Egyptian Hieroglyphics: How to Read & Write Them

For centuries, the mysterious signs and symbols of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics remained incomprehensible to historians and scholars. Many attempts were made before 1800 to decipher the inscriptions found on tombs and monuments but none were successful. It was not until Jean-Francois Champollion, the great French philologist, deciphered the parallel inscriptions (in hieroglyphic Egyptian, demotic and Greek) on the Rosetta Stone, discovered in Egypt by Napoleon’s troops in 1799, that the key to Egyptian hieroglyphics was revealed. Now, with this simplified guide, you can learn to understand and transcribe Egyptian hieroglyphics yourself. The heart of the book is the clear description and presentation of 134 phonetic elements. On each half-page of the book there is a large sign with its phonetic value and a frame containing examples of words in which this sign figures. In each compartment appears its phonetic transcription, and in the central column, its translation. In addition, you