The father of Egyptology, 19th-century Frenchman Jean-François Champollion died tragically untimely in 1832, shortly after visiting Egypt. In 1822, Champollion deciphered the iconic Rosetta Stone, unlocking mysterious hieroglyphic texts found in ruins up and down Egypt. In 2022, on the 200th anniversary of his extraordinary achievement, France will pay tribute to his legacy through a series of events and celebrations.
Portrait of Jean-François Champollion by Leon Cogniet. (Public Sector)
The Life and Legacy of Jean-François Champollion
He was born in 1790 in a French town called Figeac, now theChampollion Museum - World Works(Museum Champollion - Writings of the World), Jean-François Champollion showed early interest inlanguageand ancient history. Since childhood, he has shown excellent language skills and a strong curiosity to decipher ancient scriptures.
Champollion's seminal achievement came in 1822 when he successfully deciphered the Rosetta Stone and solved its mysteriesegyptian hieroglyphs.His research and knowledge of languages made this work possible, includingCopticand elementary school. Break the inscribed hieroglyphic coderosetta stoneIt opens up a new world of understanding, illuminating its rich history, culture and civilizationAncient Egypt.
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The Rosetta Stone itself was discovered in Egypt by French soldiers during Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in 1799.StoneIn 1802, under the terms of the Treaty of Alexander, it was transferred to the British Museum in London, where Champollion discovered it in Paris, France, based on copies of drawings and inscriptions. After years of linguistic research, historical analysis, and comparisons of the Rosetta Stone inscriptions with other known ancient texts, he did
Jean-François Champollion devoted his life to the study of hieroglyphs, and in 1828 made his final trip to Egypt. The purpose of the trip was to further explore the monuments and gather more knowledge about Egyptian culture while immersing himself in the rich culture and historical tapestry that has fascinated him over the years. However, his health began to deteriorate during the mission, and when he returned to France his condition deteriorated. Tragically, he died in 1832, leaving behind a remarkable legacy.
Detail from a notebook by Jean-François Champollion. (Public Sector)
In Search of Answers: Investigating the Causes of Champollion's Untimely Death
Jean-François Champollion's untimely death at the age of 41 is often attributed to exhaustion from his year-long trip to Egypt. It is thought that the stress of deciphering the Rosetta Stone and the demands of exploration took a toll on his health, and he eventually died of a stroke. In a passage quoted in 1814, he wrote: "I sleep two or three times a week with the Rosetta Inscription"^ Washington Post"So far, I've only had a headache and two or three words."
However, new medical research challenges this traditional explanation and suggests other factors may have contributed to his decline. While his exact cause of death remains uncertain, experts question whether a stroke was the sole culprit.
A letter to the magazine editor published in 2015clinical neurophysiologyHutan Ashrafian, PhD, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, claims that the term "stroke" is used in a general sense and not as an official medical termdiagnosis. cannot access aautopsyAshrafian then studied reports of Champollion's condition over the years in order to draw some conclusions about the great scholar's death.
Champollion did not suffer from lymphadenopathy or fever during his trip to Egypt. Accounts of his later years, however, reveal a different set of dilemmas. Although he showed no symptoms of heart disease or reduced blood flow, Champollion faced dire challenges with muscle weakness, quadriplegia and, ultimately, breathlessness.
"Furthermore, during the deciphering of the hieroglyphs (1828), it was noted that he collapsed, although this could be considered an onset of angiotonia [fainting] due to an extreme emotional outburst," writes Asrafian. "In the final weeks of life, he became emotionally unstable, consistent with the progression of pseudobulbar dysfunction, and eventually manifested 'locked-in' syndrome before his death."
Thus, according to this diagnosis, Jean-François Champollion passeddecipher hieroglyphs, he suffered from pseudobulbar dysfunction, a condition that prevented him from speaking. It's ironic that a man who opened the world of ancient Egypt to modern science died shortly before his death without being able to express himself.
After carefully examining Champollion's symptoms, Dr. Ashrafian came to a fascinating conclusion: The esteemed scholar was dealing with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease that causes progressive A debilitating disease of muscle paralysis. Remarkably, Champollion did not experience intellectual disability or seizures, but instead began with weakness in his legs and later developed an inability to speak. The diagnosis sheds new light on the challenges facing Champollion and furthers our appreciation for his unwavering determination to decipher its mysteriesAncient Egyptin his own physical decay.
Rosetta Stone on display at the British Museum. (British Museum /CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Word of the Gods: The Rosetta Stone and the Legacy of Champollion's Work
The word "hieroglyph" is of Greek origin and means "sacred word" or "sacred sign" and was first used by Clement of Alexandria. In ancient Egypt, their own script was calledInternet mediaOr "Word of the Gods". The earliest known pictographs date back to the predynastic era, around 3400-3200 BC. However, the last evidence of the use of hieroglyphics can be found around AD 394, marking the zenith of their historical status and importance in ancient Egypt.
Hieroglyphs abound in ancient Egyptian artifacts, inscribed in clay seals, rock, pottery, bone, ivory, and basalt, such as the Rosetta Stone. "When pharaonic Egypt was Christianized in the 4th century, the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs was lost for about 1,500 years," he explained.^ Washington Post.These symbols are not a type of writing, but are considered pagan images. For Champollion,rosetta stoneSince the same inscription is contained in three scripts, it is the key artefact that reveals the hieroglyphic code. Hieroglyphs, Egyptian dialects and ancient Greek.
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Translation by Jean-François Champollion is a milestoneEgyptology, the field continues to advance, leading over time to the development of language understanding, new ideas, and translation revisions. The inscription itself was made by the Egyptian clergy to mark the first anniversaryPtolemy VHis coronation of the so-called Rosetta Stone in 196 B.C. is a powerful confirmation of the royal worship dedicated to the young pharaoh, with the inscription specifying that the stone be copied and distributed to temples across Egypt.
Statue of Jean-François Champollion by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi. (Lama /CC BY-SA 3.0 FR)
Celebrating 20 years of Champollion's pioneering discovery
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Champollion's discovery, France is hosting a series of spectacular events in 2022. After three years of preparation,National Library of France(BNF), or "The National Library of France", organized an exhibition of some 350 objects. These are presented together with a selection of Champollion's unpublished papers based on the 88 volumes of notes and illustrations he left behind and are currently preserved at the BNF.
titledChampollion Adventures: Dive into the Hieroglyphic Secrets,Or "The Adventures of Champollion: The Secret of Hieroglyphics," an exhibition that aims to bring Champollion's famous works to life by showcasing his meticulous research methods. The aim is to bring his remarkable journey to life, offering visitors a fascinating experience in the world of pictographs.
Jean-François Champollion also celebrated his legend with a six-month series of events at his birthplace in Figeac. compiledEureka! 2022 champion, events include concerts, film screenings, theater performances, museum exhibitions and seminars led by leading Egyptologists. Since 1995, Figeac's town square has housed a magnificent black granite replica of the Rosetta Stone by American conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth.
A gigantic replica of the Rosetta Stone by American conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth in Figeac, the birthplace of Jean-François Champollion, known as the Place des Écritures. (Bmclaughlin9 /CC BY-SA 3.0)
at the same time,Louvre-Lens Museumheld a fascinating exhibitionChampollion: The Road to HieroglyphsDive deep into Champollion's groundbreaking discoveries and reveal his personal journey through January 2023.
One aspect the exhibition reveals is that, despite his origins in southwestern France, Champollion's relationship with Joseph FourierNapoleonin his ownegyptian expedition, giving him the opportunity to continue his studies in Paris. The city's deep fascination with ancient Egypt is evident in the wealth of Egyptian artifacts that aid Champollion's work, and the exhibition carefully showcases the resources available to him during his stay in Paris.
The exhibition features the famous Champollion statue sculpted by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, the mastermind behind the Statue of Liberty in New York. Since 1878, the statue has adorned the main courtyard of the Institut de France in Paris. Because this was the city where King Charles I appointed Champollion to oversee the newly acquired Egyptian collection at the Louvre, in recognition of his extraordinary achievement in deciphering its hieroglyphicsrosetta stone.
Above: Detail of an ancient Egyptian stamp depicting Jean-François Champollion. source:Silvio/ adobe
andmark miller
Editor's Note: This article was updated and revised to add new information by Cecilia Bogaard on May 19, 2023
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Ashrafian, H. 2015. «Deciphering the Death of Jean-François Champollion (1790–1832), the Man Who Decoded Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics» στοClinical Neurophysiology / Clinical Neurophysiology, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 178-179.
British Museum. July 14, 2017. 'Everything you ever wanted to know about the Rosetta Stone' on the British Museum blog. Applies to:https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/everything-you-ever-wanted-know-about-rosetta-stone
Bulge, E.A.W. 1893. "Translation of the Rosetta Stone" atscripture.applies to:https://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/trs/trs07.htm
French 24 English. September 2, 2022. “France celebrates 200th anniversary of deciphering Rosetta Stone hieroglyphs,” atYouTube.applies to:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kaEvsAk6zs
Manai, N. April 26, 2022. "The Adventures of Champollion" at BnF: "A scholarly and fascinating exhibition in the footsteps of the father of Egyptology"France Info: Culture.applies to:https://www.francetvinfo.fr/culture/patrimoine/archeologie/l-aventure-champollion-a-la-bnf-une-exposition-savante-et-passionnante-dans-les-pas-du-pere-de- l-egyptologie_5101954.html
Editorial Cahors. May 20, 2022. "A lot." "Eureka!" Champollion 2022" at Figeac, right here! on actu.fr Available at:https://actu.fr/occitanie/figeac_46102/lot-eureka-champollion-2022-a-figeac-c-est-parti_51042800.html
Tresilian, D. 9 May 2023. "Remember Champollion" atDojo Online.applies to:https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/50/1205/500454/AlAhram-Weekly/Culture/Remembering-Champollion.aspx
Winston Nicklin, M., July 1, 2022. "France celebrates the man who solved the Rosetta Stone mystery", available at^ Washington Post.applies to:https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/07/01/france-rosetta-stone-egyptology/
FAQs
Did Champollion ever see the Rosetta Stone? ›
Champollion never saw the Rosetta Stone in his life. It was found in Egypt, inside the wall of a fort during reinforcement works by a French military engineer, then seized by British troops.
What did Champollion discover? ›On September 27, 1822, the French philologist announced that he'd decrypted the key that would unlock Egypt's ancient past. Two-hundred years ago, French scholar and polymath Jean-François Champollion announced he had deciphered the Rosetta Stone.
What is the meaning of Champollion? ›an archeologist who specializes in Egyptology.
What was Champollion famous for? ›Jean-François Champollion, (born December 23, 1790, Figeac, France—died March 4, 1832, Paris), French historian and linguist who founded scientific Egyptology and played a major role in the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
What secret was revealed with the Rosetta Stone? ›When it was discovered, nobody knew how to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Because the inscriptions say the same thing in three different scripts, and scholars could still read Ancient Greek, the Rosetta Stone became a valuable key to deciphering the hieroglyphs.
Who cracked the Rosetta Stone code? ›Roughly 200 years ago, however, the original Rosetta Stone provided the key to deciphering the most beautiful and enigmatic of all writing systems, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. The man who finally cracked the code was a young Frenchman named Jean-Francois Champollion (1790-1832).
How did Champollion prove his theory? ›To test this theory, Champollion counted the Greek words on the Rosetta Stone and came up with the number 486. He then assumed that the number of words in the hieroglyphic test would be fewer; however, he was wrong. After counting, he arrived at 1,419, which proved that they were phonetical.
What was the message on the Rosetta Stone? ›The message, inscribed on the Rosetta Stone in 196 BC, is a decree (an official message) about Pharaoh Ptolemy V. It says that the priests at the temple in Memphis, Egypt, supported the Pharaoh. It translates as a bit of a list of all of the good things Pharaoh Ptolemy V did for the priests and the people of Egypt.
What is the Rosetta Stone and why is it important? ›The Rosetta Stone is one of the most important objects in the British Museum as it holds the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs—a script made up of small pictures that was used originally in ancient Egypt for religious texts.
How did Champollion decipher the Rosetta Stone? ›Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion was able to decipher the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs through the oval shapes found in the hieroglyphic text, which are known as Kharratis and include the names of kings and queens.
When did Champollion crack the hieroglyphic code? ›
In 1822, Champollion published his first breakthrough in the decipherment of the Rosetta hieroglyphs, showing that the Egyptian writing system was a combination of phonetic and ideographic signs – the first such script discovered.
What is the word God in hieroglyphics? ›The Egyptian word that is translated into English as god is netjer. This word is written with a hieroglyph resembling a flag (yellow in color) on a flagpole, often shown in green.
How did Champollion use the Greek language as a tool? ›Champollion could read both Greek and coptic. He was able to figure out what the seven demotic signs in coptic were. By looking at how these signs were used in coptic he was able to work out what they stood for. Then he began tracing these demotic signs back to hieroglyphic signs.
What techniques did Champollion use to decipher hieroglyphs? ›Champollion knew the Coptic words that would translate the Greek text and could tell that phonetic hieroglyphs such as p and t would fit these words. From there he could guess the phonetic meanings of several more signs.
Who invented Egyptology? ›The research of Emmanuel de Rougé in France, Samuel Birch in England, and Heinrich Brugsch in Germany established Egyptology as an academic discipline.
What would happen if we never found the Rosetta Stone? ›Without the Rosetta stone, we would know nothing of the ancient Egyptians, and the details of their three thousand years of history would remain a mystery. It was discovered by a French captain named Pierre Bouchard in AD 1799, during the Napoleonic wars.
Have other Rosetta Stones been found? ›Dubbed “another Rosetta Stone,” the Taposiris Magna Stele was discovered by archaeologists in the town of Taposiris Magna near Alexandria. Dated two years earlier than the Rosetta Stone, the limestone decree tells how Ptolemy V gave part of Nubia to the Egyptian goddess Isis.
Who stole the Rosetta Stone from Egypt? ›"Rosetta Stone was stolen. France took it and sent it as a gift, illegally, to England. This stone is the icon of Egyptian antiquities," says Hawasss.
How long did it take to crack the code on the Rosetta Stone? ›“The first people to look at the Rosetta Stone thought it would take two weeks to decipher,” says Dolnick, author of The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone. “It ended up taking 20 years.”
Can anyone read hieroglyphics? ›Deciphering hieroglyphic writing remains a challenge. Figuring out the meaning of texts written in hieroglyphic writing remains a big challenge for scholars, and requires a certain amount of subjective interpretation. Even reading them aloud isn't easy.
What was the religion of the Egyptians? ›
Egyptian religion was polytheistic. The gods who inhabited the bounded and ultimately perishable cosmos varied in nature and capacity. The word netjer (“god”) described a much wider range of beings than the deities of monotheistic religions, including what might be termed demons.
Who was the most important god in ancient Egypt? ›Amun-Ra is the most important god of the Ancient Egyptian belief system. Amun-Ra is originally Amun, and then he is combined with Ra to be Amun-Ra in the Middle and New Kingdoms, and thus is the most supreme god in the culture (Davies 52).
What 3 languages are written on the Rosetta Stone? ›The Rosetta Stone, a symbol for different things to different people, is a dark-colored granodiorite stela inscribed with the same text in three scripts – Demotic, hieroglyphic and Greek. In July 1799, the stone was found in the city of Rosetta (modern el Rashid) by French soldiers during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt.
What is the controversy about the Rosetta Stone? ›The contention over the original stone copy stems from its unrivaled significance to Egyptology. Carved in the 2nd century B.C., the slab contains three translations of a decree relating to a settlement between the then-ruling Ptolemies and a sect of Egyptian priests.
Which Egyptian pharaoh believed in only one god? ›For this king, there was only one god and only one person who now knew the god: Akhenaten himself. Initially called Amenhotep IV, Akhenaten came to the throne around 1349 BCE.
Who owns the Rosetta Stone? ›When British forces defeated the French in Egypt, the stone and over a dozen other antiquities were handed over to the British under the terms of an 1801 surrender deal between the generals of the two sides. It has remained in the British Museum since.
How did the Rosetta Stone change the world? ›About 9 feet long, weighing about 1,700 pounds, the 2,200-year-old black granite Rosetta Stone bears ancient inscriptions written in four languages that later led to solving the riddle of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
How did ancient Egyptians view the afterlife? ›The ancient Egyptians believed that when they died their spiritual body would continue to exist in an afterlife very similar to their living world. However, entry into this afterlife was not guaranteed. The dead had to negotiate a dangerous underworld journey and face the final judgment before they were granted access.
What is the legacy of ancient Egypt? ›The dominant visible legacy of ancient Egypt is in works of architecture and representational art. Until the Middle Kingdom, most of these were mortuary: royal tomb complexes, including pyramids and mortuary temples, and private tombs.
Who found the Rosetta Stone first and knew it was important? ›| Rosetta Stone | |
|---|---|
| Created | 196 BC |
| Discovered | 1799 |
| Discovered by | Pierre-François Bouchard |
| Present location | British Museum |
What are the characteristics of the Rosetta Stone? ›
The Rosetta Stone is an incomplete grey and pink granodiorite stela dating from 196 BCE which presents a priestly decree concerning King Ptolemy V of Egypt. The text is in three different versions: Hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek, a fact which immeasurably helped to finally decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics.
What was the key to unlocking hieroglyphics? ›The Rosetta Stone, discovered in 1799, with its decree written in hieroglyphs, demotic and the known language of ancient Greek, provided the key to decoding the ancient signs. The results of the 1822 breakthrough proved staggering.
What is the true name of God? ›Yahweh, name for the God of the Israelites, representing the biblical pronunciation of “YHWH,” the Hebrew name revealed to Moses in the book of Exodus. The name YHWH, consisting of the sequence of consonants Yod, Heh, Waw, and Heh, is known as the tetragrammaton.
Was Yahweh an Egyptian god? ›Yahweh was an ancient Levantine deity, and national god of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Though no consensus exists regarding the deity's origins, scholars generally contend that Yahweh emerged as a "divine warrior" associated first with Seir, Edom, Paran and Teman, and later with Canaan.
Where is god from according to the Bible? ›I directed his attention to a similar Scripture at Deuteronomy 33:2 which states in part: “The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from Mount Paran.” — KJV. I tactfully pointed out that while Habakkuk 3:3 speaks of God coming from Teman, Moses wrote that God came from Sinai.
Who was the most important Egyptian god of the sun? ›Ra was the king of the deities and the father of all creation. He was the patron of the sun, heaven, kingship, power, and light. He was not only the deity who governed the actions of the sun, he could also be the physical sun itself, as well as the day.
Can we understand Egyptian hieroglyphs? ›While Egyptian hieroglyphs were deciphered in the 19th century, there are still a number of ancient languages that are not understood today. "There are basically three kinds of decipherment problems," Allen told Live Science.
Did Greek knowledge come from Egypt? ›The early Greeks studied the Egyptians, and took numerous of their ideas and philosophies and incorporated them into their own culture.
Which ancient civilization used the hieroglyphic script? ›The ancient Egyptians used the distinctive script known today as hieroglyphs (Greek for "sacred words") for almost 4,000 years.
What was used to finally decipher Egyptian writing? ›The ancient Egyptians' language had archaeologists baffled until the hieroglyphs were carefully deciphered using the Rosetta Stone.
Which artifact was used to decode hieroglyphics? ›
The Ancient Egyptian slab helped crack the code of hieroglyphics.
What was the most significant discovery for the history of Egyptology? ›| # | Discovery | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Khufu ship | Giza pyramid complex |
| 2 | Unfinished obelisk | Aswan |
| 3 | The Great Pyramid | Giza pyramid complex |
| 4 | Tomb of Tutankhamun | Valley of the Kings |
One day, while fortifying a fort in the port city of Rosetta, a French lieutenant unearthed a stone that would allow Champollion to unlock the secrets of the hieroglyphs. He recognized that it was significant because it had text in Greek, hieroglyphs, and another unknown script, now known to be demotic.
Has the rest of the Rosetta Stone been found? ›The Rosetta Stone is a fragment of a larger stele. No additional fragments were found in later searches of the Rosetta site. Owing to its damaged state, none of the three texts is complete.
What archaeological discovery did Jean Champollion use to decipher the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphics? ›The Rosetta stone was discovered in 1799 and has been displayed in the British Museum since 1802. This trilingual stela presents the same text in hieroglyphics, demotic and Greek, thus providing the first clues based on which Young and Champollion deciphered the Egyptian hieroglyphic script.
Why was Rosetta Stone hard to decipher? ›The quest to decipher the Rosetta Stone was complicated by the unique nature of the ancient Egyptian language. At the time, Champollion, Young and their peers had mainly worked with alphabetic languages like English and French, in which individual letters and groups of letters represent different sounds.
What did the Rosetta Stone say? ›The message, inscribed on the Rosetta Stone in 196 BC, is a decree (an official message) about Pharaoh Ptolemy V. It says that the priests at the temple in Memphis, Egypt, supported the Pharaoh. It translates as a bit of a list of all of the good things Pharaoh Ptolemy V did for the priests and the people of Egypt.
When was the Rosetta Stone discovered Why is it so important? ›The key to translating hieroglyphics
Hieroglyphic writing died out in Egypt in the fourth century C.E.. Over time the knowledge of how to read hieroglyphs was lost, until the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1799 and its subsequent decipherment. The Stone is a tablet of black rock called granodiorite.
The “confiscation” of the Rosetta Stone came during imperial battles between Britain and France. After Napoleon Bonaparte's military occupation of Egypt, French soldiers uncovered the stone in 1799 in the northern town of Rashid, known by the French as Rosetta.
What part of the Rosetta Stone is missing? ›Judging from the proportions of the lengths of inscriptions, the stone was at least 12 inches longer than it is now. However, no additional fragments were found in later searches of the Rosetta site. The sections of the stone that are missing include the top right and left corners and the bottom right corner.
Why hasn't the Rosetta Stone been returned to Egypt? ›
When British forces defeated the French in Egypt, the stone and over a dozen other antiquities were handed over to the British under the terms of an 1801 surrender deal between the generals of the two sides. It has remained in the British Museum since.
What is the Rosetta Stone in real life? ›The Rosetta Stone, a symbol for different things to different people, is a dark-colored granodiorite stela inscribed with the same text in three scripts – Demotic, hieroglyphic and Greek. In July 1799, the stone was found in the city of Rosetta (modern el Rashid) by French soldiers during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt.