all at once. I draw all the hieroglyphs as they are introduced and the ones in the exercises and then pencil translations around them.
I think the most useful hieroglyphic sentence I learned was: Reed leaf, quail chick, seated man, mouth, walking hobble, walking man with stick, bowtie (belt really) vulture head, viper. "I will wring his neck." This will fit in with my only Latin: Hoc salsum esse putas?
So now that I'm done, what do I do? Back to Greek? Back to German? Or go through this whole hieroglyphic thing again?
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews