Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs Illustrated

Presented in a high-quality traditionally-bound gift format with accompanying illustrations, Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics Illustrated provides a compact, easy-to-understand introduction to the writing system of the land of the Pharoahs.

An original and accessible approach to learning hieroglyphs, written by an experienced teacher and author. This is the first guide to reading hieroglyphs that begins with Egyptian monuments themselves. Assuming no knowledge on the part of the reader, it shows how to interpret the information on the inscriptions in a step-by-step journey through the script and language of ancient Egypt. We enter the world of the ancient Egyptians and explore their views on life and death, Egypt and the outside world, humanity and the divine. The book draws on texts found on some thirty artifacts ranging from coffins to stelae to obelisks found in museums in Egypt, America, and Europe, and selected across two thousand years. The texts are then explained clearly, and are supported by full translations, photographs, and line drawings.

Hieroglyphs were far more than a language. They were an omnipresent and all powerful force in communicating the messages of ancient Egyptian culture for over three thousand years; used as monumental art, as a means of identifying Egyptianess, and for rarified communication with the gods.In this exciting new study, Penelope Wilson explores the cultural significance of the script with an emphasis on previously neglected areas such as cryptography, the continuing decipherment post-Champollion, and the powerful fascination hieroglyphs still hold for us today.

Marveling over the tomb treasures of Ramses II and Tutankhamen that have toured U.S. and European museums in recent years, visitors inevitably wonder what the mysterious hieroglyphs that cover their surfaces mean. Indeed, everyone who is fascinated by ancient Egypt sooner or later wishes for a Rosetta stone to unlock the secrets of hieroglyphic writing. Hieroglyphs without Mystery provides the needed key. Written for ordinary people with no special language skills, the book quickly demonstrates that hieroglyphic writing can be read, once a few simple principles are understood. Zauzich explains the basic rules of the writing system and the grammar and then applies them to thirteen actual inscriptions taken from objects in European and Egyptian museums. By following his explanations and learning the most commonly used glyphs, readers can begin to decode hieroglyphs themselves and increase their enjoyment of both museum objects and ancient Egyptian sites. Even for the armchair traveler, learning about hieroglyphs opens a sealed door into ancient Egyptian culture. In examining these inscriptions, readers will gain a better understanding of Egyptian art, politics, and religion, as well as language.

With this illustrated dictionary of hieroglyphics, anyone can understand their significance and unlock the mysteries of ancient Egypt. Whether sculpted, painted, or drawn on ceramics, hieroglyphics ornamented the temples, palaces, and tombs of ancient Egypt. What did those intriguing and elusive pictures mean? With this new approach to hieroglyphics, you’ll step back 5000 years into the past and begin to understand their significance. More than 200 original hieroglyphs combine with detailed semantic explanations to bring a new dimension to drawings almost astonishing in their modernity. Go through it like a dictionary, reading phonetic and graphic interpretations: every element in each panel is broken down, revealing how and why a picture of two serpents, plus a rope and legs in movement, signified destruction. You’ll feel as if a whole old world is opening up to you.

Guides readers to understand and transcribe hieroglyphics by presenting and explaining phonetic elements.

Collections of scenes and texts designated variously as the "Book of the Earth," "Creation of the Solar Disc," and "Book of Aker" were inscribed on the walls of royal sarcophagus chambers throughout Egypt's Ramessid period (Dynasties 19-20). This material illustrated discrete episodes from the nocturnal voyage of the sun god, which functioned as a model for the resurrection of the deceased king. These earliest "Books of the Earth" employed mostly ad hoc arrangements of scenes, united by shared elements of iconography, an overarching, bipartite symmetry of composition, and their frequent pairing with representations of the double sky overhead. From the Twenty-First Dynasty and later, selections of programmatic tableaux were adapted for use in private mortuary contexts, often in conjunction with innovative or previously unattested annotations. The present study collects and analyzes all currently known Book of the Earth material, including discussions of iconography, grammar, orthography, and architectural setting.

In 1802, Jean-Francois Champollion was eleven years old. That year, he vowed to be the first person to read Egypt’s ancient hieroglyphs. Champollion’s dream was to sail up the Nile in Egypt and uncover the secrets of the past, and he dedicated the next twenty years to the challenge. James Rumford introduces the remarkable man who deciphered the ancient Egyptian script and fulfilled a lifelong dream in the process. Stunning watercolors bring Champollion’s adventure to life in a story that challenges the mind and touches the heart.

Decoding Egyptian Hieroglyphs interweaves a clear guide to deciphering this elegant, largely picture language with vivid depictions of its origins and the people themselves.

The ancient Egyptians used thousands of hieroglyphs to record their history. But only a handful of people knew what these symbols meant! Learn more about this ancient form of writing and discover what the ancient Egyptians had to say.