I bought this some time
ago, largely because I'm interested in the possibility of using
ancient Egyptian for inspiration when it comes to fantasy
names, and also in the structure and approach of hieroglyphs as the
basis of a fictional language/realm.
The approach of the
book is very engaging. Instead of starting out by looking at certain
words or Egyptian culture in the abstract, the author presents a
fairly simple genuine engraving depicting a character from ancient
Egypt, and slowly guides the reader through what it means.
Gradually, an
increasing number of hieroglyphs and ever more complicated carvings
(all genuine) are shown, and it's quite cool to glance at the book's
cover and recognise the signs of Osiris, or that the 'ankh' in
Tutankhamun means 'life'. It's well-paced, and does not assume any
prior knowledge of hieroglyphics.
The sheer number of
hieroglyphs, repetition of sounds and odd unique occurrences that you
either know or you don't (not unique to ancient languages, the verb
'to be' is irregular in most modern ones) mean that it may take a
little while to get into the swing of things. On the other hand, the
use of a formula for the 'offering which the king gives' and the use
of cartouches to indicate royal names, as well as other little
linguistic habits, do give handy signposts to new carvings.
In terms of background
information on Egyptian culture, there is a reasonable amount. That's
not the primary purpose of the book, of course, but I did learn a
fair amount about how Egyptians viewed their gods, pharaohs and the
relationship between life and death. Tidbits are provided here and
there, and by the end of the book it helps to inform the context of
many carvings, as well as being interesting in and of itself.
It should be stressed
that the book is an introduction to hieroglyphs, so if you want to
become 'fluent' (as it were, it's a written, not a spoken, language)
you will need other books which the author helpfully recommends. As
an introduction, I think it works extremely well, and if you're
interested in this sort of thing I would advocate buying it.
Thaddeus
No comments:
Post a Comment