egyptian hieroglyphs assignment

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Ancient Egypt Lesson Plans Hieroglyphics

For teachers.

Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics with free download of art

Lesson 4, Hieroglyphics (Core Knowledge)

Create a cartouch out of construction paper with a message in hieroglyphics on it

Egyptian Figures and Symbols, lesson plan

Hieroglyphics (ROM, the Royal Ontario Museum)

Egypt Lesson Plan 1- Hieroglyphs and Communication Introduction

Ancient Egyptian Hieroglypics, lesson plan and activity (TES, sign up is free)

Overviews & Units, with lesson plans on hieroglyphics as part of most units

Kids Section: Hieroglyphics

Ancient Egypt for Kids

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Interactive Quiz about Ancient Egypt (with answers)

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Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs overview

Hunefer’s Judgement in the presence of Osiris, Book of the Dead of Hunefer, 19th Dynasty, New Kingdom, c. 1275 B.C.E., papyrus, Thebes, Egypt (British Museum)

It is not known exactly where and when Egyptian writing first began, but it was already well-advanced two centuries before the start of the First Dynasty that suggests a date for its invention in Egypt around 3,000 B.C.E. The most well-known script used for writing the Egyptian language was in the form of a series of small signs, or hieroglyphs.

Some signs are pictures of real-world objects, while others are representations of spoken sounds. These sound signs are pictures that get their meaning from how the word for the object they represent sounds when said aloud. Some signs write one letter, some more, while others write whole words.

Like cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs were used for record-keeping, but also for monumental display dedicated to royalty and deities. The word hieroglyph comes from the Greek  hieros  ‘sacred’ and  gluptie n ‘carved in stone’. The last known hieroglyph inscription was 394 C.E.

Other scripts used to write Egyptian were developed over time. Hieratic was handwritten and easier to write so was used for administrative and non-monumental texts from the Old Kingdom (about 2613–2160 B.C.E.) to around 700 B.C.E. Hieratic was replaced by demotic, which means popular, in the Late Period (661–332 B.C.E.), and was a more abbreviated version. In turn demotic was replaced by Coptic, which may have been introduced to record the contemporary spoken language, in the first century C.E.

King Den’s sandal label , c. 2985 B.C.E., Early Dynastic Period, 1st dynasty, ivory, found at Abydos, Upper Egypt, 4.5 x 5.3 cm (© Trustees of the British Museum)

Most ivory plaques dating to the First Dynasty were made as labels. The pair of sandals incised on the back of this one indicates that it was a label for sandals, which were extremely prestigious items.

Labels such as these were usually decorated with representations of important events and this example shows Den, the fifth king of the First Dynasty, about to bring his mace down on the head of his vanquished enemy. The name of the king is written in the rectangular frame in front of his face, with the figure of a falcon, a symbol of royalty, above. The hieroglyphs behind the king give the name of one of his high officials, Inka.

This label is one of the few sources for information about activity inside or outside Egypt in the Early Dynastic period. The hieroglyphs on the right-hand side of the label read ‘first occasion of smiting the East’. That the enemy is an Easterner is indicated by his long locks and pointed beard. The gravel-spotted desert which serves as a ground-line rises to a hill on the right, suggestive of Egyptian depictions of foreign lands.

Such illustrations are a standard way of depicting kings and do not necessarily mean that any such campaign ever took place. Kings are shown, over a period of 2,000 years, smiting Libyan chiefs—some with the same name! However, all standard motifs must have a prototype, and, being one of the earliest known, this example might refer to a real historical event.

Two scribal palettes with ink wells and brushes, 18th Dynasty, 1550–1450 B.C.E., ivory, from Thebes, Egypt, 30.5 x 3.8 cm (© Trustees of the British Museum)

Written in black and red

The hieroglyphic sign for ‘write’ was formed from an image of the scribal palette and brush case. Statues of scribes are sometimes shown with a papyrus across their knees and a palette, the scribe’s trademark, over one shoulder.

From the late Old Kingdom on, the basic palette was made of a rectangular piece of wood, with two cavities at one end to hold cakes of black and red ink. Carbon was used to make the black ink and iron-rich red ochre to make the red. Both pigments were mixed with gum so that they congealed rather than turned to dust when they dried. The cakes of ink were moistened with a wet brush, rather like modern watercolors or Chinese ink. Brush-pens were made of rushes, the tip cut at an angle and chewed to separate the fibers. These were kept in a slot in the middle of the palette.

Black was the normal color for writing. Red was used to mark the start of a text, or to highlight key words and phrases, like quantities in medicines, or for the names of demons in religious papyri. More colors were needed for illustrations, such as those in the Book of the Dead .

© Trustees of the British Museum

Additional resources:

Brovarski and others (eds),  Egypts golden age: the art of living in the New Kingdom (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1982)

E.R. Russmann,  Eternal Egypt: masterworks of ancient art from the British Museum  (University of California Press, 2001)

Parkinson,  Cracking codes: the Rosetta Stone and Decipherment (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)

Quirke and A.J. Spencer,  The British Museum book of ancient Egypt (London, The British Museum Press, 1992)

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Egyptian Symbols and Figures: Hieroglyphs

Bas-relief and hieroglyphics cover wall in the Temple of Hathor, located in Dendara, Egypt.

Library of Congress

This lesson introduces students to the writing, art, and religious beliefs of ancient Egypt through hieroglyphs, one of the oldest writing systems in the world, and through tomb paintings. Hieroglyphs consist of pictures of familiar objects that represent sounds. They were used in ancient Egypt from about 3100 BCE to 400 CE.

In the first part of this lesson, the class creates a pictorial alphabet of its own and then learns and uses the symbols of the Egyptian hieroglyphic alphabet. In the second part of the lesson, students identify and represent in their own drawings figures from the Book of the Dead, a funereal text written on papyrus and carved on the walls of tombs to help guide the deceased through the afterlife.

Guiding Questions

What are some ways people have used to communicate in the past and the present?

What writing systems have been developed in other cultures at other times?

What can tomb paintings tell us about ancient religious beliefs in Egypt?

Learning Objectives

Identify certain Egyptian hieroglyphs and recognize their meanings and uses.

Examine the relationship between hieroglyphs and ancient Egyptian culture and religion.

Understand the meaning and purposes of the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

Identify ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses and explain their historical social and religious roles.

Lesson Plan Details

The ancient Egyptians created a form of picture-writing known as hieroglyphs around 3100 BCE. Each picture was a symbol representing something they observed in their surroundings. A simple drawing of the sun represented the sun, a drawing of a vulture signified a vulture, a drawing of a rope indicated a rope, and so on. But certain objects, and more particularly ideas, were difficult to represent with a single drawing.

So they resorted to a system of drawing symbols of things that sounded like what they were trying to convey. This was the ancient Egyptian version of a rebus. (A rebus is a representation of a word or phrase that uses pictures that sound like the word or phrase, or its syllables.) An English example of a rebus is a bee and a leaf drawn side by side; when read aloud, they sound like the word "belief." But this approach to writing could become cumbersome and confusing.

Eventually, a system evolved in which a symbol was drawn to represent a specific sound (a consonant). Several symbols were written together to make a word. This is the closest the Egyptians ever came to creating an alphabet. Vowels were not written, but were added (usually eh or ah) by the reader. For this reason, we don't know exactly what ancient Egyptian sounded like.

Hieroglyphs were written vertically (top to bottom) or horizontally (left to right or right to left). To read a horizontal line, one moved toward the faces of the animal symbols. (They all faced in the same direction.) There was no punctuation, and to save space, two small symbols often occupied the space of one larger one. The names of royalty were surrounded with an oval, known as a cartouche. Although there are thousands of symbols, the most commonly occurring are a set of 24, which modern archaeologists use as a working alphabet. They include vowels sounds, although in Egyptian the sound would have been that of a vowel linked with a consonant, such as ahhhhh or uhhhhhh.

The hieroglyphic alphabet can be viewed at the EDSITEment-reviewed website Nova: Pyramids . Print out copies of the list of "letters" for later use.

Hieroglyphs were used at first by a small group of scribes to keep records. Later, they were carved (and then painted) on the walls of tombs and temples, on obelisks, and on sculpture. (Hieroglyph means "sacred carved writing.") They were also written with pen and colored ink on sheets of papyrus. In addition to the glyphs representing sounds (called phonograms), there were a small number that represent entire words or concepts (ideograms).

You can view some ideograms at the EDSITEment-reviewed Metropolitan Museum of Art . Make copies of the ideograms for later use.

NCSS.D2.His.1.6-8. Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts.

NCSS.D2.His.2.6-8. Classify series of historical events and developments as examples of change and/or continuity.

NCSS.D2.His.3.6-8. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to analyze why they, and the developments they shaped, are seen as historically significant.

NCSS.D2.His.4.6-8. Analyze multiple factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.5.6-8. Explain how and why perspectives of people have changed over time.

NCSS.D2.His.14.6-8. Explain multiple causes and effects of events and developments in the past.

NCSS.D2.His.15.6-8. Evaluate the relative influence of various causes of events and developments in the past. 

NCSS.D2.His.16.6-8. Organize applicable evidence into a coherent argument about the past.

Activity 1. Decipher the Hieroglyphs

• Tell the students to pretend that they have no form of writing. Then ask them how they can send a message to someone far away. Brainstorm until someone suggests that this can be done with pictures. Ask them what sort of pictures they would draw. These would have to be simple things familiar to the message sender and the receiver. Have the students think about their natural environment. What objects are most familiar? Encourage the students to think of trees, grass, stones, birds, squirrels, flowers and anything that is typical of your environment. (If you live in Arizona, symbols might include cactus and snakes.) Make a list on the board of objects that could be used to send a "picture message." Suggest they include human body parts, like hands, feet, eyes, and ears.

• Now ask how the following message could be depicted with pictures: "The tree is split in two." One would simply draw a tree broken in two. Explain that they can actually make a written language using these pictures to express more complicated actions, such as: "The silly rabbit lost its carrot and had to go to sleep hungry." Ask for their ideas of how this can be done. Then explain the system of using pictures to represent sounds rather than specific images. For example, a picture of a tree could represent the sound (or letter) b. Using the list you've already written on the board, assign a sound to each one. (You might mention that a fun part of this activity is that spelling doesn't matter. It's what you hear that counts.) Make certain you have included the following letter sounds: a, aw, b, d, ee, g (hard), h, i, k (for hard c), l, n, oh, p, r, s, t, th, oo, and uh.
• Now that you have your alphabet, work together to figure out how to write the sentence ("The silly rabbit lost its carrot and had to go to sleep hungry.") using the symbols. Write it on the board.
• Tell the students about Egyptian hieroglyphs, referring to the information in the Introduction. Point out that the Egyptian system was the same as the one they've just invented themselves. Show them the Egyptian alphabet on the EDSITEment-reviewed website Nova: Pyramids .
• The students will be happily surprised to see that the Egyptians used symbols similar to those they chose, although some are different, given the differences in environment. (The environment of Egypt is desert/river valley.) Point out that birds (there are three -- a chick, a vulture, and an owl, as well as feathers) seem to have been important to the Egyptians. So was water (the symbol for n). Explain that b is a foot (did you have one in your list?) and r is a mouth.
• Hand out copies you have previously printed of the Egyptian alphabet to each child as well as blank sheets of paper and pencils. As a group, make up some short sentences. For example, "the moon is big." Ask the students to write a sentence on the paper using the Egyptian letters. Have them share the results. Then do another sentence.
• Now explain about ideograms, referring to the information in the Background Information for Teachers. Show them the ideograms on the EDSITEment-reviewed website Metropolitan Museum of Art .
• Carefully read aloud what each symbol means, encouraging the students to ask questions. Point out that shen and ankh (meaning eternal life) and wedjat (good health) were especially important in Egyptian culture.
• Tell the students that hieroglyphs were often carved on the inner walls of tombs as well as on stone tablets called stellae. Then go the EDSITEment reviewed website Nova: Pyramids .
• On the screen that appears, click Programs A-Z, then scroll down and click Egypt's Golden Empire, on the next screen click Egyptian Experience, click enter, on the next screen click hieroglyph translator, and finally click extract one. This is an actual sentence in Egyptian hieroglyphs taken from a stella. With the students carefully observing, scan across from right to left, slowly reading the translation aloud. (Remember, always read toward the faces of the animal symbols.) Remind the students that this is an English translation of an ancient Egyptian message, since the language might appear a bit stilted to them.
• Now that the students have an idea of how hieroglyphs were used, tell them they will be Egyptian scribes. Make certain that they have their copies of the Egyptian alphabet. Hand out the copies of the ideograms. Pass out large pieces of white paper and markers or crayons. Each child will write his or her name in hieroglyphs (first and last), followed by an ideogram of his or her choice. Remind them to put a cartouche around their name. Explain that the Egyptian scribes worked very slowly and carefully.
• When the project is done, have the students share their hieroglyphs with one another. If time is an issue, you may have the students present their name hieroglyphs and ideograms in small groups while you walk around the room posing questions or giving comments. Then hang them proudly on a bulletin board.

Now that the students have some background about Egyptian writing, art, and religious beliefs, gather a collection of colorfully illustrated books about ancient Egyptian culture from your school library. Many stories are currently available which can be read aloud to the children. The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1989) is a favorite with this age group. Older children could do research projects on their favorite gods or goddesses, finding stories about them derived from ancient Egyptian mythology. Material on this subject is available at EDSITEment-reviewed websites, including Odyssey Online , and Metropolitan Museum of Art .

Selected EDSITEment Websites

• Frequently Used Hieroglyphs
• Book of the Dead
• Hieroglyph Message and Alphabet

Related on EDSITEment

Egypt's pyramids: monuments with a message, egyptian symbols and figures: scroll paintings, cave art: discovering prehistoric humans through pictures, lascaux: la vie en caverne.

Egyptian Hieroglyphs: Lesson 1 General Overview

Reading hieroglyphs.

The ancient Egyptians created a highly flexible hieroglyphic system of writing. Hieroglyphs could be arranged in both columns and rows and could be read from the left or from the right, depending on how they were written. This allowed the ancient Egyptians to effortlessly integrate their writing with art, blurring the boundary between art and script. In the example below, the god Amun, imn , is written each of the possible combinations.

Left to Right

Right to Left

Although the task of reading hieroglyphs from the right direction may seem daunting at first, there is a simple trick that will allow you to easily identify the correct direction from which to begin:

Look for a hieroglyph with a face and read toward it.

When the figure is facing to the left, begin reading from the left. If they are facing right, begin from the right. When there are hieroglyphs are stacked on top of each other, the top sign should always be read before lower sign.  Another feature of the Egyptian writing system that you might have noticed is “group writing.” Rather than placing hieroglyphs side-by-side, they were arranged in a way to reduce empty space: taller signs stand alone, while smaller signs are stacked on top of each other.

Transliteration and the Alphabet

Transliteration is the method of converting one script into another, also referred to as transcription. The hieroglyphs in the alphabet are called “uniliterals,” because they represent a single consonant. The ancient Egyptian language also contains biliterals and triliterals, which represent two and three consonants, respectively. The alphabet can be found in the chart below.

It will be helpful to memorize the alphabet not only because they occur often in texts, but also because Egyptologists arrange dictionaries in this order. So if you are unsure of the meaning of a word, but know how to transliterate it, knowing the alphabet will help you find the word faster than flipping frantically between the four different types of “H’s” to find the right one.

The Alphabet

You might have noticed that there aren’t any vowels in the alphabet. They exist in the language, but the hieroglyphic script omitted them, which makes things difficult when it comes to pronunciation.

There’s a lot of current research into pronunciation (e.g. Allen’s Ancient Egyptian Phonology ), but I was never particularly interested in it. If you are, then I suggest grabbing the book I listed, but it’s far beyond the scope of these lessons. For our purposes, I’ll simply describe the general conventions used in an introductory glyphs course.

Add an “e” in between the consonants.

Yup. That’s the basic approach when vocalizing transliterations. There’s some leeway when it comes to names and places (e.g. Amon vs Amun vs Amen), but in general, adding “e” in between consonants is just fine.

Pronunciation

Pronunciation examples, phonograms, ideograms, and determinatives.

Determinative

Memorization

This section will contain either a vocabulary list, sign list, or both. Although it would be great if you memorized the lists, it’s not required at this point. The more you interact with hieroglyphic texts, in these exercises or elsewhere, the more you’ll begin to notice some of the more common signs and words. After a while, you’ll begin to naturally remember them.

Or you’ll get tired of looking them up and memorize them on the spot. Flashcards are great for that!

triliterals

Exercise 1.

Identify the direction the hieroglyphs should be read (right to left or left to right), and then in your head, identify the order in which each individual glyph should be read. If you need help, refer to the “Reading Hieroglyphs” section.

Transliteration and Translation

gm.n.f sw m pr

He found him in the house.

nswt bity nb t3wy nb hʿw nb-m3ʿt-rʿ

King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of the Two Lands, Lord of Diadems, Nebmaatre (Amenhotep III)

The last sequence of hieroglyphs might be confusing. Why 13, 11, and 12 and not 11-13? This is a common feature called “honorific transposition” and often found in names. When a certain god or goddess is being honored, their name is pushed to the front. In this case, Re is being honored, so his name is at the head . We’ll learn more about this feature in the next lesson.

sḏm.n.f mdt imn

He heard the speech of Amun.

ḥmt nswt tiy

Royal wife, Tiye

This one is kinda mean, unless you remembered that the sedge (see problem #1 above) is transliterated as  nswt . Although you’ve been introduced to honorific transposition, I haven’t mentioned it applies to  nswt, among others.

Return to Index –  Continue to Lesson 2

Table of Contents

• Hieroglyphs
• Gods and Goddesses

Hieroglyphs tutorial; Phonograms, Logograms and Determinatives

There are three main types of hieroglyph. The hieroglyphic language is based on the phonetic value(s) of the hieroglyph, with extra information conveyed by hieroglyphs acting as logograms and determinatives. However, one hieroglyphic sign may act as a logogram, a phonogram, or a determinative depending on the situation.

The convention in translation is to “transliterate” (turn the hieroglyph into their phonetic values) and then confirm the meaning with reference to the non-phonetic elements of the word (determinatives and logograms). This sounds really complicated, but you will quickly get the hang of it if you persevere, and it makes vocabulary much easier to remember.

A phonogram indicates one or more sounds (or syllables). Phonograms are uni-consonantal, bi-consonantal or tri-consonantal. The uni-consonontal signs (below) are commonly used in personal names. The Pharaohs names tended to be made up of more complex signs and often featured the name of a god, but during the Old Kingdom and Ptolemaic period the Pharaohs spelled their names phonetically using single consonant signs.

For example;

The cartouche on the left depicts the name Ptolemy (in this case, Ptolemy son of Cleopatra VII).

It reads right to left, and top to bottom as;

p – t – o – l – m – y – s

Most Egyptian words used a combination of single, double and triple consonant signs.

A logogram (or ideogram) represents an entire word. Many logograms are also phonograms (they have a sound value rather than representing a whole word). If the sign is intended to act as a logogram, there is usually a vertical line beneath it. For example, sign for the letter “r” becomes the sign for word “mouth” when written with a vertical line (indicating it is a logogram).

“r”

“mouth”

Determinatives

The determinative has no phonetic value, and so is not transliterated. It indicates the end of the word and provides you with further information concerning the meaning of the word. The determinative sign can be vital for translation as there are no vowels in hieroglyphics, and so a set of consonants could have more than one meaning. For example, the sound “hD” (hedj) can represent the metal silver or the colour white.

hdj (silver)

hdj (white)

To prevent any confusion the determinatives of a collar necklace (representing gold and used here because silver was called “white gold”) and three grains of sand (representing a mineral) were added when the scribe was referring to silver. The determinative of a sun was used to indicate that the correct translation was “white”. The sign of the snake in “white” is a phonetic complement for the sound “dj”. It is not pronounced separately.

Likewise, “iAw” (iahu) can represent the word “old” or the verb “to praise” with the determinative of an old man leaning on a stick or a man raising his arms in praise to make it clear which meaning is intended. In monumental scenes, the determinative is sometimes omitted as the context makes it clear how the word should be translated.

iahw (praise)

There are many determinatives, and it is useful to be able to recognise some of the most common ones.

Hieroglyphs Resources

• Gardiner’s sign list
• Single consonant signs
• Phonograms, Logograms and Determinatives
• Nouns and Prepositions
• Relative Forms
• Verbs forms
• Past and Present tense

Copyright J Hill 2010

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How Egyptian hieroglyphs were decoded, a timeline to decipherment

Fragment of limestone relief from the tomb of Sety I, Egypt, 19th Dynasty.

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Hieroglyphs is one of the oldest forms of writing in the world.

Depicting objects and living beings from the real world such as humans, animals or plants, this script was used across Egypt for thousands of years. But until 1799, when the chance discovery of an object in an Egyptian fort provided the key to their decipherment, the meaning of this pictorial language remained a mystery. 

Follow the story of how hieroglyphs influenced new languages, inspired cultures around the world and, after they were decoded, unlocked many secrets to the ancient Egyptian civilisation.

Hieroglyphs timeline

Around 3250 BC

The invention of writing

3250–332 BC

Sacred carvings

Greek rule in Egypt

100 BC – AD 394

The rise of Coptic

Arab endeavours

Interest in Egypt from Europe

The key to decipherment

'Look, I've got it!'

A chronicle of kings

Unlocking Egypt

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Origins of egyptian hieroglyphs, decipherment.

• Hieroglyphs representing one consonant

Hieroglyphs representing two consonants

Hieroglyphs representing three consonants.

• Hieroglyphic determinatives
• Hieratic script
• Demotic script
• Coptic alphabet
• Books about Egyptian Hieroglyphs

The ancient Egyptians believed that writing was invented by the god Thoth and called their hieroglyphic script " mdju netjer " ("words of the gods"). The word hieroglyph comes from the Greek hieros (sacred) plus glypho (inscriptions) and was first used by Clement of Alexandria.

The earliest known examples of writing in Egypt have been dated to 3,400 BC. The latest dated inscription in hieroglyphs was made on the gate post of a temple at Philae in 396 AD.

The hieroglyphic script was used mainly for formal inscriptions on the walls of temples and tombs. In some inscriptions the glyphs are very detailed and in full colour, in others they are simple outlines. For everyday writing the hieratic script was used.

After the Emperor Theodsius I ordered the closure of all pagan temples throughout the Roman empire in the late 4th century AD, knowledge of the hieroglyphic script was lost.

Many people have attempted to decipher the Egyptian scripts since the 5th century AD, when Horapollo provided explanations of nearly two hundred glyphs, some of which were correct. Other decipherment attempts were made in the 9th and 10th by Arab historians Dhul-Nun al-Misri and Ibn Wahshiyya, and in the 17th century by Athanasius Kircher. These attempts were all based on the mistaken assumption that the hieroglyphs represented ideas and not sounds of a particular language.

The discovery, in 1799, of the Rosetta Stone, a bilingual text in Greek and the Egyptian Hieroglyphic and Demotic scripts enabled scholars such as Silvestre de Sacy, Johan David Åkerblad and Thomas Young to make real progress with their decipherment efforts, and by the 1820s Jean-François Champollion had made the complete decipherment of the Hieroglyphic script. He realised that the Coptic language, a descendent of Ancient Egyptian used as a liturgical language in the Coptic Church in Egypt, could be used to help understand the language of the hieroglyphic inscriptions.

Notable features

• Possibly pre-dates Sumerian Cuneiform writing - if this is true, the Ancient Egyptian script is the oldest known writing system. Another possibility is that the two scripts developed at more or less the same time.
• The direction of writing in the hieroglyphic script varied - it could be written in horizontal lines running either from left to right or from right to left, or in vertical columns running from top to bottom. You can tell the direction of any piece of writing by looking at the way the animals and people are facing - they look towards the beginning of the line.
• The arrangement of glyphs was based partly on artistic considerations.
• A fairly consistent core of 700 glyphs was used to write Classical or Middle Egyptian (ca. 2000-1650 BC), though during the Greco-Roman eras (332 BC - ca. 400 AD) over 5,000 glyphs were in use.

Used to write:

Egyptian , an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until about the 10th century AD. After that it continued to be used as a the liturgical language of Egyptian Christians, the Copts, in the form of Coptic .

Hieroglyphs representing single consonants

These glyphs alone could be used to write Ancient Egyptian and represent the first alphabet ever divised. In practice, they were rarely used in the fashion.

Determinatives

Determinatives are non-phonetic glyphs which give extra information about the meanings of words, distinguish homophones and serve as word dividers.

By combining the following glyphs, any number could be constructed. The higher value signs were always written in front of the lower value ones.

Sample texts

Transliteration: iw wnm msh nsw , this means "The crocodile eats the king".

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Sample videos in and about the Ancient Egyptian language

Information about Ancient Egyptian

Ancient Egyptian language and Hieroglyphs | Hieratic script | Demotic script | Coptic alphabet | Links | Books about Ancient Egyptian

Egyptian languages

Ancient Egyptian , Coptic

Semanto-phonetic writing systems

Akkadian Cuneiform , Ancient Egyptian (Demotic) , Ancient Egyptian (Hieratic) , Ancient Egyptian (Hieroglyphs) , Chinese , Chữ-nôm , Cuneiform , Japanese , Jurchen , Khitan , Linear B , Luwian , Mayan , Naxi , Sawndip (Old Zhuang) , Sui , Sumerian Cuneiform , Tangut (Hsihsia)

Other writing systems

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The hieroglyphics handbook : teach yourself Ancient Egyptian

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Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics Alphabet

The hieroglyphic system of writing was complex and very labor intensive. The first hieroglyphics were used on buildings and tombs and it is believed that the Egyptians first began developing this system of writing around 3000 BC . In the following list you'll find some examples of hieroglyphics. These are the basic symbols the ancient Egyptians used in their writing, but there are many more.

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16 Ancient Egypt Activities for Middle School

Ancient egypt activities, ancient egypt lesson plans .

If you are an Ancient Civilizations teacher and need some ideas for Ancient Egypt, you’re in the right place! We’ve compiled our top free and paid resources to help you have a successful Ancient Egypt unit. The following Ancient Egypt activities listed below are part of our personal unit plan. We want to help you succeed, whether you use these as an outline or to help supplement your existing unit!

Ancient Egypt Activities for Middle School

Introductory vocabulary activities.

We like to start our units with different vocab activities and give students multiple opportunities to practice and learn them. That being said, in the age of distance and online learning, we’ve put together multiple digital activities for Google Drive. These vocabulary activities for Google Drive are fun ways for students to practice the Ancient Egypt vocabulary words in a variety of ways, such as with Quizlet, self-grading Google Forms, and more! 

Ancient Egypt Word Wall

With our vocab activities, we find that word walls are a great vocabulary tool! We have a resource that includes 22 Ancient Egypt vocabulary words ready to print and display on a bulletin board. They’re also helpful for your visual learners, as pictures or images are included on each card! Even better, there’s a 100% editable Google Slideshow included with all of the words and images!

Never used an ancient civilization word wall before? This blog post will teach you how to set up, organize, and use them effectively in your classroom! 

Ancient Egypt Slideshow + Notes Sheet

We find it helpful to share background information at the start of the unit, so students can make connections during other activities. With this  Ancient Egypt Slideshow for Google Slides , teach your students about the GRAPES of Ancient Egypt! This 47-slide Google Slideshow provides a detailed overview of Ancient Egypt, including geography, pharaohs, hieroglyphics, and much more! This no-prep resource also includes both printable and digital note sheets!

Ancient Egypt Unit Introductory Activity

Another way to start off your Ancient Egypt unit is with this activity . This is a simple and no-prep research activity that connects Ancient Egypt’s past to modern times. It guides students through some country research about modern-day Egypt to make the unit more relevant to them and help pique their curiosity about things they will learn during your unit. For your convenience, both digital and PDF versions are provided! 

Ancient Egypt Bell Ringers

If you’re looking to improve your classroom management and help students review material,  these bell ringers are perfect! This set includes 20 Ancient Egypt Bell Ringers for Google Drive that are 100% editable and ready to use. These warm-up prompts cover a variety of topics that come up in an Ancient Egypt unit while also building helpful skills! Topics covered in this resource include mummification, hieroglyphics, the Great Pyramid, and more!

Ancient Egypt Timeline

If you’re looking to make your Ancient Egypt Unit more hands-on and engaging, this printable Ancient Egypt Timeline is the resource you need! In this interactive timeline project, students construct a timeline that features reading passages, maps, and images. The information included in these features covers the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt and the capital cities of Kerma, Napata, and Meroë from Kush. Not only will this activity give students the chance to physically build a timeline, but it will also become a learning tool that they can refer back to throughout the unit!

Nile River Simulation

The Nile River is a major topic in any Ancient Egypt unit, and this no-prep, game-based Nile River Simulation will be a highlight! In this activity, students will choose where to live along the Nile River, farm, trade goods, and learn about geography. This simulation features six different rounds of competition. Each round, students must make decisions and roll the dice to see what they might’ve experienced living along the Nile. Simulations can be fun and meaningful activities but often take lots of work and preparation, which is why we did it for you! No need to set-up anything for this simulation, simply present the slideshow and share the handout with students.

Ancient Egypt 101 from National Geographic

We like to show as many videos as we can just to bring the content to life for the students. One that we’re very fond of is from National Geographic, as they have a History 101 video for Ancient Egypt. It’s about 4-5 minutes, and gives a nice overview of introductory subjects for the unit. It’s quick, it has great animations, and it keeps students engaged! You can view the YouTube video here .

How did the Nile River shape Ancient Egypt? DBQ

The sources included are all about answering how the Nile shaped Ancient Egypt. This DBQ contains resources such as the hymn to the Nile, recreated maps, and photos students have to analyze. It’s perfect for primary and secondary source analysis, and comparing sources. The official link is here if this is something your district would consider purchasing. However, we did find several PDF versions available that some teachers had uploaded, although this technically breaks the DBQ project’s policies.

Egyptian Mythology Instagram Activity

This Egyptian Mythology activity is a great way for students to demonstrate their understanding of the Egyptian gods and goddesses in a creative way! In this activity, students create a selection of Instagram-styled posts for five of the gods/goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Each post includes an image, caption, and relevant hashtags that help explain who that god or goddess is. Please note that this resource does not teach students about Egyptian mythology. Rather, it is a great activity to help students practice or review the information they have learned about Egyptian Mythology.

However, if you are looking for a resource to use to teach your students about Egyptian mythology, check out the slideshow activity below!

Egyptian Mythology Overview

If you need to teach your students about who’s who in Egyptian Mythology, this Intro to Egyptian Mythology can help! This digital resource includes a Google Slideshow featuring 16 of the different gods and goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Following the slideshow, an editable graphic organizer for Google Docs and some printable flashcards will help students review! Gods and goddesses part of the slideshow include Ra, Amun, Ma’at, Thoth, Bastet, Sekhmet, Ptah, Hathor, Nut, and more!

 Egyptian Mythology Worksheet for Early Finishers

A fun, chill activity for an emergency sub plan or early finishers, this activity sheet is perfect while you’re teaching about Egyptian Mythology! Both fun and educational, this no-prep Egyptian Mythology worksheet contains two different activities: a creative matching challenge with clues and an Egyptian Mythology crossword puzzle! Simply make double-sided copies to have on hand whenever there’s extra time to fill.

Ancient Egypt Google Earth Field Trip

Students love using Google Earth, and this creative activity helps connect geography and architecture. This allows students to figure out which clue connects to which landmark or geographical site. It is also available as a printable or digital resource, so use whatever version works best for you. This resource is definitely a highlight of our unit!

Google Maps “Pyramids of Giza”

If you’re looking for something really quick, Google Maps has a resource that can be scrolled through. There’s not necessarily an activity that goes along with this, but it’s great for an overview or if there are a few minutes left in class. We’ve also used this as an early finisher activity that helps students visualize the Pyramids more. 

Great Pyramid Reading Passage + Activities

This no-prep  Great Pyramid of Giza reading passage and activities is perfect for teaching about the Great Pyramid and other Egyptian pyramids! Students will read the passage about the Great Pyramid and how Egyptian pyramids evolved over time. Then they will complete two creative activities about what they learned. Activities include a reading comprehension puzzle and discussion prompt on whether or not the Great Pyramid was worth the cost.

BBC Great Pyramid VR Video

This resource from the BBC takes students into the Great Pyramid of Giza, and allows them to see the different chambers inside. It also provides a 360° panoramic view and captions that explain exactly what’s being shown. Again, this resource doesn’t have a built-in activity, but it does provide students with the most engaging virtual experience we can give.

The Giza Project

This resource from Harvard University is absolutely amazing with all the uses it can provide for an Ancient Egypt unit! Students can visit several locations, look at panoramic views , images, videos, and it can be an amazing tool to design projects. We only scratched the surface when we discovered this resource, so check it out and see what it can add to your unit!

Ancient Egypt Mummy Project

Is it really an Ancient Egypt Unit if you don’t talk about mummies?  The idea of this project is to have students actually present the mummification process. They go step-by-step and the presentation is extremely hands-on. Students enjoy it because they can make up their own backstories, add humor and props, and show off their creativity. We like to call it “Mummification on a Budget”. It’s an experience that students don’t tend to forget, and it livens up the unit. Now this project is more ideal in the classroom than virtually, but it’s still doable, and we have some digital components for you here .

How to Make a Mummy

Mummification is usually the highlight of the unit, just because students are so fascinated with it. This TED-Ed video goes over the major steps in the mummification process. It’s short and sweet at only 5 minutes, and has an Anubis character that brings some humor to the subject. 

Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs  

To wrap up our mummy resources, we often show this movie about Ramses the Great and the discovery of his tomb. It’s also a great tool to reinforce what you’ve taught and bring in a new story at the same time. We like to have students watch this after they’ve completed their mummy projects, or right before a holiday break.

Pharaohs Job Fair 

Many districts these days are not providing enough necessary job-related skills in the classroom. We’ve created this resource to teach students about the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt in a different way, using their resumes! Students have to look over and analyze each resume and decide who to hire for specific positions. This activity helps students learn more about these leaders and career skills as they choose who to hire for different jobs. 

Pharaohs Research Project/Choice Project

Giving students choices is a great way to help them personalize their learning and connect their strengths to the content. In this project, students conduct research about a Pharaoh of their choice. Then they create either a 3-D tomb, a rap or song, a magazine, or a talk-show style interview. This resource is originally a group project but can definitely be modified for individual student projects. 

Ancient Egypt Hieroglyphics Decoding

A low-key but very fun challenge for students is to decode a variety of messages written in hieroglyphics. This resource has secret phrases students have to decipher, and helps them visualize what the hieroglyphics look like. This is a great last minute worksheet for students to work on if there’s extra time in class. 

Kingdom of Kush Gallery Walk

Looking for a meaningful way to teach your students about Kushite culture? This  gallery walk about the Kingdom of Kush is exactly what you need! This activity highlights 12 artifacts and information that provides an overview of what is known about ancient Kush. With printable, digital, and editable options and an answer key, you have everything you need for a successful activity! A gallery walk can bring a museum experience into the classroom! It gets students up and out of their seats to observe historical images and read information about them. Students will complete a graphic organizer that has them describe each artifact and reflect on how they contribute to our understanding of the Kushites.

Leaders of Kush Slideshow

Need more engaging resources on the ancient civilization of Kush? This digital Kingdom of Kush resource on the impressive kings and queens of Kush is a must! Present a brief history of 7 different Kushite leaders using the editable Google Slideshow, including Kashta, Taharqa, Arkamani, and more! With the Awards Activity, students will evaluate and award leaders based on their accomplishments. They will explain their choices on their Google Doc, using categories similar to what one might find on an award show like the Grammys or Oscars.

Ancient Egypt Unit Test

Save yourself time at the end of your Ancient Egypt Unit with this  Ancient Egypt Test and Study Guide ! This ready-made test has printable and digital options, and all text is 100% editable. It includes a version for Ancient Egypt and Kush, as well as a version without the Kush questions. Each version includes 2 different testing options for Google Docs and for Google Forms, so you have the flexibility to use whichever version works best for you!

Ancient Egypt Daily Agenda Slides

Need a way to stay more organized during your Ancient Egypt Unit? These Ancient Egypt Daily Agenda Slides Templates will help you save time and better immerse your students in the unit! These slides for Google Drive are editable and each template features a photograph of Ancient Egypt in the background, as well as Ancient Egypt clipart. They can be used to share your daily agenda, bell ringers, and more!

Ancient Egypt Bookmarks

These printable Ancient Egypt Bookmarks are a fun addition to your Ancient Egypt unit! This set includes four different designs that feature images and clipart that are related to Ancient Egypt. The bookmarks are 100% black and white so that students can color in the images or personalize them as they wish! These coloring bookmarks make a great prize, short early finisher activity, or can even help students save time when using their textbooks!

Ancient Egypt Worksheet for Early Finishers

This final resource contains some games for students to work on, like vocab and crossword puzzles. This activity is not super substantial for the unit, but it’s perfect for students who finish classwork early. It can even work as an emergency sub plan to have on hand when needed!

Ancient Egypt for Middle School

When teaching any ancient civilization, it’s always important to have activities that make the content fun and engaging for students. If you liked any of our Ancient Egypt activities, you’ll love our Ancient Egypt Unit Bundle ! This bundle contains 23 resources and is a great way to supplement your textbook or curriculum materials about Ancient Egypt! We’ve had great success with these resources, and our students always have a blast!

As of 2024, we now have all of our Ancient Civilizations unit bundles available on our own website, which you can check out here. We believe the organization to be even better than how you can receive the files on TPT, and it also helps if your school district blocks Google Drive files from TPT!

Looking for ideas and inspiration when planning your Ancient Egypt unit? If so, this free Ancient Egypt resource guide   can help! It showcases each of our Mesopotamia resources to help you decide which options will be best for your students. For more details about how we put fit these resources together and how long we spend on each activity, you can also download our  free Ancient Egypt unit plan !

If you liked this list of 16 Ancient Egypt Activities for Middle School, consider watching the corresponding video here !

Are you looking for some new teaching ideas to engage your students in your social studies class? If so, you’ll love our FREE guide: 5 Creative Projects to Ignite Student Engagement in Your Social Studies Class . These activities have both printable and digital options and can work for any social studies subject!

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