Writing Page
Stop! Read this first!
Scholars discovered that hieroglyphs can be written from right to left or left to right! The direction that animal hieroglyphs face gives us a clue! If the animal faces right, we read them right to left. If the animal faces left, we read left to right.

Next! Your instructions.
Look closely at the fragment of "The Book of the Dead." Can you find some hieroglyphs in the form of birds or animals? Which direction are they facing? So which direction would you read these hieroglyphs: (click on your answer)

Now! Do it.

left to right? | right to left?
ODYSSEY HOME NEAR EAST Egypt GREECE ROME


© Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University,
Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester and Dallas Museum of Art
For more information please contact odyssey@emory.edu.
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