Hieroglyphs: Studies in Ancient Hieroglyphic Writing. Introduction

With this first issue we are very pleased to introduce Hieroglyphs, an internationally peer-reviewed e-journal that aims to promote the academic study of hieroglyphs from both an Egyptological and a comparative perspective. As we celebrate the 200-year anniversary of Champollion’s decipherment of Egyptian hiero-glyphs, studies of hieroglyphs continue to appear in scattered publications. This dispersion is par-adoxical, given the centrality of hieroglyphic writing to both the high culture of ancient Egyptian and Egyptology. It is also highly unfortunate in view of the diverse research currently taking place in relation to many different aspects of hieroglyphic writing. Hieroglyphs aims to address these shortfalls by providing a dedicated home for studies of hieroglyphs in all their semiotic, linguistic, aesthetic, cultural, and material dimensions. In doing so, it will help intensify discussion, emphasize the manifold nature of the study of hieroglyphs, and establish this study as a field of its own.