Voices of Ancient Egypt
Welcome to Voices of Ancient Egypt — the podcast for people who don’t just want to learn about ancient Egypt, but want to understand it at a deeper, more meaningful level.
Your podcast host, Melinda Nelson-Hurst, Ph.D., is an Egyptologist with years of experience teaching at the university level, working in Egypt, and training students around the world to read real ancient Egyptian texts. She’s spent decades studying this civilization in a traditional academic setting so you don’t have to — and so you can access knowledge that’s usually locked behind academic walls.
With a blend of solo deep-dives and conversations with experts and everyday Egyptophiles, this podcast brings ancient Egyptian history, beliefs, and language to life — and shows you how learning hieroglyphs is possible, no matter your age, background, or schedule.
Whether you want to read hieroglyphs in museums, on social media, or on your next trip to Egypt, you’ll find the tools, stories, and encouragement to make it real.
Let’s hear the voices of the ancient world — together.
Voices of Ancient Egypt
008: How Jen Skyrocketed Her Hieroglyphs Learning – Even Reading Literature and Medical Texts
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In this episode of Voices of Ancient Egypt, host and Egyptologist Dr. Melinda sits down with hieroglyphs student Jen to explore how real people with busy lives are making incredible progress reading hieroglyphs. Jen shares her journey from a childhood fascination with Egypt to successfully navigating ancient medical texts and classic literature.
You’ll discover how Jen moved past the "puzzle" stage of seeing hieroglyphs as just cool pictures and started understanding them as a living language. Whether you’re a museum enthusiast or a lifelong learner, this episode reveals the strategies and support that make mastering hieroglyphs possible outside of a traditional university setting.
In this episode, you will learn:
• How to bypass the "Academic Wall": Discover how Jen learned to read hieroglyphs without committing to a multi-year graduate degree or the pressure of traditional grades.
• The Secret to Cracking the Code: Learn how Jen moved past seeing hieroglyphs as a "puzzle" of pictures to recognizing specific determinatives and markers that signal where one word ends and another begins, transforming a jumble of symbols into clear sentences.
• Why Your "Stupid Questions" are Your Best Tool: Jen explains how a supportive community removes the fear of making mistakes, allowing you to learn faster by seeing that everyone else has the same questions.
• The Secret to Multi-Dimensional Learning: Discover how Jen uses cultural context—including ancient Egyptian magic, medicine, and history—to make sense of the language, rather than just memorizing grammar in a vacuum.
• From Pharaoh’s Names to Ancient "Best-Sellers": Find out how to progress from basic offering formulas to reading complex literary works like The Shipwrecked Sailor and fascinating ancient medical texts.
• How to Learn Hieroglyphs on Your Own Terms: Learn how to use a flexible curriculum to keep making progress even when life gets busy, you’re traveling, and during “life issues.”
• The "Double Support" Advantage: See how interacting with fellow students who have diverse interests—from ancient magic to Egyptian cats—can fill in your knowledge gaps of history and culture.
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Download my free guide, Half-Hour Hieroglyphs to get started with hieroglyphs now.
Learning hieroglyphs is a challenge if you don’t have a tried and true system to follow. This free guide will teach you how hieroglyphs work and how to use them to write names the way the ancient Egyptians did.
Grab the free guide at https://voicesofancientegypt.com/guide
My 6-month, next-level hieroglyph reading program, Master Scribes, is currently closed, but will be open again before you know it.
In this program you'll go from reading the basics to reading next-level texts, like literature, letters, and the Book of the Dead, with confidence.
Space is very limited due to the high level support from me (Melinda).
Join the waitlist at www.masterscribes.com