Egyptology, which originated in the eighteenth century, at first was based on the bombast of eminent scientists and original, but unconfirmed theories of young researchers. Egypt, whose hieroglyphs could not be deciphered, beckoned and frightened with its mystery. Egyptology really began to develop only after the key fell into the hands of scientists,
deciphering
egyptian hieroglyphs. The Rosetta Stone - that was the name of the long-awaited clue - has its own, almost detective story.
It all started with the work that the great philosopher and scientist Leibniz wrote for Louis XIV. Being not only a scientist, but also a politician, Leibniz tried to divert the attention of the French monarch from his native Germany. The scientist dedicated his work to Egypt, calling it "the key to Europe." Written in 1672, the treatise of Leibniz was read by another French monarch more than a hundred years later. Emperor Napoleon liked the idea of the scientist, and in 1799 he sent a fleet to Egypt to defeat the English military units that occupied the country of the pyramids. Scientists who were interested in the ancient civilization of Egypt joined the French fleet.
Egypt remained under French rule for three years. During this time, scientists have collected a rich collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts, but the secrets of civilization are still
Mu were locked in seven locks. The key to all these castles was the Rosetta Stone. He was found by a member of the Bouchard expedition during the construction of the military fort St. Julien. The fort was built near the city of Rosetta, from which the stone was named. Having suffered a defeat in the 1801st, the French left Egypt, taking with them all the rarities found. Then the collection came to England, where it became the basis of the Egyptian department of the
British Museum.What was the Rosetta stone? It was a monolith of black basalt with inscriptions carved on it. Subsequently, it turned out that the stone contains three versions of the text, written in three languages. The text turned out to be a decree of the priests of the city of Memphis, in which the priesthood thanks Pharaoh Ptolemy V and grants him honorary rights. The first version of the decree was written by Egyptian hieroglyphs, and the third inscription was a translation of the same decree into Greek. Comparing these inscriptions, the scientists correlated the hieroglyphs with the Greek alphabet, thereby obtaining the key to the rest of the ancient Egyptian inscriptions. The third inscription was made by demotic signs - cursive of the ancient Greek language.
Rosetta stone has been investigated by many scientists. The first to decipher the stone inscriptions was the French orientalist de Sacy, and the Swedish scientist Okerblad continued his work. The most difficult thing was to read the hieroglyphic part of the inscription, since the secret of such a letter was lost in ancient Roman times. The Englishman Young began to decipher the hieroglyphs, but the Frenchman Champollion was able to achieve complete success. He proved that the hieroglyphic system consists mainly of phonetic and alphabetic characters. During his short life, this scientist managed to compile an extensive dictionary of the ancient Egyptian language and form its grammatical rules. Thus, the role of the Rosetta stone in the development of Egyptology turned out to be truly invaluable.