My name is Nicole, and I have been studying all about ancient Egypt since I was five years old. My Nonno (grandfather) was extremely passionate about ancient history, and he shared his passion with me. I was lucky to grow up spending a tremendous amount of time with my Nonno – not many kids are fortunate enough to have a grandparent that has a library of ancient history books in their basement, or who took them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a frequent weekend activity.
Between the ages of six and twelve, I taught myself to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs utilizing my Nonno’s books (Mostly Budge’s works). By the time I was twelve years old, I was able to read most hieroglyphs off of artifacts. I always tell people that I can read hieroglyphs – I don’t necessarily write them! It is much easier for me to translate the words of the Egyptians into English than it is to translate modern English back into Middle/New Egyptian – I do try my best though when given the challenge! I learned hieroglyphs mostly through translations of texts; I never sat and studied grammar extensively.
My biggest areas of interest are the pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty (specifically Hatshepsut and Akhenaten), Egyptian funerary literature, and tomb art/inscriptions.
While I have a big passion for ancient history, I love the history of the Earth as well. While I am completely self-taught on all ancient Egyptian topics, I have a Bachelor’s degree (BS) in Earth Science/Secondary Education, and am currently a Middle and High School Science teacher. I have a passion for planning fun, hands-on, and engaging lessons to teach kids about our planet. Sedimentary Petrology is my favorite area of study because it connects with paleontology and geologic history. One of my biggest areas of interest is studying how Egypt’s unique geology and geologic past impacted the growth of the ancient Egyptian civilization.
I always tell the kids that “rocks are the hieroglyphs of the Earth” and I think that’s why I’m so passionate about geology; I love ‘reading’ what the Earth can tell us about her history!
I also have a Master’s degree (MS) in Environmental Studies and am very interested in paleoclimatology because so much can be learned about the ancient climate of planets by studying the rocks present in an area. In my thesis, I studied what the sedimentary and igneous petrology of the Gale Crater on Mars could tell us about the planet’s climatological and geological past.
I run @ancientegyptblog on Instagram, in which I pay tribute to my Nonno and all of the amazing history he taught me. I translate the hieroglyphs off of objects in museums and give explanations for the history and meaning of the objects. I also teach the basics of hieroglyphs with the goal of making the words of the ancient Egyptians accessible to all who want to learn. This Instagram account is my passion project, and my way to share my Nonno and his memory with the world. All pictures on the account were either taken by me or Nonno!
I am also an avid reader and have read hundreds of books on the topic of ancient Egypt. While I have inherited my Nonno’s library, I also keep up to date with the newest publications.
AncientEgyptBlog.com is a participator in the Amazon Services LLC Influencer/Associates Program, an influencer/affiliate advertising program designed to provide means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Please consider using my links, as I earn a commission at no cost to you. This helps to keep my site up and running!
Although Nicole has conducted many years of self-study on hieroglyphic vocabulary and translations, much is owed to James Allen, E.A. Wallis Budge, Mark Collier, Raymond Faulkner, Alan Gardiner, Bill Manley, Bill Petty and the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae for their works on ancient Egyptian vocabulary and grammar. While in good faith best hieroglyphic practices and grammar have been used, errors on this website can still be made.