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Reading Hieroglyphs

Book of the Dead Translation

Let’s read some hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ!

Today π“‡π“‡‹π“ˆ–π“‡³, we are going to look at some writing in the Book of the Dead (known to the Egyptians π“†Žπ“π“€€π“π“ͺ as the Book of Coming Forth By Day). This Book of the Dead belonged to a man named Imhotep π“‡π“…“π“Š΅π“π“Šͺ, who was a priest π“ŠΉπ“› of Horus π“…ƒπ“€­. He lived during the early Ptolemaic Period (between 332-200 B.C.E.). This Book of the Dead is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

This inscription is about the god π“ŠΉ/π“€­ Osiris π“Ήπ“Š¨π“€­! Let’s just jump right into it – some of these words are vocabulary we have gone over previously (or variants of the words), so see if you can recognize the words or phrases before reading the translation!

Since the symbols point to the right, we are going to start reading from the top of the right column! Hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ are always read from top to bottom no matter what!

π“†“π“Œƒπ“‡‹π“Ήπ“Š¨π“€­π“ƒπ“ˆ–π“π“π“‹€π“π“π“ˆŠ
β€œWords Spoken By π“†“π“Œƒπ“‡‹ Osiris π“Ήπ“Š¨π“€­, Foremost of π“ƒπ“ˆ–π“π“ the West π“‹€π“π“π“ˆŠβ€¦β€

π“ƒΉπ“ˆ–π“„€π“€­π“™π“Š€π“ŽŸπ“‹‚π“ƒ€π“ˆ‹π“Š–
β€œIt is π“ƒΉπ“ˆ– the perfect god π“„€π“€­, true of voice π“™π“Š€, Lord π“ŽŸ of Abydos π“‹‚π“ƒ€π“ˆ‹π“Š–β€¦β€

π“ŽŸπ“Ž›π“‡³π“Ž›π“‹Ύπ“ˆŽπ“π“†“π“π“ˆ–π“‡“π“π“ˆ–π“€­
β€œLord π“ŽŸ of Eternity π“Ž›π“‡³π“Ž›, Ruler π“‹Ύπ“ˆŽπ“ of His Own π“†“π“π“ˆ–, King π“‡“π“π“ˆ–π“€­.”