Hieroglyphics
Subtitle: The Writings of Ancient Egypt
By: Maria Carmela Betrò
Edition: English-language edition
Publisher: Abbeville Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: New York, USA
Language: eng
Translated from: ita
Translation of: Geroglifici: 580 segni per capire l'antico Egitto
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 252
ISBN-13: 9780789202321
Copyright date: 1995, English translation 1996
Other titles: Geroglifici: 580 segni per capire l'antico Egitto
Description: This complete handbook reveals the secrets of the hieroglyphic writing of the Nile Valley, which provides a still-vivid snapshot of the gods, the people, and the everyday life of the Ancient Egyptians. Both literal and highly lyrical, hieroglyphics bring alive a distant world, with descriptions of the natural environment, the art, the society, the religious beliefs, and even the philosophical basis of a culture that flourished 5,000 years ago.

Presenting and explaining almost 600 of the figures used in the classic phase of Egypt's "sacred writing," this fascinating volume traces the origins and the meaning of each sign, as well as its graphic stylization. An opening essay reveals the secrets of the hieroglyphic system, including its development and its structural characteristics, and emphasizes the sacred, evocative, even magical power of the form, which - unlike our own abstract alphabet - is immediate and expressive.

Concluding the book are a complete glossary, a bibliography, and an index, designed to make this book invaluable to the casual reader as well as the student and specialist.