How to Read Hieroglyphs, Part 1

John and Colleen Darnell introduce ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, including terminology, three uses of hieroglyphic signs, and orientation of the script.

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Logo: Santiago (@Elektrodeco)
Music: Phonograph DJ Mac, "The Vamp - Fox Trot," Joseph C. Smith's Orchestra (1919)


Image Credits:

Thumbnail and 0:54: Detail from the coffin of Khnumnakht, Metropolitan Museum of Art 15.2.2 (metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544326, Public Domain)

1:09: False Door of the Royal Sealer Neferiu, Metropolitan Museum of Art 12.183.8
(metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/543863, Public Domain)

1:45: Detail from the coffin of Khnumnakht, Metropolitan Museum of Art 15.2.2 (metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544326, Public Domain)

2:21: Heqanakht Letter 1, Metropolitan Museum of Art 22.3.516 (metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/545445, Public Domain)

2:47: Demotic Temple Oath, Metropolitan Museum of Art 21.2.122 (metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/569661, Public Domain)

3:45: Book of the Dead for the Singer Nany, Metropolitan Museum of Art 30.3.31
(metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/548344, Public Domain)

4:34: Roman period hieratic graffito from Elkab (Philippe Derchain, Elkab I, Les monuments religieux à l’entrée de l’Ouady Hellal [Brussels, 1971], pl. 26)

5:06: Detail from the coffin of Khnumnakht, Metropolitan Museum of Art 15.2.2 (metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544326, Public Domain)

5:34: Detail from a relief of Nebhepetre Montuhotep II, Metropolitan Museum of Art 07.230.2

(metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/548212, Public Domain)


6:01: Detail from the coffin of Khnumnakht, Metropolitan Museum of Art 15.2.2 (metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544326, Public Domain)


7:16: Drawing of the “Hound Stela” of Antef II, ca. 2100 BCE (A. Mariette, Monuments divers recueillis en Égypte et en Nubie [Paris, 1872], pl. 49)

7:26: Stela of Intef, Metropolitan Museum of Art 57.95 (metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/545393, Public Domain)


9:32: West Wall of the chapel of Amun-Re, temple of Seti I at Abydos (A. Calverley, Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos, vol. 2 [London, 1935], Pl. 9)


15:13: Heqanakht Letter 1, Metropolitan Museum of Art 22.3.516 (metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/545445, Public Domain)