Hieroglyphic Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Literature of the Middle Kingdom - Hardcover

Selden, Daniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520275462 ISBN 13: 9780520275461

Publisher: University of California Press, 2013

Synopsis

This book offers a comprehensive, self-contained introduction to one of the oldest known recorded languages - Hieroglyphic Egyptian. Unlike other approaches, it is geared toward learning to read one of the masterpieces of Middle Egyptian literature, the story "Shipwrecked Sailor," written around 2200 bce. The text's eighteen lessons-organized around such topics as the body, flora, fauna, titles, administration, religion, sexuality, and warfare - cover all the basic grammar and syntax of Middle Egyptian. The book includes exercises for each chapter, sign lists, Egyptian/English and English/Egyptian dictionaries defining all the words and phrases used in the lessons, and a new edition of the tale "Shipwrecked Sailor" with facing commentary. Although the overall approach is literary, "Hieroglyphic Egyptian" can also be used as an introduction to reading other material, such as biographical inscriptions, religious texts, historical annals, and mathematical or medical papyri. The text is suitable for classroom use, as well as for those who want to learn independently.

About this title

About the Author

Daniel L. Selden, Professor of Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and co-editor of Innovations of Antiquity, has written widely on classical literatures of the Mediterranean and Near East.

From the Inside Flap

"Any student who works diligently through this book will acquire a good grounding in Middle Egyptian grammar and a basic reading knowledge of the language and hieroglyphic script." --Gay Shute Robins, Professor of Art History at Emory University and author of The Art of Ancient Egypt.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0520275462
• ISBN 13: 9780520275461
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 417