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Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Complete Beginners: The Revolutionary New Approach to Reading the Monuments

Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Complete Beginners: The Revolutionary New Approach to Reading the Monuments

  • Downloads：7743
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2021-04-30 11:56:21
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Bill Manley
  • ISBN：0500051720
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary

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。

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Reviews

Ellie J。 ，

5/5 starsRecommended for people who like: languages， learning languages， how-to books， code breaking， history， linguistic anthropologyThis is a good introductory book for people who want to learn to read hieroglyphics。 I'll start off by saying it is in no way a comprehensive dictionary of hieroglyphs， the author only includes some of the most relevant/common ones as well as the most relevant/common pharaohs， gods， and words。 As the title suggests， it is for beginners， though in the epilogue， M 5/5 starsRecommended for people who like: languages， learning languages， how-to books， code breaking， history， linguistic anthropologyThis is a good introductory book for people who want to learn to read hieroglyphics。 I'll start off by saying it is in no way a comprehensive dictionary of hieroglyphs， the author only includes some of the most relevant/common ones as well as the most relevant/common pharaohs， gods， and words。 As the title suggests， it is for beginners， though in the epilogue， Manley suggests a list of other books if you're interested in continuing your education in the language。I thought this book was a fantastic intro。 Not only does Manley slowly adapt you to the symbols， but he actually explains how they're used， why we think they came to be used that way， and the progression of the written language from pre-hieroglyph glyphs to the Arabic we see today。 In the beginning of the book， he separates the symbols we'll need into 1-sound signs （'s'， 'm'， 't'）， 2-sound signs （'mr'， 'ms'， 'nb'）， 3-sound signs （'nfr'， 'stp'， 'ntr'）， and signs that don't have sounds associated with them but solely stand for words （group， god， town）。 From there， Manley introduces you to words that use each set of sounds， starting with words like 'for' = 'n' and progressing to 'lord' = 'nb'， and finally 'choose' = 'stp'。From there， Manley basically has you jump right in and start reading off of statues。 In the beginning， they're pretty simple and he walks you through some of the common terms， phrases， and structures you'll see when looking at stelas and monuments。 It starts off slow， with only three or four lines to read per monument/stela， and then by the end Manley has you able to read 9 line stelas almost completely。 Actual pictures of the monuments/stelas are provided in black-and-white， which can make it hard to figure out what the symbol is， but for most of the pictures there's also a separate rendering of the hieroglyphs that's clearer。 My pet peeve， though， is that this rendering stops being provided as much toward the end of the book， which is also coincidentally when you start getting into stelas/monuments that have been damaged。 I understand that it's good practice to be able to look at a not-so-clear picture and pictures of damaged glyphs and be able to translate them since that's all you'll have in the real world， but it's also still a book for beginners and I think renderings of some of the harder ones would be nice， Manley could put them at the back of the book if he still wanted readers to try on their own first。On top of learning words， phrases， and their associated sounds， Manley also introduces you to cartouches， which are the little oval looking carvings pharaohs and other officials put their names inside of。 You read them a bit differently than you would read the rest of the monument， but they're pretty simple and easy to get a hang of。 I think Manley spent a little too much time in this section， since cartouches are mainly just recognizing the symbols， writing down their sounds （not the words associated with them！）， and then finding a name in the back of the book that matches the sounds or symbols。 Super easy。All in all， I think it's a good book to get started learning Egyptian Hieroglyphs if you're interested or if you just want a fun activity to do over breaks or on weekends。 If you're good with traditional codes （not computer codes， but stuff like ciphers and shifts）， then this would also be pretty good for you， since a lot of it is just decrypting a code， no foreign-language skills necessary。 。。。more

Nsw Bity ，

Πολύ καλή έκδοση και βοηθητικές οι ασκήσεις， όμως εντελώς αρχάριοι πιθανόν να δυσκολευτούν。

Helen West ，

So confused lol。 The language is tricksy。 But I loved learning the intricacies of it all :）

Nguyễn Đăng ，

good

Simon ，

This is probably the best introduction to Egyptian hieroglyphs currently available for the beginner。 It is based on an adult education course taught at the University of Glasgow's Centre for Open Studies。 Although I personally found the style a bit too chatty for my taste， reading the book does make you feel you are being taught personally by Bill Manley in one of his classes。 By minimising grammar and focussing on recognising standard inscriptions found on readily accessible museum objects （sev This is probably the best introduction to Egyptian hieroglyphs currently available for the beginner。 It is based on an adult education course taught at the University of Glasgow's Centre for Open Studies。 Although I personally found the style a bit too chatty for my taste， reading the book does make you feel you are being taught personally by Bill Manley in one of his classes。 By minimising grammar and focussing on recognising standard inscriptions found on readily accessible museum objects （several of which can be seen in Glasgow and Edinburgh）， Bill makes learning how to read hieroglyphs a pleasure。 By placing the objects in the wider context of ancient Egyptian religious beliefs， he gives the learner a deeper understanding of the meaning of their inscriptions than a merely literal translation would provide。 On a matter of detail the inscriptions in Glasgow should be credited to Glasgow Museums， not Glasgow City Museum。 Reading this book is an excellent way for beginners to gain confidence in translating Egyptian hieroglyphs and should encourage them to go on to learn more。 。。。more

Peter ，

This is a great book。 I've tried several other beginning grammars and this is the one to start with。 The book covers several inscriptions and provides a great overview of the offering formula。 This isn't a comprehensive grammar but it is a wonderful starting place if you want to begin your studies of Middle Egyptian。 I highly recommend it。 This is a great book。 I've tried several other beginning grammars and this is the one to start with。 The book covers several inscriptions and provides a great overview of the offering formula。 This isn't a comprehensive grammar but it is a wonderful starting place if you want to begin your studies of Middle Egyptian。 I highly recommend it。 。。。more

Michael Snuffin ，

Out of all of the books I picked up on Egyptian hieroglyphs， I found this book the most helpful。 Well-organized and fun to work with， Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Complete Beginners guides the reader through the translation of texts from actual Egyptian monuments and artifacts in an easy step-by-step method。 The publisher printed the hieroglyphic text large enough for students to reproduce them by hand， something I had issues with in other books on the subject， including How to Read Egyptian Hierogl Out of all of the books I picked up on Egyptian hieroglyphs， I found this book the most helpful。 Well-organized and fun to work with， Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Complete Beginners guides the reader through the translation of texts from actual Egyptian monuments and artifacts in an easy step-by-step method。 The publisher printed the hieroglyphic text large enough for students to reproduce them by hand， something I had issues with in other books on the subject， including How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself by Mark Collier and Bill Manley （University of California， 1998）。 Comparing the two books， I'd say the author has learned a great deal over the last fourteen years about teaching people to read hieroglyphs， and this book serves as proof。 Recommended。 。。。more

Nathan Glenn ，

This book is really neat。 It teaches about Egyptian culture， religion and general beliefs while the reader learns the basics of reading hieroglyphs found on monuments， in tombs， etc。 It helps the reader remove the popular misconceptions about Egyptian language and culture， as well as about language in general， and often makes good comparisons between features in English and those in Egyptian。 The typesetting is very easy to read， and original pictures as well as sketches are used to teach hierog This book is really neat。 It teaches about Egyptian culture， religion and general beliefs while the reader learns the basics of reading hieroglyphs found on monuments， in tombs， etc。 It helps the reader remove the popular misconceptions about Egyptian language and culture， as well as about language in general， and often makes good comparisons between features in English and those in Egyptian。 The typesetting is very easy to read， and original pictures as well as sketches are used to teach hieroglyphs。 The emphasis is on teaching the reader to read these monuments， so words and formulas common to these are taught。 There is little in the way of grammar， but it isn't usually needed for the casual museum attender。I really enjoyed the discussion of the Egyptian origin story， as well as the explanations of Egyptian cultural keywords （maat， ka， ba）。Some things I thought were neat:The idea that civilization was primitive and therefore used pictures to write is mis-informed。 Hieratic was used for normal writing and the history is just as long as that for hieroglyphs。 Hieroglyphs had sacred and artistic value， and so are found on monuments， art， jewelry， etc。The concept of "maat" means order and civilization， and contrasted with the state of chaos in the uncivilized lands outside of Egypt。 One of the pharaoh's roles was to turn more chaos into "maat"。The Egyptian gods are innumerable because they were used as a language of divinity。 New gods would be devised， old ones combined or altered， foreign ones adopted， etc。 to get the right point across。 。。。more

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Complete Beginners: The Revolutionary New Approach to Reading the Monuments

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Complete Beginners: The Revolutionary New Approach to Reading the Monuments&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Complete Beginners: The Revolutionary New Approach to Reading the Monuments&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0