Ancient civilizations possessed unique and mysterious knowledge, many of which were lost over time or taken to the grave by the owners themselves. One of these secrets was Egyptian hieroglyphs. People longed to solve their secret, desecrating the tomb behind the tomb. But only one person managed to do this. So, which of the scientists managed to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphs?
What it is?
The ancient Egyptians believed that the hieroglyphs are the words of God. They say, point and are silent. That is, they had three destinations: writing and reading, expression of thoughts, a method of transmitting secrets between generations.
During the period of the Middle Kingdom, more than seven hundred characters were included in the Egyptian alphabet. Hieroglyphs had many meanings. One sign could carry a diverse meaning.
In addition, there were special characters used by the priests. They contained voluminous mental forms.
In those days, hieroglyphs were much more important than modern letters. They attributed magical power.
Rosetta stone
In the summer of 1799, an expedition of Napoleon was in Egypt. While digging trenches in the vicinity of the city of Rosetta, a large stone was dug out of the ground, covered in mysterious inscriptions.
Its upper part was broken off. Hieroglyphs are located on it, located in fourteen lines. Moreover, they were knocked out from left to right, which is uncharacteristic of eastern languages.
The middle part of the stone surface contained 32 lines of hieroglyphs, stamped from right to left. They are preserved most fully.
Greek letters were embossed on the bottom of the stone. They are located in 54 lines, but are not completely preserved, because the corner was broken off from the stone.
Napoleon's officers realized that they had made an important find. Greek letters were immediately translated. They narrated the decision of the priests to place a statue of the ruler of Egypt, the Greek Ptolemy Epiphanes, near the statue of the deity. And to appoint the days of his birth and accession to the throne as temple holidays. Next was the text that this inscription was repeated by the sacred hieroglyphs of Egypt and demonic signs. It is known that Ptolemy Epiphanes reigned in 196 BC. e. Nobody could translate other letters.
The stone was placed at the Egyptian Institute, which Napoleon founded in Cairo. But the English fleet defeated the French army and strengthened in Egypt. The mysterious stone was transferred to the British National Museum.
The mystery of Egyptian hieroglyphs interested scientists around the world. But to find out her clue was not so simple.
Chapmollon from Grenoble
In December 1790, Jacques-Francois Champollion was born. He grew up a very smart boy, loved to spend time with a book in his hand. At the age of five, he independently studied the alphabet and learned to read. At 9 years old, he was fluent in Latin and Greek.
The boy had an older brother, Joseph, who was passionately keen on Egyptology. Once the brothers were visiting the prefect, where they saw a collection of Egyptian papyrus inscribed with mysterious signs. At that moment, Champollion decided that the secret of Egyptian hieroglyphs would be revealed to him.
At the age of 13 he began to study Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Coptic and Sanskrit. While studying at the Lyceum, Francois wrote a study about Egypt during the time of the Pharaohs, which made a splash.
Then the young man had a period of long study and hard work. He saw a copy of the Rosetta stone, which was poorly executed. To make out each character, one had to peer closely at it.
In 1809, Champollion became a professor of history at the University of Grenoble. But during the accession of the Bourbons, he was expelled from it. In the difficult years for a scientist, he worked on the solution of the Rosetta stone.
He realized that there are three times as many hieroglyphs as words in Greek scripts. Then Champollion was visited by the idea that they are like letters. In the course of further work, he realized that the Egyptian alphabet of hieroglyphs contained three types.
The first look is the symbols that are carved on the stone. They were portrayed large and clear, with a thorough artistic depiction.
The second type is hieratic signs, which are the same hieroglyphs, but not so clearly depicted. This writing was used on papyrus and limestone.
The third type is the Coptic alphabet, consisting of 24 Greek letters and 7 letters, consonant sounds of demonic writing.
Tips from Antiquity
The determination of the types of Egyptian writing helped the scientist in his further work. But it took him years to determine the correspondence of hieratic and demonic hieroglyphs.
From the inscription in Greek, he knew the place where the name of Ptolemy Epiphanes, which in Egyptian language sounded like Ptolemyos, was knocked out. He found signs corresponding to him in the middle of the stone. Then he replaced them with hieroglyphs and found the resulting symbols in the upper part of the stone. He guessed that the ancient Egyptians often missed vowels, therefore, the name of the pharaoh should sound differently - Ptolmis.
In the winter of 1822, Champollion received another item with inscriptions in Greek and Egyptian. He easily read the name of Queen Cleopatra in the Greek part and found the corresponding signs in the letters of Ancient Egypt.
In a similar way he wrote other names - Tiberius, Germanicus, Alexander and Domitian. But he was struck that among them there are no Egyptian names. Then he decided that these were the names of foreign rulers, and for the pharaohs phonetic signs were not used.
In September 1822, the scientist received copies of the inscriptions from the walls of the temple of Ramses II. Contrary to his conviction not to use phonetic signs, he tried to unravel the name on the inscription. So, symbol by symbol, he got R-e-m-s-s. If you add vowels, you get Ramses. He was struck by this fact. Deciding to read further in this way, he received Thoth, Thutmose. Gradually the dead symbols came to life.
It was an incredible discovery. Egyptian writing was sound!
The scientist hastened to tell his brother about his discovery. But, shouting: “I found!”, He lost consciousness. For almost a week he lay exhausted.
In late September, Champollion announced his incredible opening of the French Academy of Sciences. Egyptian hieroglyphs spoke about wars and victories of the pharaohs, about the life of people, about the country. Decryption has opened a new stage in Egyptology.
The last years of Champollion
Champollion - one of the scientists who managed to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphs, did not stop there. He went to Italy for new materials, because many Egyptian documents were stored in this country.
Returning from Italy, the scientist released a work describing the grammar of the language of Ancient Egypt, containing Egyptian hieroglyphs, the decoding of which became the work of his life.
In 1822, Champollion led an expedition to the land of the pyramids. That was his old dream. He was struck by the grandeur of the Hatshepsut Temple, Dendera and Saqqara. The inscriptions depicted on their walls, he read with ease.
Returning from Egypt, the scientist was elected to the French Academy. He received universal acclaim. But he did not enjoy fame for a very long time. The only one of the scientists who managed to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphs, died in March 1832. Thousands of people came to say goodbye to him. He was buried in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery.
Egyptian alphabet
A year after the death of the scientist, his brother published the latest works containing Egyptian hieroglyphs with translation.
Initially, Egyptian writing came down to a simple sketch of objects. That is, the whole word was depicted in one drawing. Then the sounds that make up the word began to be enclosed in the drawing. But the ancient Egyptians did not write vowels. Therefore, often different words were depicted in one hieroglyph. To distinguish them, special identifiers were placed near the symbol.
The writing of Ancient Egypt consisted of verbal, sound and definitive signs. Sound symbols consisted of several consonants. Hieroglyphs, consisting of one letter, there were only 24. They made up the alphabet and were used to write foreign names. All this became known after solving the mystery of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Scribes of Ancient Egypt
The Egyptians used papyrus for writing. The stems of the plant were cut lengthwise and laid so that their edges were slightly on top of each other. Thus, several layers were lined and pressed. Parts of the plant stuck together using their own juice.
The inscriptions were made with pointed sticks. Each scribe had his own wands. The letters were executed in two colors. Black paint was used for the main text, and red - only at the beginning of the line.
Scribes were prepared in schools. It was a prestigious profession.
Champollion's case is lively
When the one who deciphered the Egyptian hieroglyphs died, he was worried about continuing to study the culture of Ancient Egypt. Nowadays, this direction has become a separate science. Now we are studying literature, religion, the history of this civilization.
So we answered the question about which of the scientists managed to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphs. Today, modern researchers are free to work with primary sources. Thanks to Champollion, the mysterious world of ancient civilization opens the veils of its secrets every year.
Patron of Ancient Egypt
That God was revered by the Egyptians as the patron of writing. He was called the "scribe of the gods." The population of ancient Egypt believed that he invented the alphabet.
In addition, he made many discoveries in the field of astrology, alchemy and medicine. Plato attributed him to the heirs of civilization by Atlanta, explaining his incredible knowledge.