Children's Hieroglyph Book.

Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyph by Kathy Allen is probably the best children's book I have ever seen that addresses Egyptian Hieroglyphs. This book is geared toward 3-4th grade or a little older depending on the skill of the child. This book talks about the history and uses of hieroglyphs. Not only is the ancient history covered but also the translation of the Rosetta Stone. Another interesting historical feature of this book that I haven't seen in other books is that it talks about Coptic writing and its link to hieroglyphs.

What is most impressive though is that this book has broken down translation and reading basics into a clear and comprehensible series of steps. This book makes hieroglyphs more accessible due to the simplicity and completeness of its coverage.

I definitely think this is a book for any child interested in Ancient Egypt. It would also be a great starting place for an adult to get the basics before moving on to the more complicated adult translation books.

Book Review

Never fear. I am still working on the post for snakes but the days have been getting busy. I am preparing for a ritual this weekend as well as teaching a class. I have also spent some time making an Ammit (Ammut) mask which I will share some pictures of later. In the meantime, while I am too busy to work on researching snakes I figured I would share another awesome kid's book.

This book is I Wonder Why the Pyramids Were Built and Other Questions About Ancient Egypt By Philip Steele. This book is part of the "I Wonder Why" series which is really awesome and includes books about history, culture, science and many other subjects. The whole series is well worth checking out.

The reason I like this book so much is that it teaches through interesting and bizarre facts which is almost always interesting to people. The book covers religion, everyday life and how to become an Egyptologist (Something most kids' books on Ancient Egypt leave out) One great part about this book is that the illustrations, both realistic and cartoons are interesting. There is also a focus on children in Egypt such as what games they would play. This book is well worth picking up to share with your children. You'll get answers to things like "Why did the Egyptians' shoes wear out?", "Who made mud pies?" and "What's the world's stalest bread?"

A Book a Day

It isn't often that a blog like this ventures from adult oriented materials into things for children. As in the last post, which included Cry of the Benu Bird, I want to take some time in between all of this heavy duty stuff to present some information for children, youth and young adults. Being a teacher by profession, I have the unique opportunity to provide these resources where others might not have the training to do so beyond a few books.

Ancient Egypt has a unique place in both fascinating many children as well as providing a good source for a life time love of language. It offers a doorway into seeing what another culture is, what another language is and why we should be interested in learning it. These are all very important concepts in a world where we need more tolerance for those who are different than us. Granted that need for tolerance is just a personal opinion but it doesn't change the ability of this ancient culture to open children up to language.

There are many awesome books on hieroglyphs geared toward children. I am not going to try and cover all of them, rather, I am going to cover one now and then later on, there will be more youth books in other posts.

Today I am going to share a little about The Mystery of the Hieroglyphs: The Story of the Rosetta Stone and the Race to Decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphs. by Carol Donoughue. This book is for 3rd to 6th graders as far as reading independently. Younger children could understand it if it was read to them as the wording is very simplistic and well written. A nice feature about this book particularly is that despite being short, it has a table of contents, glossary, index and related sources. These are important features for students in this age group to start learning, that is, how to use a book's parts. The book also includes most of the vocabulary necessary for reading other, more demanding books about hieroglyphs. All the important vocabulary is bold face throughout with great context clues.

Some content that I find worthwhile in this particular book is that it shows in pictures many concepts in familiar images. For example, describing the difference between hieroglyphs, hieratic and demotic by using comparisons to modern type faces or describing Egyptian word structure by comparing it to English compound words. The book also gets into the more complex ideas of phonograms, determinatives and logograms without becoming overwhelming for a younger reader. It also has interludes of history about the men who worked on deciphering the hieroglyphs before it goes on with some simple instructions on how to start deciphering them yourself.

All in all this book covers a lot of very complex topics in very easy to understand terms. I would even suggest this book as a very beginning starting point for an adult who wanted to start learning about hieroglyphs and how to read them.

What Sounds Like a Pterodactyl and Symbolizes the Sun?

A heron. Specifically, Ardea bennuides a heron from Egypt and the Arabian peninsula that is now extinct. Descriptions of the bird, including Egyptian drawings, show the bird to look much like the Great Blue Heron of the Americas. (see picture) The bird, like most herons dwelled in shallow waters and water laden plant beds hunting for fish, frogs and other small animals. It is also believed, that like modern herons that inhabit areas where humans fish, these birds followed fisherman and may even have been tamed by them. (If you're curious about the pterodactyl comment check out the call of the Great Blue Heron on What Bird.com.) 

 So what does this all have to do with Ancient Egypt? 

The Benu Bird was a heron (Ardea Bennuides, hence the scientific name containing Bennu) that the Egyptians associated with the sun. It wasn't just the sun but it was the closest thing the Ancient Egyptian mythology has to what we might call a phoenix. Benu served many purposes in the religion. He was the bird whose screaming call started time. He was the bird who set Ra on fire to blaze in the sky. Benu was a symbol of rebirth and rejuvenation. In the later periods he was merged with the idea of the Arabian phoenix. He also accompanied Ra in the boat through the Duat. In some myths he lights the way for the boat and in others he is referred to as the Ba (soul) of Ra.

One of the most important myths associated with the Benu Bird is related to creation. This myth is most often recorded in Helopolis (modern Ain Shams .."Eye of the Sun" just north of Cairo) Even Herodotus wrote about the Benu Bird. It is from his retelling that we get the association between Benu and the phoenix.

At the beginning of time (sometimes before Ra exists) Benu rises from the waters of Nun. He brings and creates light to drive away the chaos. Benu, meaning "Brilliant Rising" or "Rising Light" is the name Nun and/or Ra bestow upon him. Benu then cries out and time starts. The bird then leaves Egypt but it is never quite told where he goes. Herodotus claims in his version that he flew off to Arabia. In his version after 500,000 years the Benu returns. Ra does not recognize the bird because he did not create him. The bird informs Ra that it is the child of the first Benu and in a bundle carries the remains of its father. The Benu wishes to bury its father in the mound of creation where he first rose from chaos. Benu then flies off and is supposed to return when Osiris becomes pharoah.

Other examples of the story of the Benu Bird exist in the Book of the Dead (ie the Book of Coming Forth by Day) and some of the various coffin texts. Here he serves the purpose of guiding the gods through the Duat. It was believed since Benu appeared from the darkness as the first light he was best suited to navigating the darkness of the Duat.

Benu's name is related to the Egyptian verb "webenu" (wbn) which means "to shine" or "to radiate light". Some of the titles associated with him were "Lord of Time", "He Who Brought Himself into Being", "The Shining One", "Dispeller of Chaos", and "He Who Keeps Time". Benu is sometimes associated with Thoth because Thoth recorded history and Benu kept track of time.

From the Tomb of Inherkha

Benu was worshiped for many reasons. He was believed to be associated with safe travel, both in the Duat and at night. Benu was a sign of luck and rejuvenation. Many texts associate Benu with the rising of the Nile which might have to do with the heron species migrating to Egypt when the Nile is rising and there is plenty of floodplain to hunt in while raising chicks. 

Books to check out:

**Cry of the Benu Bird: An Egyptian Creation Myth by Shana Greger 

**Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt  by Geraldine Pinch

**The Egyptian Book of the Dead. (There are many, many, many versions of this book. I personally prefer the version by Faulkner because it is easy to understand and has nice pictures of the complete text.)