Everyone who visits Luxor or Cairo stands before walls covered in hieroglyphs. With a few basic rules, you'll be amazed at how much you can suddenly recognise.
**What are hieroglyphs?** Hieroglyphs are a pictographic script in which each sign represents either a sound, a syllable or an entire word. The Egyptian alphabet had around 24 consonants — vowels were not written (similar to Arabic and Hebrew today).
**How do you read hieroglyphs?** Hieroglyphs can be read from left to right, right to left, or top to bottom. The trick: look in which direction the animals and figures are facing — you read from there.
The most important signs you'll recognise
*Cartouches* — Oval frames around groups of signs: they always contain the name of a pharaoh. When you see a cartouche, you're seeing a royal name.
*Ankh (☥)* — The sign of life. A cross with a loop at the top. Gods often hold it in their hand — symbol of eternal life.
*Djed pillar* — Symbol of stability and Osiris. Looks like stacked beams.
*Eye of Horus (Udjat)* — The stylised falcon eye. Symbol of protection, now known worldwide.
**How was the script deciphered?** The Rosetta Stone (found in Alexandria in 1799, now in the British Museum) bore the same text in Greek, Demotic and hieroglyphs. Jean-François Champollion used it to decipher the entire system in 1822 — one of the greatest scientific achievements in history.