Reading the Rosetta Stone: Introduction to Ptolemaic Hieroglyphs

Description:

Mondays, January 26-March 16, 7-9pm on Zoom and recorded to watch later

Cost: Non-members ($392), Members ($314), Docents/Volunteers/UChicago Alumni ($157), University of Chicago Lab/Charter, Students, Faculty, and Staff and Egyptology students enrolled at a university ($98). Not yet a member? Become a member today and save! https://isac.uchicago.edu/Join%20and%20Give/friends-isac

The Rosetta Stone unlocked the mystery of Egypt’s ancient scripts, but few realize that it is written in the last and most elaborate stage of that tradition: Ptolemaic hieroglyphs. This course introduces participants to the refined hieroglyphic inscriptions of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, when Greek and Egyptian traditions met in the great temple complexes of Edfu, Dendera, Philae, Kom Ombo, and Esna.

Rather than a new invention, the Ptolemaic system represents the culmination of earlier linguistic and scribal developments—inviting us to question how truly “Ptolemaic” this system was. The course examines how the script expanded in complexity while remaining governed by the same grammatical and phonetic principles that had structured Egyptian writing for millennia.

Participants will learn to identify common hieroglyphs and words, understand the language’s basic structure, and read short selections drawn from authentic temple inscriptions, including portions of the Rosetta Stone itself. This course offers a rigorous yet accessible introduction to Egypt’s final hieroglyphic tradition. No prior knowledge is required—only curiosity about how the last Egyptian scribes preserved a civilization’s voice for more than 3,000 years.

Instructor:
Foy Scalf, PhD, Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, University of Chicago. Dr. Scalf is a specialist in the languages and scripts of religious texts from Egypt’s Late, Ptolemaic, and Roman periods.