A Beginner's Guide to Hieroglyphs

Hieroglyphs are not pictures of ideas, but mostly sounds. Learning the twenty-four single-consonant signs gets you surprisingly far.

A cartouche, the oval loop around a name, marks royalty. Spotting Ramses II's cartouche becomes a game in every temple.

Bring a small guide and let your Egyptologist test you between sites; the temples change completely once you can read a few lines.