Hieroglyphics

N-original
N - Later

Combine the two above from thirteenth century B.C. inscription in the temple of Ramses II at Thebes. The pictures say, "Aset, great female, mother of the god, mistress of heaven. and you get it from this:

How to Read Hieroglyphics

First of all, there are hardly any written vowels. Just like Arabic, which is what we use in modern Egypt, most of the words are written using consonants only. That's why you'll find that ancient Egyptian words and names written using the English alphabet vary in spelling. For example Rameses and Ramsis, Amun and Amen, etc...
It's the same with Arabic now, I can spell my name in English in 3 different ways and still not get the sound right!
Now to make things more confusing (just for the fun of it!) - hieroglyphics can be read from left to right, right to left, and from top to bottom; the most common being from left to right.
But there's a trick to it though, and I think it's quite smart: you just have to see which direction the sign is facing.
This wouldn't work with the water sign for example, so you can check out which way the animal or person signs are looking. So basically if the snake is looking to the right you read from right to left, and vice versa.
Any hieroglyphs inside a cartouche represent a king or pharaoh.
Determinative signs don't have a sound specific to them - they only represent the meaning of the word before them. There are male and female determinative signs that will let you know the gender of the person whose name is written.
Although this script has been dead for many centuries, it's still magical and beautiful. It's the key that unlocked the mystery of ancient Egypt and tells us of so many amazing stories past.
You can get yourself a cartouche with your name written inside in hieroglyphs as a necklace pendant


Enjoy this as I have. More to come.