Although hieroglyphics look pictographic, they are in fact phonetic with each symbol being a sound and words formed with multiple characters. Their highly stylized format is what threw people off from cracking the code for ancient egyptian hieroglyphics until the Rosetta stone was discovered.
Yes, I know. But that is not the conception of hieroglyphics that is generally held. Archaeology was an obsession of mine all through school and beyond. Comparing teaching reading as a form of hieroglyphics is a generally understood trope.