The Rosetta Stone - The Story of the Decoding of Hieroglyphics by Robert Solé and Dominique Valbelle
In July 1799 a French officer serving in Bonaparte's army in Egypt made an interesting discovery. A granite slab unearthed near the small town of Rosetta bore texts in three different scripts - Greek, demotic Egyptian and hieroglyphs. For the first time there was a real hope of decoding Egyptian writing. The Stone was soon stolen from the French by the British Army and removed to the British Museum in London. Now began a remarkable and highly competitive intellectual adventure in which some of the best minds of the time took part. Thomas Young, a remarkable English polymath and physician, and Johann David Akerblad, a Swedish diplomat, made valiant progress towards a solution, but the code was finally cracked by the tireless French orientalist Jean-Francois Champollion. The texts of Ancient Egypt could now be read again after fourteen centuries.
This paperback book is in good condition with minor imperfections to the cover. Pages in good condition.
ISBN 10: 1861973446 / ISBN 13: 9781861973443
Publisher: Profile Books
Publication Date: 2002