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| Books for Learning Hieroglyphs The ancient Egyptian language was written for more than three thousand
years. The books that I review here are, in my opinion, the best
available today in English for learning the language. In the future,
this section will be expanded to include learning resources for all
five stages of the Egyptian language, but for now, the focus is on the
Middle Egyptian stage of the language.It is easy to buy these books online, in association with Amazon, no matter where in the world you live. Books can be purchased through Amazon in the U.S.  , U.K.  or Canada 
by clicking on the associated flag icons after each title. If one of
these flags is missing, it is because the particular book is not
available through Amazon in that country. Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, James P. Allen. This is the textbook used in the Glyphdoctors online hieroglyphs course. First published in 2000, professors of the Egyptian language
around the globe almost unanimously adopted it as the textbook they use
in their classes that same year. It reflects the latest understanding
of the ancient Egyptian language. I am using this book in
my online classes because it is very student-friendly. You do not have
to be a linguist to understand the book. The author, who got his Ph.D.
in Egyptology from the University of Chicago, uses an excellent method
to help learners get a grasp of grammatical terms and
concepts, comparing them to English grammar, which should be more
familiar to students. He also puts the Egyptian language in its wider
context through a series of essays on a variety of cultural and
historical topics. Order now: Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs, Alan H. Gardiner. This classic textbook remained THE English-language standard for teaching Middle Egyptian for nearly 75 years. Gardiner revised the work three times, the last time in 1957. Since then, understanding of the Egyptian verbal system has been revised drastically, and the sections of the book covering these topics is obsolete today. However, the remainder of the book still remains the premier reference source for many other topics. It also contains the most extensive sign list of Middle Egyptian, with descriptions of what each sign represents and how it is used. Order now:
 Fundamentals of Egyptian Grammar: Elements, Leo Depuydt.
This book is intended as a textbook of Middle Egyptian. I find it a bit
too idiosyncratic for that purpose, but some of the explanations of
grammar given by Dr. Depuydt however are absolutely brilliant. He has a
knack for putting difficult concepts in terms that are extremely
logical and simple to understand, unlike any of his predecessors, and
this would make an excellent supplement to another grammar book. Order
now: Middle Egyptian Grammar, James E. Hoch. Written by the winner of an award for the best dissertation in North America, this textbook is a more contemporary grammar following the approach of Gardiner's work. One of its most notable features is that it starts students off early on in reading a single connected text-the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, which is completed by the end of the book. Order now:  How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself, Mark Collier and Bill Manley.
For those just interested in getting their feet wet with the Egyptian
language, this is the best book. After you complete this book, you
really will not be able to read the Egyptian language fluently, but you
will be able to decipher common formulaic inscriptions that occur
frequently on the monuments. This is accomplished through a series of
lessons based on actual inscriptions on monuments on display in the
British Museum in London, many of which appear in photographs in the
book. Order now:
Egyptian Readingbook: Exercises and Middle Egyptian Texts, Adriaan de Buck. This book is a great supplement to any Middle Egyptian grammar book. It consists of a series of drills that will help you to test and improve your knowledge of the Egyptian hieroglyphic system and basic grammar. It also contains some excerpts of longer texts for more advanced students to get used to reading real, connected texts. Order now:
 A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Raymond O. Faulkner.
For many decades, this has remained the only reliable dictionary of Middle Egyptian in English. The dictionary is
Egyptian-English only, but this is generally sufficient nowadays,
because not many people are interested in composing in the Egyptian
language. Order now: English-Egyptian Index of Faulkner's Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, David Shennum. For those who have a desire to be able to find the ancient Egyptian meaning of an English word, this is the only English-Egyptian dictionary available. It contains all of the vocabulary in Faulkner's dictionary, but in transliterated form only, so if you purchase this you will need Faulkner's book as well. Order now:
 Ancient Egyptian Calligraphy: A Beginner's Guide to Writing Hieroglyphs, Henry G. Fischer.
Because the goal of most learners of the Egyptian language is to read
ancient texts, not write them, you don't have to be an artist to
succeed in the language. But learning to draw the hieroglyphs yourself
familiarizes you with the forms of the signs so that you can recognize
them more easily. This book demonstrates a simplified method of drawing them. Order now:
 Reading Egyptian Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Egyptian Painting and Sculpture, Richard H. Wilkinson.
Egyptian hieroglyphs sometimes did double duty: they appeared in both
texts and art. This book tells the story of 100 hieroglyphs that also
appear elsewhere in Egyptian art. Each story is told with a page of
two-color illustrations and a page of text. Order now:  Egyptian Symbols: A Hieroglyphic Stamp Kit, Jennifer Larson.
For those who do not want to be able to produce beautiful hieroglyphs
without effort, these stamps include some of the most common
and significant hieroglyphs. The kit comes with a booklet explaining
the hieroglyphs. The author asked me to review the booklet before
publication so I can vouch that it is accurate. This would make a great
gift for a child interested in ancient Egypt. Order now: Glyphdoctors' participants have submitted their own book reviews about a wide variety of Egyptology books in the book recommendation forum of Open Egyptology, and you can too. Skip Login LoginOmm Sety's Living Egypt Now Available Glyphdoctors first publication, Omm Sety's Living Egypt is now available. You may purchase it via Amazon. To visit our new Omm Sety Web site, click on the book cover above. Latest News
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