Middle Egyptian IThe Language and Its Script

Reading Direction

Hieroglyphs run right to left, left to right, or in columns; signs of people and animals face the beginning of the line.

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Now that you know the three jobs of signs from Three Kinds of Signs, the next question is practical: where does a line begin? Hieroglyphs can run in either direction, and in columns, so a reader needs a rule.

Key idea

Signs of people, animals and birds face the beginning of the line. Read toward their faces. Most texts run right to left; many run left to right; columns are read top to bottom.
Right to left: the man and woman face right, toward the start of the line.
The same word left to right: now they face left.

Why so flexible?

Hieroglyphs were part of art. On a doorway, the inscriptions on the two sides often mirror each other so that both face the center. Beside a figure of a king or official, the signs face the same way as the figure. Right to left was the ordinary direction, especially in hieratic, but the craftsmen chose whatever direction suited the monument.

Modern books, this course included, usually print hieroglyphs left to right, because our books run that way. Then the signs face left. When you read a real monument, first look at the faces.

A column is read from top to bottom. Columns too can face left or right, and a block of columns is read starting from the side the signs face.

Why it works

Why do the faces point to the start? Think of the signs as a procession walking toward the reader, or toward the figure they belong to. The first sign is at the head of the procession, so the faces look forward, toward where the reading starts.

Common mistake

Starting at the end the faces turn away from. If a line of birds and men faces right, start at the right edge. A quick check: the determinative (often a seated man or woman) should come at the end of a word, after its sound signs; if you meet it first, you are reading backwards.

Worked example: Where to start?

In a line of signs, the quail chick and the seated man face right. Where does the line begin?
  1. Faces point to the beginning.
  2. They face right, so the beginning is on the right.

Answer: at the right: read right to left

Worked example: A column

A single column of signs: which end do you start at?
  1. Columns always run downward.

Answer: the top

A last practical tip: signs that have no face, like the loaf 𓏏 or the water 𓈖, give no clue by themselves. Look for the nearest person, animal, bird or snake in the line, such as the horned viper 𓆑 or the owl 𓅓, and read toward its head.

Practice

Pass with 3 right answers, the last 2 in a row. Each right answer earns 1 XP.

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@teddyrookbook GitHub