Articles on hieroglyphics, ancient Egyptian culture, and the art of deciphering the world's oldest writing system. Every article opens with a short quick answer and ends with an FAQ.
Guide
Is it hard to learn hieroglyphics? The alphabet takes a weekend, the sign system takes a few months and the grammar takes a year or more. Here is what is easy, what is hard, and how it compares to Latin, Chinese and Japanese.
Tutorial
Tutankhamun had two cartouches: the throne name Nebkheperure and the birth name Tutankhamun. Here is what each sign says, why Amun is written first, and how the boy king's name changed.
Guide
Best courses to learn Egyptian hieroglyphs in 2026, honestly compared: the standard textbooks, tutored online classes, a university certificate, free groups and apps.
Symbols
The ankh (πΉ) is the Egyptian hieroglyph for 'life'. What it meant, why gods hold it to the pharaoh's nose, what it depicts and how it became the Coptic cross.
Guide
How to learn Egyptian hieroglyphics online in five steps: the 25 alphabet signs, the right course or book, grammar, real inscriptions and the mistakes to avoid.
Opinion
Should you learn hieroglyphics? An honest look at how hard it is, how long it takes, what you can realistically read after a month or a year, and who it suits.
Motivation
Why learn hieroglyphics? Seven real benefits, from reading 3,000 years of Egyptian texts in the original to rewiring how you think about writing itself.
History
What the Rosetta Stone is, what its 196 BCE decree says, how Young and Champollion used its Greek text to decipher hieroglyphs in 1822, and why it mattered.
Beginner
Five Egyptian hieroglyphs you already recognise (ankh, Eye of Horus, scarab, djed, sun disc), what each actually meant and how it worked in the script.
Tutorial
How to read a royal cartouche step by step: find the reading direction, spot honorific transposition, then sound out Tutankhamun, Cleopatra and Ramesses II.
Culture
Who the scribes of ancient Egypt were, how they trained, what they did all day, the tools they used and why, with so few literate, writing meant power.
History
Hieroglyphs, hieratic and demotic compared: what each Egyptian script was, when and by whom it was used, and why one language needed three ways of writing.
Advanced
What the Egyptian Book of the Dead really is: around 190 funerary spells chosen per owner, the weighing of the heart, the Papyrus of Ani and how to read it.