- Jean Francois Champollion was a French scholar credited with deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs from the Rosetta Stone, giving scholars the key to understanding this ancient writing system. He is known as the "Father of Egyptology".
- Hieroglyphs were a formal writing system used by ancient Egyptians combining logographic and alphabetic elements, used for religious texts on papyrus and wood.
- Some common Egyptian symbols included the ankh symbolizing eternal life, cartouches enclosing royal names, and the scarab beetle representing spontaneous creation.