Synopses & Reviews
Dozens of exquisite color photographs of ancient sites, artifacts, texts, and wall paintings, as well as focus features, timelines, and chronology, make the history of hieroglyphics come vibrantly alive. In fascinating detail, this authoritative discussion covers the origins of the Egyptian language and its alphabet; three millennia of writing; the mysteries of the hieroglyphs; and the efforts to decipher this most elaborate and beautiful pictorial language. Every breathtaking example, from burial texts to handwritten and stone-carved images, illuminates exactly what hieroglyphs meant to the ancient inhabitants of the Nile Valley and to the early scholars who struggled to decode their script.
Synopsis
A colourful introduction to Egyptian hieroglyphs that demonstrates the enormous diversity of texts that have survived from a period that lasted 3,500 years. Colour photographs and short passages of text guide the beginner through the origins of the Egyptian language, the alphabet and grammar, the derivatives, types of inscriptions, their mystery and decipherment. The book concludes with the hieroglyphic names of the Pharaohs, a chronology and a brief list of major Egyptian collections across the world.