Hieroglyphs are pictures used as signs in writing. When standing before an ancient tablet in a museum or visiting an Egyptian monument, we marvel at this unique writing and puzzle over its meaning. Now, with the help of Egyptologists Mark Collier and Bill Manley, museum-goers, tourists, and armchair travelers alike can gain a basic knowledge of the language and culture of ancient Egypt.
Collier and Manley's novel approach is informed by years of experience teaching Egyptian hieroglyphs to non-specialists. Using attractive drawings of actual inscriptions displayed in the British Museum, they concentrate on the kind of hieroglyphs readers might encounter in other collections, especially funerary writings and tomb scenes. Each chapter introduces a new aspect of hieroglyphic script or Middle Egyptian grammar and encourages acquisition of reading skills with practical exercises.
The texts offer insights into the daily experiences of their ancient authors and touch on topics ranging from pharaonic administration to family life to the Egyptian way of death. With this book as a guide, one can enjoy a whole new experience in understanding Egyptian art and artifacts around the world.

Actually, the information blurb from the Library Journal linked to the book's entry here states: 'Reference collections desiring more complete coverage will want Alan Gardiner's Egyptian Grammar (1957. 3d ed.) despite some obsolescence in the treatment of the verbal system.'

I actually learned hieroglyphs using that text at the University of London in the 1980s. But I have assembled a collection of more accessible books on how to learn hieroglyphs as refreshers and for sharing. I have four texts, and this was the first of the lot.

If you are truly interested in learning Egyptian hieroglyphs for an upcoming trip to Egypt or to visit a museum with a collection (I amazed a friend once by being able to read an inscription at the museum; I confessed that of the hundreds of 'paragraphs' of hieroglyphs in the collection, that that was one of only two I could decipher without my notebook), Collier and Manley's 'How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs' is a good choice for learning.

It begins with a basic description of the way in which hieroglyphs are used (some signs are words, but actually very few, and others are sound-meaning symbols). Collier and Manley introduce a transliteration system to ease your way into pronunciation (and pronunciation is very sketchy, given the fact there are no recordings from ancient Egypt). Symbols can vary occasionally for sound, meaning, and determinative value.

The pattern of hieroglyphs is also variable. Generally, you always want to 'read into the face', i.e., the picto-glyphs will be facing the direction from which to start -- more often right to left than left to right, and columns go top to bottom. There are no punctuation marks and no word breaks -- this can make meanings hard to decipher.

Consider the example:

IAMNOWHERE
which could be broken into
I AM NOW HERE
or
I AM NOWHERE
and in this case, context might not help provide which meaning is the true one. Or perhaps the author is poetical and sees the trouble of distinction and means that trouble to be present.

No wonder hieroglyphs are hard!

Collier and Manley's book is excellent in basic vocabulary building and basic grammar. And, if you're like me and will make flash cards, you'll become a better draw-er too.

There are exercises, and pictures of inscriptions to practice on, and a key to the exercises in the back of the book.

78 of 78 found the following review helpful:


Best introduction to hieroglyphics available!  Jul 11, 1998
This book fills the gaping hole between the large reference grammars such as Gardiner's, the popular introductions that don't really teach any of the language, and the out-of-date material by Budge.

Written at the British Museum, this is a textbook for learning to read hieroglyphs such as you find on the walls of a museum. It is not a complete grammar and won't teach you how to read complex literture, but will give you a complete enough command of the language to read most common material.

The book is well-printed and nicely bound, and is small enough to take to the museum with you! It contains a wealth of material, a glossary, king lists, and information about Egyptian gods.

Many of the exercises are drawings or pictures of wall paintings or carvings, making the book fun to use. Answers to exercises are given at the back.

If you don't know which hieroglyphic book to pick, this is the one!

40 of 40 found the following review helpful:


Full of detail and examples, a bit hard to follow  Aug 04, 2000 By Heath L. Buckmaster "_heath_"
This is an excellent book to give the reader an introduction to studying or learning the ancient egyptian heiros. The book goes into a lot of detail about transliteration, and making the images turn into sounds. It does a good job explaining that the words are more about sounds than actual individual meanings. I found it a bit difficult to follow all the transliteration of sounds, and had to keep referring back to the charts to remember meaning (especially when you start using all the tick marks, and letter combinations). Otherwise, for those who are studying to be egyptologists, or really want to know how words may have been pronounced, this is an excellent start.

23 of 23 found the following review helpful:


This is the book to get you started!  Oct 08, 1998
So far it is the best introduction to reading Middle Egyptian I have seen. It is ideal for studying at home in your own pace and in your own time and, maybe the most important feature, all by yourself.

The examples are actual writings taken from stelae from the British Museum, so you learn the real stuff, no messing around with artificial examples.

It is not an exhaustive and in depth course for the Middle Egytian language, but is the best way to get you started. I recommend it to every one who is interested in Middle Egytian, but does not know where to start.

18 of 18 found the following review helpful:


The best book for beginners  Feb 25, 2001
This is THE book to start with. The book is so well-written and contains so many interesting genuine texts from stelae that the novice reader remains enthousiastic, and will continue to read through the more difficult parts. A very interesting aspect is 'human interest' the use of stelae from 'lower' people than kings: you get a glimpse of a man, his wife, his children, his servants, his position in society, what they thought to be important... Ok, the book is a bit limited in that it only deals with certain types of texts (Middle-Eg. stelae, offering formulae...), but be sure that, after reading, your next visit to a museum or Egypt will be very special: you can read!! A great experience. Thanks to the momentum gained from this book, you can now read the second monumental book on ancient Egyptian: James P. Allen's "Middle-Egyptian". A bit tougher, though, but complete.

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