The hieroglyphic writing of the ancient Egyptians has fascinated outsiders for millennia. One ancient Greek visitor to Egypt left a graffito on the tomb of Ramses V that complained, “I cannot read the hieroglyphics.” Using pictorial images called hieroglyphs, the Egyptians carved, painted, and wrote a vast number of texts. But for almost 1500 years, the ability to read hieroglyphs was lost, even to the Egyptians. The work of researchers to find and translate these writings has revealed a huge amount about ancient Egyptian culture.

Here are ten of the most intriguing hieroglyphic texts to emerge from the sands of Egypt.

Related: 10 Intriguing Mysteries Of Atenism In Ancient Egypt

9 The Rosetta Stone

The secret of reading hieroglyphic texts was revealed to Europe by the conquests of Napoleon. When Napoleon led his army into Egypt, he also took scholars, artists, and scientists with him. In 1799, a strange black stone was found that was marked with Egyptian hieroglyph, the everyday writing of Egyptians called demotic, and ancient Greek. Crucially, all three texts were identical but written in different languages. Comparison between the hieroglyphic text and the known Greek one allowed scholars to crack the code.

Following Napoleon’s defeat, many of the treasures he had looted from Egypt, including the Rosetta Stone, passed into British hands. Copies of the texts were sent around Europe. The first breakthrough came from comparing the names of kings on the stone. Once it was realized hieroglyphs represented syllables, it became simpler, though not easy, to begin translating the writing.

Despite being of massive importance to Egyptology, the contents of the Rosetta Stone text is somewhat boring. It records details of the anniversary of king Ptolemy V’s accession to the throne.^[1]

9 The Pyramid Texts

Inside the grand pyramids built to house the mortal remains of pharaohs from around 2400-2200 BC, long inscriptions were carved directly onto the stones inside. The Pyramid Texts, as they are known, were not meant to be viewed by anyone but the departed ruler. They offer advice for how the pharaoh should navigate the afterlife and are the earliest funeral texts from ancient Egypt.

The contents of the texts are a mixture of instructions to the pharaoh’s soul, priestly prayers, and spells to be used to pass each point of the underworld. Short spells were also included to make sure that the tomb and body of the dead king were not disturbed. These did not work, it seems, as all pyramids were robbed in antiquity.

The pharaoh could be sure of a more happy welcome in the afterlife, but he could also offer help to the living. In the pyramid of Unas, we find that he is told, “How pleasant is your condition! You become a spirit, o Unas, among your brothers, the gods. How changed, how changed is your state! Therefore protect your children! Beware of your border which is on Earth! Put on your body and come toward them!”^[2]

8 Book of the Dead

Unlike the Pyramid Texts, which were only used for the rulers of Egypt, the Book of the Dead was available to anyone who could afford a copy. As a result, large numbers of copies of this text have been found in Egyptian tombs and sarcophagi dating from 1550-50 BC. The Book of the Dead was easier to get as it did not need to be carved in stone or painted directly on a coffin but could instead be bought on papyrus. Sometimes these papyri could be impressively large—one was recently found that was 52.5 feet (16 meters long).

The text of the Book of the Dead is made up of individual spells that help a soul make their way successfully through the afterlife. Some spells protect the dead from demons, while others help to preserve the powers of the dead. One hundred ninety-two spells have been found, and not all texts contain the same ones.

The most famous spell of the Book of the Dead is Spell 125, which describes the weighing of the heart, which occurs to all souls. The dead person’s heart is weighed on a scale against the feather of Maat. If the heart is heavy with sins, then the scale drops, and the soul of the dead person is eaten by the terrifying hippo goddess Ammit. If you pass the test, you are allowed into the Kingdom of Osiris.^[3]

7 King Neferkare and General Sasenet

Not all hieroglyphic writings were religious in nature. There was a strong literary tradition that examined the actions of the pharaohs. Pepi II Neferkare ruled Egypt around 2250 BC, and his reign was marked by a decrease in the power of the pharaohs and increased tension within the kingdom. Shortly after his rule, the Old Kingdom ended with bloody civil wars.

It is perhaps understandable that people did not look back on Neferkare fondly. A very fragmentary text has been recovered from a papyrus, a shard of pottery, and a wooden plaque that may link the pharaoh’s failure to his perceived homosexuality. This text records how Neferkare was spotted making nightly visits to the home of his general Sasenet. When he arrived, we are told he “threw a brick after stamping with his foot. Then a ladder was lowered to him, and he climbed up.” We also learn the visit lasted for four hours and only ended “after his majesty had done that which he had wanted to do with him.”

Was Neferkare having sex with his general? Was this text meant to mock the weak pharaoh? Many questions remain, but it may be a vital clue in understanding how homosexuality was viewed in ancient Egypt.^[4]

6 Story of Sinuhe

The Story of Sinuhe is a masterpiece of ancient Egyptian literature. This text dates to around 1875 BC and records the probably fictional adventures of a man called Sinuhe.

Sinuhe was serving in the army of a prince of Egypt when he heard that the old pharaoh had died. Worrying about the uncertain times ahead, Sinuhe fled to a hiding spot behind a bush. When he left Egypt, he found the chieftain of a tribe he knew and married his daughter. After several military adventures and winning a single combat against an enemy, Sinuhe began to miss his old homeland. He prayed for pity from the gods that he might be buried in Egypt and receive a pardon from the new pharaoh.

Back in Egypt, we are told how “a stone pyramid was built for me in the midst of the pyramids. The masons who build tombs constructed it. A master draughtsman designed in it. A master sculptor carved in it. The overseers of construction in the necropolis busied themselves with it. All the equipment that is placed in a tomb shaft was supplied. Mortuary priests were given to me. A funerary domain was made for me. It had fields and a garden in the right place, as is done for a Companion of the first rank. My statue was overlaid with gold, its skirt with electrum.” For an Egyptian having the right tomb was the happy ending.^[5]

5 Narmer Palette

The Narmer Palette is one of the earliest historical documents that has survived, made around 3200 BC. It also contains some of the earliest hieroglyphic symbols ever discovered. The large stone platter is intricately carved with imagery that has allowed scholars to theorize about what exactly it represents.

The palette was designed to be used to grind up the powders involved in either painting or makeup but may have been more of a ceremonial object. On the back, various beasts can be seen, as well as a man wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt who stands more than twice the size of those around him. On the front of a huge man wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt who is striking down a foe. Above this figure are symbols representing a catfish and a chisel. These hieroglyphs represent the sounds n’r and mr—this figure is Narmer.

These early hieroglyphs, along with the imagery employed on the palette, have been interpreted as telling us that Narmer was the pharaoh who united Upper and Lower Egypt into one kingdom. Narmer does sound like a strong leader. His name can be translated as “Fierce Catfish.”^[6]

4 Great Hymn to Aten

Most people view Egypt as a very stable and long-lasting civilization. Throughout its long history, there were innovations, however, even in religion. Perhaps the most explosive revolution in Egyptian belief came under the leadership of the pharaoh Akhenaten when he tried to force the worship of his own god, Aten, on the Egyptians.

Akhenaten ruled from around 1350 BC, and he changed everything to show the power of his new faith. The names of the royal family were made to include Aten, a unique artistic style was developed, and he founded a new city at Amarna as the capital of his realm. He also produced new prayers to his god. The Great Hymn to Aten was written to praise the new order in religion.

Aten is imagined like the sun. We are told he rises in the east, sparkles, and his rays are what hold the lands together. When Aten sets, people hide in their rooms and sleep as though they are dead. All good things come from Aten, and coincidentally, Akhenaten is his son.

The religion of Atenism did not long survive Akhenaten. The pharaoh’s image was stripped from monuments, his capital abandoned, and Egypt went back to the old gods.^[7]

3 Diary of Merer

There is still a lot of misinformation about how the pyramids of Egypt were built. Mistaken ideas started early. The ancient Greek writer Herodotus tells us that he heard from the priests of Egypt that they were constructed by slaves. Archaeology has shown that, in fact, the workers were paid for their labor. But one text discovered in 2013 may shed more light on the pyramids’ construction, as well as being the oldest hieroglyphic text written on papyrus.

The papyri were discovered in caves on the Red Sea that had been built to store boats. Written during the reign of the pharaoh Khufu by a middle-ranking civil servant called Merer, these texts are a logbook of work undertaken in moving monumental stones. Merer records how each month he shipped 200 blocks of limestone, each weighing over two tons.

What does this have to do with the pyramids? Khufu’s tomb was the Great Pyramid of Giza, and it was once clad in shining white limestone. This text gives us a link to those responsible for this massive building project.^[8]

2 Graffiti

Writing in hieroglyphs was a highly specialized skill performed by scribes. The number of people who could read hieroglyphic inscriptions was probably equally limited. This means fewer texts written by ordinary people have survived – but there are some graffiti written in hieroglyphs that offer a view of life not always recorded in official texts.

In the necropolis of Saqqara, a number of intriguing writings have been found. One shows the outline of a pair of feet with text around the edge. The maker of this graffito tells us that he wanted his name to endure as long as the temple on which it was carved stood. Other writers simply carved their name’s into a building—the same way modern graffiti artists do.

Sometimes hieroglyphic graffiti is discovered in out-of-the-way places in temples where no human would be expected to see them. These people were probably calling on the gods to witness their devotion. Sometimes an inscription is discovered on stone that was later covered in plaster. No one would ever see those writings, but maybe the gods could still see them.^[9]

1 Graffito of Esmet-Akhom

On August 24, AD 394, a priest carved an inscription on the wall of the Temple of Philae beside an image of the god Mandulis. This, as far as we know, was the last time hieroglyphics were written in ancient Egypt.

This graffito by Esmet-Akhom marks a transitional point in Egypt. The temple where his family had served for generations was at the very edge of the Roman world at this point. In AD 391, the emperor Theodosius ordered that all pagan temples be shut down. That this temple continued to be maintained was because it was just outside the hands of those who wanted to enforce Christianity.

The inscription in hieroglyphs reads, “Before Mandulis, son of Horus, by the hand of Nesmeterakhem, son of Nesmeter, the Second Priest of Isis, for all time and eternity. Words spoken by Mandulis, lord of the Abaton, great god.” Another written in Demotic gives the exact date.

There are later graffiti at the temple site, but they are written in Greek. Hieroglyphs as a method of writing died. ^[10]

Some people seem to think that before it became legal gay people simply did not exist. Since February is LGBTQ history month it might be a good idea to look back in history and see some of the writings that have survived by and about gay people. It turns out that there have always been examples of same-sex attraction that would be labelled gay today and some gay people have written movingly about their experiences.

Here are ten of the most fascinating gay texts from history.

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10 Sappho

Sappho of Lesbos was one of the most revered poets of the ancient world. Born around 630 BC she was called by some ‘the Tenth Muse’ because of the beauty of her words. Her poetry was collected and preserved in the Library of Alexandria in nine whole scrolls – unfortunately almost all of it is now lost. Only a few quotations and fragments recovered from the sands of Egypt are all we have.

It was the subject of Sappho’s poetry that is and was most shocking. In a time when women were meant to be sedate and mostly invisible she wrote explicitly about the love that developed between women. There’s a reason both Sapphic and Lesbian came to signify homosexual relations between women. Some of her poems express the joys that love between same-sex love can bring. Others address the pain that comes with parting.

Frankly I wish I were dead
When she left, she wept
a great deal; she said to me,
“This parting must be
endured, Sappho. I go unwillingly.”

9 Catullus

Catullus was a Roman poet of the first century BC. He knew all the most important people in Rome and often included them in his poetry. Cicero, Pompey the Great, and Julius Caesar all feature in his work. Not all of them were happy, given the tone of his work. Catullus was a scathing writer who lampooned other people’s foibles. Caesar thought that Catullus had seriously harmed his reputation with his poetry but when Catullus apologised he invited him to dinner.

One of Catullus’ favourite topics was love, or at least sex. Every sort of relationship makes an appearance. In his gay works Catullus talks about his own relationships with men.

“Your honeyed eyes, Juventius,
if one should let me go on kissing still,
I would kiss them three hundred thousand times,
nor would I think I should ever have enough,
not if the harvest of our kissing,
were thicker than the ripe ears of corn.”

Not all of his poems are so tender. One is almost untranslatable because of the filthy language he addresses to two of his male critics.

“Because you’ve read of my countless kisses,
you think less of me as a man?
I will sodomise you and skull-f**k you.”

8 Alcuin

“O cuckoo that sang to us and art fled,
Where’er thou wanderest, on whatever shore
Thou lingerest now, all men bewail thee dead,
They say our cuckoo will return no more.”

These are the words of one of the greatest minds of the 8th century mourning one of his male ‘friends’ leaving his monastery. Alcuin of York was a monk and scholar who became one of Charlemagne’s closest advisors. He also became very close to some of the other monks he lived and worked with. The cuckoo of the poem above was one of Alcuin’s associates who had to leave. “Alcuin the old man thinks long for thee.”

It was not only in poetry that Alcuin expressed his love for other men. Some of his letters to other men have been regarded as beautiful examples of gay love letters.

“I think of your love and friendship with such sweet memories, reverend bishop, that I long for that lovely time when I may be able to clutch the neck of your sweetness with the fingers of my desires. Alas, if only it were granted to me… to be transported to you, how I would sink into your embraces,…how much would I cover, with tightly pressed lips, not only your eyes, ears and mouth, but also your every finger and toe, not once but many a time.”

7 Nuns

If you keep people in a same-sex environment for long periods of time you often find that deep emotional bonds form. Sometimes these spill over from the bounds of friendship into romantic pairings. It is true now and it was true in the almost entirely female world of medieval nunneries. The nuns of these establishments have left written records of their devotion to one another that it is very easy to read as gay.

“I love you above all else,
You alone are my love and desire…
Like a turtledove who has lost her mate
And stands forever on the barren branch,
So I grieve ceaselessly
Until I enjoy your love again.”

This letter was written between two Bavarian nuns in the 1100s and there are others of a similar age that survive.

“Everything pleasant and delightful
Without you seems like mud underfoot.
I shed tears as I used to smile,
And my heart is never glad.
When I recall the kisses you gave me,
And how with tender words you caressed my little breasts,
I want to die
Because I cannot see you.”

6 Virgil

“The shepherd Corydon with love was fired
For fair Alexis, his own master’s joy:
No room for hope had he, yet, none the less,
The thick-leaved shadowy-soaring beech-tree grove
Still would he haunt, and there alone, as thus,
To woods and hills pour forth his artless strains.”

So begins the second Eclogue of Virgil, the national poet of the Romans. Much better known for his epic poem The Aeneid Virgil also wrote poems about the joys of the countryside. And in the second Eclogue one of those joys is the love between the shepherd Corydon and a boy called Alexis.

Corydon mourns that Alexis is not content to be the lover of a poor shepherd.

“Ah! were you but content with me to dwell.
Some lowly cot in the rough fields our home.”

Instead of being some happy pastoral Brokeback Mountain this poem shows the pain that unrequited love can inflict on gay people, just as it does straight people. The name Corydon was later borrowed by the writer Andre Gide for the title of his book of dialogues on homosexuality.

5 Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, better known as simply Michelangelo, was one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance. Despite his mastery of painting and sculpture there is something distinctly odd about the women he depicted. Oddly muscular, manishly proportioned, and with stuck-on breasts they often look like very handsome men.

Michelangelo seems to have fallen in love with an Italian nobleman called Tommaso dei Cavalieri who the artist described as “light of our century, paragon of all the world.” One biographer of the time said “Infinitely more than any other friend, Michelangelo loved the young Tommaso.” Tommaso sparked art and poetry from the older Michaelangelo. When Michelangelo’s homoerotic poetry was published after his death his descendent changed all the pronouns from male to female. In one poem Michaelangelo dreamed of being a silkworm so that he could be turned into clothes that would be worn next to Tommaso’s skin.

“All through the day he’d clasp me! Would I were
The shoes that bear his burden! When the ways
Were wet with rain, his feet I then should kiss!”

4 Achilles and Patroclus

The Iliad begins by describing the wrath of Achilles. Achilles, greatest of the Greek warriors is a wrathful person, as well as being petulant and arrogant. The only person he seems to show any tenderness towards is his young colleague Patroclus. When Patroclus is killed in the course of battle the poem describes Achilles’ breakdown at the news.

“A black cloud of grief enwrapped Achilles, and with both his hands he took the dark dust and strewed it over his head and defiled his fair face, and on his fragrant tunic the black ashes fell. And himself in the dust lay outstretched, mighty in his mightiness, and with his own hands he tore and marred his hair. And the handmaidens, that Achilles and Patroclus had got them as booty, shrieked aloud in anguish of heart… And over against them Antilochus wailed and shed tears, holding the hands of Achilles, that in his noble heart was moaning mightily; for he feared lest he should cut his throat asunder with the knife.”

While the Iliad is never explicit about the romantic relationship between Achilles and Patroclus even people in the ancient world recognised it as such. Plato mentions that they were lovers. Fragments of a lost play by Aeschylus describe the pair’s “frequent kisses” and “devout union of the thighs.”

3 David and Jonathan

The Bible has been quoted by many who have homophobic attitudes to support their views. But some have read in the story of King David a gay love that was incorporated into the canon of the Bible. For some there was more than friendship between David and Jonathan.

1 Samuel 18 begins “After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.” This partnership only deepens. “Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.” The Bible then records how “Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.” Several times it is said that Jonathan loved David “as he loved himself.”

When Jonathan dies David exclaims “I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women.” Some have disputed the homosexual reading of this story but it has brought comfort to some gay Christians.

2 De Profundis

When love goes wrong, be it gay or straight, it can go very wrong. For Oscar Wilde it went just about as wrong as it could possibly go. Wilde suffered one of the worst falls from the heights of success in the Victorian era. A poet, author, and playwright Wilde was a father and husband but he also had a predilection for gay sex in male brothels and with young lovers. When the Marquess of Queensbury objected to Wilde’s relationship with his son Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas (sixteen years his junior) it led to trials that saw Wilde locked up for two years.

In his jail cell Wilde had time to consider his relationship with Bosie. The result was a letter to his lover called De Profundis – From The Depths. Bosie was a terrible person by all accounts and now Wilde recognised just how low his love for Bosie had brought him.

“Out of my nature has come wild despair; an abandonment to grief that was piteous even to look at; terrible and impotent rage; bitterness and scorn; anguish that wept aloud; misery that could find no voice; sorrow that was dumb. I have passed through every possible mood of suffering.”

The letter is a minute dissection of how whether you are gay or straight love can change your life. Wilde tells Bosie “Of course I should have got rid of you,” but he never did. Despite everything Wilde was not able break off his affection for Bosie.

1 Plato’s Symposium

Have you ever heard the term ‘finding your other half’? It can be traced all the way back to the writings of Plato and a text that includes one of the most moving images for what love is. In The Symposium a group of upper class and well educated men meet to discuss the topic of love. Since it takes place in ancient Greece the love under discussion tends towards the homosexual. When it is time for Aristophanes, the Greek comedian, to give a speech on love he tells a myth that explains the creation of love – homosexual and heterosexual.

In the beginning, Aristophanes says, “the sexes were not two as they are now, but originally three in number; there was man, woman, and the union of the two.” These original people were like two people stuck together back to back with two faces, four legs, and four arms. Some were two men stuck together, some two women, and some a man and a woman. Unfortunately these people got arrogant and displeased the gods. Zeus cut them in two.

Now, according to this story, we are all just half people wandering around in search of our other half. When a man was originally part of double-man he is homosexual, when a woman was part of a double-woman she is lesbian, and the mixed people became heterosexual. It is only when we find the half that has been cut from us that we feel complete – and that is why love feels so good.

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