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your friendly neighbourhood archaeologist. DnD, feminism, vidya games and much much more

Oct 14, 2017, 52 tweets

So, as a lot of you a probably aware, the new Assassins Creed is going to be set in Egypt. Specifically, during the reign of Cleopatra VII.

As you may or may not know, this is the period I studied as my honours topic.

I've been seeing a lot of ads for the new game. It looks like they're advertising using Middle Kingdom hieroglyphs (which I also studied)

This is one of the promotions I've seen (this one at Melbourne Central). The signs look legit- so I decided to try and decode it.

Progress has been pretty slow- mostly because it looks like the ad only shows a part of the message. So I found the full picture online.

It could easily be gibberish... but, it looks like it starts by talking about some sort of journey. I'll let you guys know as I learn more.

Still working on this.

So far I've made out one clear sentence: "You work in/with darkness". TBC

A lot of the words seem to be acting as a filler- it looks like the graphic designer was trying to fill space for a lot of this. BUT

There's clearly a message in here related to the game. They've definitely done their research.

My work so far.

"Dark" may mean "darkness" - they'd need another glyph to mean darkness, but were trying to conserve space. I'll learn more as I translate.

Decoding the #AssassinsCreed hieroglyphs continues! I've been mostly busy today but I've gotten a little further.

To clarify, my resources are two books: Faulkner's "A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian" and Allen's "Middle Egyptian" uni textbook.

Together, they're fairly comprehensive. I assume if I can't find a word in either book it's either very obscure or I'm doing something wrong

Translated the first segment. It looks like the first phrase I can make out is "You work in darkness to serve light" #AssassinsCreed

Alright. It's been a long night, but I think I've figured out what the part of the first column says.

The symbol at the top is a negation- it reverses the sentence. So, "everything" becomes "nothing".

"Nothing is true". I think we know where this is going. #AssassinsCreed

Continuing my lil project today. The next part is tricky... I know it should say "Everything is permitted", but it doesn't really make sense

Instead, I have the word "smwn" which according to my books means something along the lines of perhaps, probably, surely, etc.

I'll keep investigating. It helps that I know what it's meant to say, at the very least #AssassinsCreed

Alright. I think I know what they're getting at now; Allen's given me a clue.

Assuming we interpret the intention as "Everything may be" rather than allowed/permitted, this makes sense. "Everything is possible"

Starting to realise the pic I’ve been using is a little small… so I found a bigger one. Much bigger. I think I have my work cut out for me.

At the very least, most of these are repeated messages and symbols, so it's unlikely I'll have to translate the whole thing.

Oh hey @KotakuAU wrote about my project! Yay! kotaku.com.au/2017/10/aussie… #AssassinsCreed

Getting started on the next couple of glyphs! It looks like the beginning of a prayer to Amun, but the text cuts out.

What I have so far is a call to Amun (the ancient Egyptian sun-god) for protection. I'll have to see where the patterns continue.

Judging from the larger picture, this is where the segment continues. I'll let you know as I go. #AssassinsCreedOrigins

Connected the two parts, and I think I got it. "Amun protect us. I make you offering[s]." #AssassinsCreedOrigins. Definitely a prayer.

Thanks everyone for all your lovely messages and replies! I feel like I'm probably about half-way through. Making progress! #AssassinsCreed

Starting to get very challenging. I feel like I've translated all the glyphs, but it doesn't really make sense. Time to investigate grammar!

Staring at this segment like

Found something that could help in Faulkner's book. It matches the symbols perfectly... I just need to make it into a coherent sentence.

"Justified" is interesting. It was often a title that they would give to the dead, high officials (including the pharaoh) and gods.

So I assume that this part is still addressing Amun-Re; considering it was his job to bring the sun across the sky, travelling makes sense.

With this translation, I think that "justified" is an adjective describing the verb "travel", and "limits" is referring to the horizon.

"Justified" refers to a sense of righteousness; it was the term given to the dead indicating they had earned their place in the afterlife

That said, here is my translation: "May you travel the limits in justification" #AssassinsCreedOrigins

Gonna take a break now! Keep you posted.

#AssassinsCreedOrigins hieroglyphics translation continues! Today I'm working on the segment that appears under the #ACO logo.

I have the transliteration. It seems the last few symbols that I already translated in a previous segment have an alternate meaning, "guide"

If we apply that meaning to this segment, it makes more sense. Furthermore, one word here, "wtt" meaning "beget" is acting as a noun...

That would mean "begotten"; i.e., the descendants.

"Let the descendants not send away your guidance" #AssassinsCreed #AssassinsCreedOrigins

Bit ominous... it like the Assassins were originally working with (or for) the gods, and hoped their descendants would do the same.

I've identified the next segment. I think this is the last one. #phew #AssassinsCreedOrigins

Final translation is done.

"May you consider what is beneath you to be with value" #AssassinsCreed #AssassinsCreedOrigins

Here's the final translation. This has been a really fun journey, and I can't wait to show you what I'm working on next! #AssassinsCreed

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