Developed by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's Writing and Scripts Centre in cooperation with its IT Department, the Hieroglyphs Step by Step website targets university students and the general public interested in ancient Egyptian language and culture.
Launched in 2015, the long-term project continues to grow with new lessons, quizzes, dictionary entries, and artefact examples enriching its academic content.
The project emphasises three core goals: advancing digital education, enriching Arabic content online, and promoting awareness of the ancient Egyptian language, with a focus on hieroglyphic writing.
In a recent interview with Extra News Channel, Ahmed Mansour, Director of the Writing and Scripts Centre at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, stated that the second phase launch came in response to users' feedback to add new academic content and update certain technical aspects.
He noted that the updates make the platform more compatible with modern devices and include a new dictionary app for offline use.
Mansour indicated that the website aims to provide accessible and comprehensive educational material for learning the ancient Egyptian language. Users can explore its basic grammar, including how to read royal names and simple historical texts from Egyptian monuments.
Moreover, he said the platform offers rich academic content, making it an ideal starting point for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the language's fundamentals.
File Photo: A close-up view of the cartouche of the Ptolemaic dynasty Pharaoh Ptolemy V Epiphanes inscribed with the rest of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic script in the upper portion of the Rosetta Stone, on display at the British Museum in London. AFP
Discovered in 1799 and dating to 196 BC, the Rosetta Stone was key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and reviving understanding of the language. Inscribed with the exact text in hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Ancient Greek, it enabled Jean-François Champollion to decode the hieroglyphic script in 1822, marking the beginning of Egyptology.
Its linguistic significance remains central today, as Egyptian archaeologists continue to call for its return from the British Museum, where it has been held since 1802.
Website structure and content
The website is divided into several sections, each enhancing learners' linguistic and cultural understanding of ancient Egypt.
Learn Hieroglyphics: This section features structured lessons covering essential language components such as numbers, pronouns, nouns, and syntactic structures commonly used in ancient Egypt.
It also explains how the writing system works, including the different types of signs, how the text is arranged and read, and how the same word can be written in various ways.
Dictionary: This section provides a searchable Hieroglyphic-Arabic and Hieroglyphic-English dictionary containing over 6,300 words. Users can search in three main ways:
- By keyword – entering a word in Arabic or English to find its hieroglyphic equivalent.
- By hieroglyphic sign – using a visual sign list of more than 700 symbols. For example, if a user spots a hieroglyph on a temple wall or artefact, they can match it to the list, input it into the tool, and receive its meaning.
- By phonetic value – since every hieroglyphic sign has a corresponding sound, users can also search by transliteration.
This feature makes it easier for learners and researchers to interpret inscriptions from monuments or objects by identifying symbols visually or phonetically.
Let's Read: This section allows learners to apply their skills to real historical inscriptions.
It showcases artefacts—such as papyri, funerary stelae, statues, and tools—inscribed in the ancient Egyptian language, using one of its four scripts: hieroglyphic, hieratic, Demotic, or Coptic.
Each example includes the inscription's translation, description, and metadata, encouraging contextual learning.
Other Sources: A curated collection of resources including free books and programs, journals, additional dictionaries, and links to relevant websites and projects.
By bridging digital tools with Egypt's ancient linguistic heritage, "Hieroglyphs Step by Step" offers an innovative, inclusive, and scholarly approach to learning one of the world's oldest languages.
Clarifying a common misconception: Script vs. Language
A common misunderstanding refers to "Hieroglyphic" as a language. However, hieroglyphs are a script—one of four different scripts used across different periods to write the same ancient Egyptian language: Hieroglyphs, Hieratic, Demotic, and Coptic.
These scripts did not all appear simultaneously but consecutively over the long period that the ancient Egyptian language existed. According to the website, they were developed over time to meet changing cultural, administrative, and social needs.
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Hieroglyphic: It was the earliest script, used for inscriptions on temples, tombs, monuments, and religious objects. It was highly detailed and often reserved for sacred and formal contexts, requiring specialised tools and trained scribes.
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Hieratic: It emerged as a cursive adaptation of hieroglyphs, created to allow quicker writing for daily use. Written mainly on papyrus and ostraca, it became essential for administrative records and was later associated with priests, especially during the Greco-Roman period.
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Demotic: It was developed as an even more simplified script derived from Hieratic. It enabled faster writing and broader accessibility, and was widely used by different social classes for legal, literary, and commercial purposes.
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Coptic: It was the final stage in the evolution of Egyptian writing. It used the Greek alphabet, supplemented with signs from Demotic, and introduced vowels, making pronunciation more straightforward. This script reflected both linguistic change and the influence of Greek rule.
Each script represents a way of writing the same language, not different languages. Understanding this distinction is key to accurately studying and referring to the ancient Egyptian linguistic tradition.
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