Until the last century, what we knew about ancient Egypt was mainly
obtained from Greek and Roman historians. At the present time our
knowledge of the “land of pyramids and priests” has been greatly
increased by the deciphering of the inscriptions on the monuments, and
by extended observation of the countless sculptures in which the olden
Egyptians have recorded their ways of life, their arts, arms, sciences,
religion and customs. In carving or in painting, the obelisks, the
temple walls, and temple columns, the inner walls of tombs, the coffins
of the dead, artistic objects--all are covered with the strange
characters known as hieroglyphics.