Scientific history: Rosetta Stone is deciphered, opening a window on ancient Egyptian civilization – September 27, 1822
Rapid facts
Milestone: Rosetta Stone deciphered
Date: September 27, 1822
Or: Paris
WHOs: French Philologist Jean-François Champollion
On September 27, 1822, the French philologist Jean-François Champollion announced that he had deciphered the text on the stone of Rosetta, opening a window on Ancient Egyptian civilization.
The stone had been discovered by the French forces in 1799, during the first foray into Napoleon in Egypt. Soldiers built fortifications in the City of Rashidwho had been the former Rosetta, when agent Pierre François Bouchard noticed the stone in the shape of a granite built in an old wall.
The 44 -inch high (112 centimeters) and 1,680 pound (760 kilograms) granodiorite slab was inscribed in Greek, hieroglyphs and demotic, a sort of cursive Egyptian script. Bouchard immediately achieved its meaning and assumed that the text was identical in the three languages. This meant that the former Greek could potentially be used to decipher the other two scripts, which have been indecipherable for centuries.
The Ottoman and British forces defeated the French, and in 1801, the Rosetta stone was taken by the British as part of the Alexandria Treaty and moved to the British Museum.
Based on the Greek registration, the scholars quickly deduced that the text was a royal decree of 196 BC which was written in honor of the boy King Ptolemy V Epiphanes on the first anniversary of his coronation. The purpose of the decree was to assert the The authority of the Macedonian Greek pharaoh In a tumultuous time, shortly after the rebellion of the native Egyptians had rolled the Hellenistic hierarchy and the nearby Seleucid Empire had Invaded parts of the Western Mediterranean.
The slab of stone inscribed, or Stela, pronounces that Ptolemy, “the god who manifests” Fund temples and animal cultsIncrease priestly income, lighten the tax burden and forgive prisoners. In exchange, statues of him would be placed in all temples and priests Statues three times a day. Similar steles have been placed throughout the country.
In 1802, a Swedish diplomat had progressed to decipher some of the words in demotic by relying on his similarity with Coptic, an Egyptian language which, Like Latin, we did not speak But was always understood.
But it was not until 1819 that the main breakthroughs were made. The British scientist Thomas Young published an article in the British encyclopedia in which he defined 218 demotic words and linked them to around 200 associated hieroglyphs. He too has deciphered phonetic hieroglyphs for the word “ptolemy. “However, he suspected that foreign names and words were likely to be phonetic and that other hieroglyphs were symbolic.
When Champollion looked at Young’s work, he didn’t agree. The hieroglyphs, he was convinced, were a decryptable alphabet. It is systematically corresponded to ancient Greek words and coptes against hieroglyphsSlowly protruding to sounds. Lore says that when he realized for the first time that he had deciphered the whole text, He passed out for a week. Although it was probably a myth, shortly after, he announced his discovery at the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Letters in Paris, where Rival Young heard his discovery.
The translation of La Pierre de Rosetta essentially created the field of Egyptology and allowed researchers to understand the sophisticated civilization which emerged on the banks of the Nile over 5000 years ago and persisted for millennia.
Thanks to Rosetta stone, we discovered the elaborate religious rituals and beliefs that governed life and death in the Book of DeadRecreated the complex embalming recipes that the ancient Egyptians used to mummify the dead, have a detailed image of daily life for the Royals and the Romitals, and have untied the stories of the stories of the stories of the stories of the stories of the stories of the stories of the stories dynasties This has reigned for thousands of years.
Rosetta stone has been considered a warship and is always housed at the British Museum, but it remains a central piece of Egyptian heritage. For many years, Egypt asked that the artifact be returned to his homeland.
