A Note on “Hieroglyphic (Il)literacy” and Access to Inscriptions in Ancient Egypt

Abstract

The present article discusses the extent to which literacy in ancient Egypt extended to the hieroglyphic script in particular. Special attention is paid to late New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period examples of apparently limited and non-existent understanding of the said script and its principles. It is argued that contact with hieroglyphs was not an everyday experience for the ancient Egyptians and that the rare examples of the script written by very inexperienced authors reflect the degree to which they have access to hieroglyphic texts generally. The discussion also touches upon the curiously neglected topic of access to cemeteries in Ancient Egypt.