Ancient Egyptian Forum

[Goddess~Maat]

Hi all! I just wanted to see what everyones opinion on good books about hieroglyphics is. Like does anyone have any suggestions. I only have one book on the subject. Egyptian Language: Lessons in Egyptian Hieroglyphics, by Sir E.A. Wallis Budge. I haven't even read most of it yet.

P.S. Mine has a different cover than the one shown on the linked page.

[Google]

[Psusennes I]

Collier and Manleys 'How to read Egyptian Hieroglyphs' to start, followed by Gardiner's 'Egyptian Grammar' when you've completed it. That's my advice. Good Luck!
_________________

[PsyPharaoh]

Psus is right about <u>How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs</u>; in just the first couple chapters, I've gone over most everything I've known, and learned loads more. I'm not sure about <u>Egyptian Grammar</u>.

Also, I hate to break it to you, but I've heard nothing but bad things about Budge's publications

[Psusennes I]

This is a BIG topic for me, and I don't really want to discuss it in detail here, but Budge's books have their uses. You just have to be able to spot the flaws with them. They are useless for a beginner, and unless you have something to compare them to then they are a completely waste of money. The problem is that they're everywhere, have no copyright, and they are very cheap. Budge ignored many of the breakthroughs made by the German Schools of Egyptology in the early part of the last century and as a result most of his texts are hugely dated. His information books are worth steering well clear of, but his laborious copies of many inscriptions in tombs that are now beyond repair are invaluable nowerdays. His copies of the Papyrus of Ani for example, remain the best available commonly. I still prefer his translation of that particular text to that of Faulkner's (I am ready with a whole list of reasons for this- the main being that Faulkner's so-called translation is not actually one at all, but rather just a composite of what he wants to be there). Budge plagiarised heavily, and this means that many of his texts are actually written by others who had the same faults as him. Whilst the majority of his reference books are detestable, his incription copies and translations are, for the majority, very accurate (despite the largely baseless claims that they are completely wrong) and provide useful companions to other books. They just don't stand alone.

Honestly, Budge has his uses. Trust me.

For example, just yesterday I used the appendix of his dictionary to get the cartouche of Si-Amun, and then I translated it. There weren't any problems there.
_________________

[Si-amun]

Hmmmm, I cannot comment on his hieroglyphic books as I am no expert on them by any stretch but I will stick an oar in about his reference books. I do own quite a few of them (including an antique copy of "The Nile" from 1905) and although they are written very much of their time there are some gems in information in them. As long as the (absurdly crude) dating is ignored then the books can be quite interesting, Budge comments on sites that are rarely mentioned in the modern books and also gives a taste of Egypt before the hoardes of tourists descended upon it. We condemn him but in one hundred years our books will possibly appear very crude and inexact to future generations, but does that mean that everything they tell is unreliable and a waste of time? I dont think so. As long as he is read carefully with a bit of knowledge Budge can give marvellous pieces of information, his books are normally very interesting and quite readable with some great hieroglyph translation and transliteration, with the three side by side, something not all modern books do. I say giver Budge a chance, he was of his time but still useful to ours!
_________________
Thou dost appear beautiful on the horizon of heaven, oh living Amun, he who was the first to live.

[Ramsekh]

I think Hieroglyphs for Everyone by Lenore & Joseph Scott is a good book for beginners. I think that's those are their names.
_________________

[Hatshepsut76]

At the moment I'm studying hieroglyphs on Roccati's "Elementi di lingua egizia"; then I bought some time ago the Italian version of Collier and Manley's book. I will study on this book after having finished the book on which I'm studying now.

[Glyphdoctor]

http://www.glyphdoctors.com/mod/resource/view.php?id=40

[Hatshepsut76]

It's just a lot of time that I can afford the study of Roccati's book, like I would, so I think probably I'll stop it now, and I begin to study on Collier & Manley's... According to me Roccati's book is for people who have already a good knowledge of hieroglyphs

[maatkara]

yeah, Chube! Roccati is also not so easy to follow when somebody is studying it during his sparetime, that means after an all day of work!...When you are already tired it gets tough to read Roccati's book....you'll need to be awaken and fresh!...that happen to me as well!!!

[sarah_g_uk]

well, at the monent i am reading how to read egyptian hieroglyphs by mark collier and bill manley and its a really good but here is the link for it:
link