Hieroglyphs were developed by the ancient Egyptians as a way of incorporating writing into their art. Unlike modern Indonesian, which uses letters, ancient Egyptians used symbols. These symbols, also called hieroglyphs (or just glyphs) can have more than one meaning depending on how they are written. The steps below will help you understand the basics of Egyptian hieroglyphics and can be a starting point for exploring this topic further.
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Method 1 of 3: Studying the Ancient Egyptian Alphabet
Step 1. Get a visual chart of the Egyptian hieroglyphic alphabet
Since hieroglyphs are pictures and not letters like in Indonesian, it is difficult to explain how to read them if you can't visualize them. Start the learning process by preparing a visual alphabet chart from the internet. Print this chart and save it for use during study.
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The following list contains all of the Egyptian hieroglyphic visual chart URLs translated to the English alphabet:
- https://www.egyptianhieroglyphs.net/egyptian-hieroglyphs/lesson-1/
- https://www.ancientscripts.com/egyptian.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Egyptian_hieroglyphs_by_alphabetization
- The glyphs listed on this alphabetical chart are also referred to as 'unilateral' because most have only one symbol.
Step 2. Learn how to pronounce hieroglyphs
While some glyphs can be translated directly into letters of the Indonesian alphabet, their pronunciations can be completely different. The URL above also contains a chart showing the pronunciation of each glyph. Also print this chart and save it for future reference.
- For example, a hieroglyphic translation of a bird looks like the number three, '3', but is pronounced as 'ah'.
- Technically, the pronunciation of hieroglyphic symbols is an Egyptologist's guess. Since Egyptian hieroglyphs are a dead language, no one else knows how to pronounce them correctly. Instead, researchers were forced to guess based on a further Egyptian form called Coptic.
Step 3. Learn the difference between an ideogram and a phonogram
Egyptian hieroglyphs have two main types: ideograms and phonograms. Ideograms are images that directly represent the object being discussed. Since ancient Egyptians did not write vowels, phonograms usually represented consonant sounds.
- Phonograms can represent one or more sounds. Use the downloaded glyph chart as a reference to find specific examples.
- Ideograms, in addition to their literal meaning (e.g. glyphs of a pair of legs reflecting movement or walking), can also have non-literal meanings (e.g. glyphs of feet combined with other glyphs may refer to directions).
- Egyptian hieroglyphs are normally made with a phonogram at the beginning of a word and an ideogram at the end of a word. In this case, hieroglyphs are also determinative.
Step 4. Create your own words using hieroglyphs
Hieroglyphs reflect sounds, not letters. Therefore, there are no silent glyphs like silent letters in English (Indonesian does not have silent letters). To spell words using hieroglyphs, make sure that each sound is represented by its own glyph.
- To clarify the conversion to silent letters, we will use an example in English. The word "freight" is spelled using 7 letters, but only has 4 sounds. The sounds are 'f', 'r', 'long a, ' and 't'. Therefore, to be able to spell words using hieroglyphs, we need to use glyphs for each sound in the related word. In this case, the glyph is a horned serpent plus a reclining lion, plus arms, plus bread.
- Not all sounds in Indonesian have sounds (and glyphs) in ancient Egyptian.
- Because many vowels are silent in English, they are not used when spelling words in ancient Egyptian. This means that the translation becomes even more difficult because one word can have more than one translation. This is where the determinative comes into play. Use determinative glyphs after spelling words to help explain words well.
Method 2 of 3: Reading Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Step 1. Determine the direction of reading the hieroglyphs
Hieroglyphs can actually be read in almost any direction: left to right, right to left, and top to bottom. To determine how to read a particular set of glyphs, start by looking for the headed glyphs. If your head is facing left, start reading from the left and continue towards your head. If your head is facing the right, start reading from the right and continue towards your head.
- If the glyph appears as a vertical column, always read from top to bottom. However, you still need to determine whether the hieroglyphs are read from right to left or left to right.
- Note that some glyphs can be grouped together to save space. High glyphs are usually drawn alone, while short glyphs are stacked on top of each other. That is, a line of hieroglyphs may need to be read horizontally and vertically.
Step 2. Translate ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic nouns
Hieroglyphs have two types of nouns: gender nouns (masculine vs. feminine) and quantity nouns (singular, double, or plural).
- In most, but not all cases, when a noun is followed by a bread glyph, the word is feminine. If a noun doesn't have a bread glyph, it's most likely masculine.
- Plural nouns can be represented by glyphs of chicks or coils of string. For example, the glyph contains water and man means 'brother' (singular). The same glyph followed by chicks means 'brothers'.
- Double nouns can represent two backslashes. For example, a glyph consisting of water, a roll of rope, two backslashes, and two men can mean 'two brothers'.
- Sometimes double and plural nouns don't have these extra glyphs, instead there are vertical lines or multiple glyphs of the same type that tell the number of related nouns.
Step 3. Learn ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic suffixes
A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun and is normally used after the noun (also known as the antecedent) is first used. For example, in the sentence “Bob stumbled when he was going up stairs”, 'Bob' is a noun and 'he' is a pronoun. Egyptian also has pronouns, but they don't always follow antecedents.
- Ending pronouns must be attached to nouns, verbs, or prepositions, and not individual words. These are the most common pronouns in the ancient Egyptian language.
- 'I' and 'I' are represented by glyphs of people or reed leaves.
- 'You' and 'you' are represented by the basket-handled glyph when referring to masculine singular nouns. The word 'and' is represented by the glyph of bread or string when referring to the feminine singular noun.
- 'He' is represented by a glyph of a horned serpent when referring to a masculine singular, and a fold of cloth when referring to a feminine singular.
- 'We' and 'us' are represented by water glyphs above three vertical lines.
- 'You' are represented by a bread glyph or a string over a water glyph and three vertical lines.
- 'They' are represented by a glyph of a cloth fold or a door bolt plus a water glyph and three vertical lines.
Step 4. Understand ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic prepositions
Prepositions are words such as below, beside, above, near, between, until, etc. that explain the adverbs of time and space from other words. For example, in the sentence "the cat is under the table," the word "under" is a preposition.
- The owl glyph is one of the most versatile prepositions in the ancient Egyptian language. Usually this glyph means 'within', but it can also mean 'for', 'during', 'from', 'with', and 'through'.
- The glyph of mouth is another versatile preposition that can have the meanings of 'against', 'related', and 'so', depending on the context of the sentence.
- Prepositions can also be combined with nouns to make compound prepositions.
Step 5. Understand ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic adjectives
An adjective is a word that describes a noun. For example, in the word 'red umbrella', the word 'red' is an adjective that describes the noun 'umbrella'. In ancient Egyptian language, adjectives could be used as modifiers for nouns and nouns themselves.
- Adjectives used as modifiers will always follow the noun, pronoun, or noun phrase they are changing. This type of adjective will also have the same gender and plurality as a noun.
- Adjectives used as nouns have the same rules as nouns about feminine versus masculine and singular versus double versus plural.
Method 3 of 3: Getting Help Studying Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Step 1. Buy a book on how to read hieroglyphs
One of the most recommended books for learning how to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs is How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself by Mark Collier and Bill Manley. The most recent version of this book was published in 2003 and is available in various online bookstores.
- If you visit an online bookstore (eg Amazon, Book Depository, etc.) search for “Egyptian Hieroglyphs” for a wide selection.
- Read book reviews on store websites or on Goodreads to determine which book meets your needs.
- Make sure the book is returnable, or take a peek at its contents before buying, in case the content doesn't live up to expectations.
Step 2. Download the iPhone/iPad app
The Apple Store has a number of Egyptian-related apps that can be downloaded to your iPhone or iPad. One particular app, called Egyptian Hieroglyphs, is designed to help users learn how to read hieroglyphs. The same developer also created an app that can turn a QWERTY keyboard into Egyptian hieroglyphics.
- Most of these apps are paid, but quite cheap.
- Keep in mind that while this app has a variety of glyphs to study, it's still incomplete.
Step 3. Follow the activities on the Royal Ontario Museum website
The museum's website contains instructions on how to write your name in Egyptian hieroglyphics. This site contains all the information needed for this small task, but does not go into the complex hieroglyphs in more detail.
The Royal Ontario Museum also has an Ancient Egyptian gallery displaying many artifacts. If you wish, you can visit this museum to get a better look at the shape of the original hieroglyphs carved into stone and other materials
Step 4. Install the JSesh editor to the computer
JSesh is an open source ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic editor that can be downloaded for free at the developer's site:
- This site also contains complete documentation and tutorials on how to use the software.
- Technically, JSesh is designed for people who already have some knowledge of hieroglyphics, but are still useful for learning or wanting to challenge themselves.
Step 5. Study Egyptology
There are many hands-on classes or online courses available on Ancient Egypt and Egyptology. As an example:
- The University of Cambridge has a workshop called Learn to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. If you cannot attend the course in person, download the course syllabus in PDF format. This syllabus contains a number of resources that may be of use to you
- Coursera has an online course called Ancient Egypt: A history in six objects, which is available to anyone with internet access. While it doesn't specifically teach hieroglyphs, this course explores Ancient Egypt using original artifacts from its time period.
- The University of Manchester has certificate and diploma programs in Egyptology, all available online. There are also courses that can be followed alone for those who are interested. Even if the program is conducted online, you still benefit from access to certain museums and libraries.
Tips
- The names of gods and kings usually appear before noun phrases, but must be read after them. This is called an honorific transposition.
- In addition to ending pronouns, ancient Egyptian also had dependent, independent, and demonstrative pronouns. These additional pronouns are not described in this article.
- When reading ancient Egyptian aloud, it's a good idea to pronounce the "e" between the two symbols that represent consonants. For example, the hieroglyph for "snfru" is pronounced as "Seneferu" (Seneferu was the pharaoh who built the first original pyramid, the Red pyramid at Dahshur cemetery).
Warning
- Reading ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs is not an easy and short task. People who study Egyptology spend years learning to read hieroglyphs properly. Plus there's an entire book that teaches how to read hieroglyphs. This article is only a basic outline, but is not a complete and full representation of everything there is to learn about Egyptian hieroglyphs.
- Most of the Egyptian hieroglyphic alphabet can be searched online including the subset of possible glyphs available. In order to get a full list of all possible glyphs (which number in the thousands), you will need a book devoted to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
