100 Hieroglyphs: Think Like an Egyptian

Gain insights into a vanished world with this unique look at powerful hieroglyphs.

Barry Kemp presents one hundred of hieroglyphs, their pronunciations, their history, and meanings, revealing aspects of day-to-day life in ancient Egypt.

“How characters used in ancient Egyptians’ writing system offer a fascinating insight into their priorities, concerns, and beliefs, and entire worldview.

Using a set of hieroglyphs, this book takes readers on a journey through the Egyptian mind, revealing not only aspects of day to day life in ancient Egypt, but gradually building a picture of the historical and mythological references that were the cornerstones of Egyptian thought.

Egyptian culture is divided from the present by several millennia, a lost people, and a dead language. Much can be discovered about this civilization from its physical remains, but perhaps the greatest insights into the Egyptian mind come from hieroglyphs.

Unlike the western alphabet, an arbitrary set of symbols not anchored in reality, each Egyptian hieroglyph visually denotes a concept central to Egyptian thinking, so the language and its written form is intimately bound up with the imaginative world of the Egyptians.

These 100 Egyptian hieroglyphs provide access to a unique culture and help readers understand a fascinating, long-vanished world.”

— 100 Hieroglyphs, by Barry Kemp (#aff)