EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS. ["Reading the Past"]

British Museum Press, London, 1987, softcover, illustrated. index, 64 pages, condition: as new.

The hieroglyphic script of ancient Egypt is one of the oldest and most beautiful of the world's known writing systems. An offshoot of pictorial art, it was invented at the dawn of Egypt's dynastic history, towards the end of the fourth millennium BC, and was employed for over three thousand years, finally falling into disuse during Egypt's Coptic or Christian Period. This book explains the underlying principles of the script and describes its origin, development and uses, with due attention paid to its cursive derivatives called 'hieratic' and 'demotic'. An account is also given of the gradual rediscovery of the hieroglyphs in more modern times, culminating in their final decipherment in 1822 by the Frenchman, J-F Champollion, a process in which the Rosetta stone, now in the British Museum, played a crucial part.