Many of us have had fun trying to detangle and translate hieroglyphs on Andy’s online courses*, but Dr Penny Wilson’s talk on Nov 16th was a stimulating reminder that hieroglyphs aren’t just an alphabet, but a powerful and flexible symbolic language.
She explored decorations on temples and tombs and showed us how certain signs were considered particularly powerful. Hieroglyphs were also used ingeniously in sculpture and inscriptions to create hidden double meanings or complex crossword-like texts. Cryptographic writing employed hieroglyphs in even less obvious ways to create secret, spiritually potent messages within temples and tombs. Only understandable to the educated, elite and the divine, these messages skilfully reinforced the position and power of the priests and royal families.
We were left mind-boggled and inspired as we were led on an imaginary journey through the rooms of a tomb or temple, where symbols and texts overflowing with more than one meaning could strike awe or fear into an onlooker’s heart.
Many thanks to Dr Wilson for an enjoyable and thought-provoking hour.
(*Online hieroglyph courses for beginners onwards are free for all Hapy Society members.)
Image: Hieroglyphics in Karnak (Sandy Garmal, Creative Commons)