Certificate of Completion
At the end of this course you will be able to download a personalised certificate of completion from the classroom. A great way to keep track of your learning and celebrate your Egyptological journey.
The Dream Stela
Hieroglyph Reading Class with Dr Maiken Mosleth King
8 weeks: 6th Jan - 24th Feb 2026
Times: 7.30-9pm* (UK Times) Tuesday evenings to join live.
We love to see you for the live lectures, but if you have to miss one, don't worry, you can of course catch up (or watch again) at your leisure via the recordings. You will have access to the recorded lectures for a whole month after the last live lecture. Recordings will be available until 24th March.
Are you fascinated by hieroglyphs and eager to deepen your understanding? Join our reading course, where we’ll explore the captivating story of Thutmose’s dream as inscribed on the famous Dream Stela. A great way to develop your proficiency and ability to read Middle Egyptian texts as together we will read the unique and fascinating Dream Stela. A prophecy of kingship set in stone and situated within Egypt’s most sacred landscape.
The Dream Stela is an inscribed stone slab erected between the paws of the Great Sphinx by Pharaoh Thutmose IV of the 18th dynasty. Believed in antiquity to be a depiction of Horemakhet, a solar aspect of Horus, the Sphinx had become half buried in sand by the time of Thutmose’s birth. According to the text, Thutmose fell asleep by the sphinx as a young prince, and received a profound revelation from the great god: if Thutmose were to remove the sand covering the Sphinx’s body, he would become king of Egypt.
The fact that he was chosen to be pharaoh by the sphinx, is clearly something Thutmose wanted to promote, as he had the story of his dream carved in stone and placed between the paws of this already ancient monument. His own sphinx like power was reinforced again in royal iconography as shown by this fragment of his throne, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Reading the Dream Stela isn’t just about translation—it’s about uncovering a story of divine right, royal ambition, and the power of dreams. As we go along, we will discuss elements of vocabulary and grammar as well as the cultural meanings of the text. Home work will be provided in two levels so that you can chose the level of challenge you are comfortable with. All sessions are recorded, so that you can follow the course at your own pace.
*Please note that the session on 20th January will start slightly later, the live lecture will start at 7.45 to enable students who are also ESB members to attend the ESB meeting
Dr Maiken Mosleth King
Maiken Mosleth King is a Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, where she gained her PhD researching funerary stelae and identity in Roman Egypt. She has previously completed a BA and MA in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. She has published academic articles in Gottinger Miszellen and the Journal of History and Cultures, as well as contributing to the catalogue of the exhibition ‘Emotions in Antiquity and Ancient Egypt’ at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo, Norway. Her linguistic skills are broad and include Coptic, Classical Greek, Latin, Biblical Hebrew, Phoenician, classical Arabic and hieroglyphs, which she has taught for a number of year
Booking instructions
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Session links will be available in the course Classroom. Room opens 30 minutes before the lecture begins. If you do not have the course link or have any other queries please get in touch.