Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt [Hardcover]

Maria C. Betro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 1996

Over 1,000 two-color line drawings, 160 black-and-white photographs

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Italian

About the Author

Maria Carmelo Betrò , Egyptologist and Professor at the University of Pisa, Italy, is the author of many works on hieroglyphic and demotic texts.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 251 pages
• Publisher: Abbeville Press; 1st ed edition (October 28, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789202328
• ISBN-13: 978-0789202321
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #694,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #77 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > African > Instruction

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars more like "The Individual Glyphs of Ancient Egypt", January 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt (Hardcover)

I am torn regarding this book. While it is an exellent study of the individual signs, covering several stages in the evolution of the particular glyph in hieroglyph, hieratic, and demotic characters, it lacks grammer and even word structure aside from a fraction of a page in the introduction. If you are a student of hieroglyphics in the history of the Egyptian culture this could be a most useful book. It is also entertaining and informative to the casual reader, but a student of Egyptian grammer would do better to look elsewhere. Perhaps to Gardiner's "Egyptian Grammar." Betro's book is not, in my opinion, the "complete handbook" it claims to be.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very interesting book!, August 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt (Hardcover)

This is a very interesting book if you are interested in the background and history of each individual hieroglyphic sign. It's a great supplement to introductory books about the ancient Egyptian language - most books only arrange the signs into families or types and don't tell you much about individual signs. If other books about hieroglyphs leave you hungry for more, then this may be the book for you.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good view of determinatives, November 6, 2004

By 

Herupaneb (L.A. CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt (Hardcover)

This book, while not covering the actual text of the language, covers a very important component of Middle Egyptian: The Determinatives. A lot of words in Middle Egyptian were spelled the same, and the only thing that told them apart was the picture that said what they were. This was also important for showing if something was a statement or a proper name. Very good addition to any hieroglyph book collection!