Messaging
Hieroglyphs were everywhere. Carved into temple walls. Lining the subterranean tombs in The Valley of the Kings. Painted on coffins. Carved into statuettes. Engraved upon jewellery. Not artwork or mere decoration but messages to gods and to educated people and to those who would follow later. Everything you saw meant something. Most ancient Egyptians were illiterate. They tilled the soil, fished in the river, harvested crops or responded to the commands of their superiors. Royal families operated at an entirely different level. After all, they were themselves god-like. Ordinary people were generally excluded from the main temple sites which were reserved for the priesthood and obviously the blessed rulers with their families and entourages. None of this is new to you. In the western world, Egyptian iconography been familiar for decades. We may not know what it all means but we have seen it. Some of us have long known of the principal Egyptian gods: Ra, Osiris, Anubis, Isis...
