Pagan Book Reviews

Reading Egyptian Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Egyptian Painting and Sculpture
Richard Wilkinson
Thames & Hudson, 1994
224 pages

Reviewed by Devo

I have to say that I’m very impressed with this book. This is the first book that I’ve read in a long time that presented any new material for me to learn. And after reading this book, I feel like I could potentially navigate ancient Egyptian reliefs with a bit more knowledge and ability.

This book is set up pretty simply. On any given spread, you will see a hieroglyph and its name. On the right side, you’ll see the glyph explained in detail about what it represents, its symbolism, uses, etc. On the left hand side, you’ll see various pictures and examples of the glyph being used. It makes a nice reference, esp. when you’re looking at some relief, and want to know more about it. In the back, there is a basic index of hieroglyphs, in case you want the full list.

The book presents a wide variety of glyphs which have been categorized into easily navigable chapters and sections for easy reference. The writing is straight forward and very easy to read. The writing style works well for beginner and seasoned reader alike.

The only down side to this book is that I wish he covered more glyphs. I flip through the back, and look at other symbols, and I want to know what they mean, what they represent. I wish there was a full reference of every major ancient Egyptian hieroglyph, so that I could study it more. Other than that, I have no complaints with this book. I learned a lot of mythology I didn’t know before, I learned more specifics about the gods that I was unaware of, and I got to learn more about the basic symbols you see all the time, but usually aren’t explained well.
All in all, I would definitely recommend this book if you’re interested in learning more about symbolism and hieroglyphs in Ancient Egyptian art.

Five pawprints out of five.

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