In 1799 Napoleon's army uncovered an ancient stele in the Nile delta. Its inscription, recorded in three distinct scripts--ancient Greek, Coptic, and hieroglyphic--would provide scholars with the first clues to unlocking the secrets of Egyptian hieroglyphs, a language lost for nearly two millennia. More than twenty years later a remarkably gifted Frenchman named Jean-Francois Champollion successfully deciphered the hieroglyphs on the stele, now commonly known as the Rosetta Stone, sparking a revolution in our knowledge of ancient Egypt.
Author(s): Andrew Robinson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2012
Language: English
Commentary: DeDRM from https://archive.org/details/crackingegyptian00robi
Pages: 272
Tags: History;Egyptology;Egypt;Nubia;Rosetta Stone;Cryptology;Ramesses;Champollion;Napoleon;Fourier;Hieroglyphs;
Front Cover......Page 1
Acknowledgements......Page 11
Prologue: Egyptomania......Page 13
I. Hieroglyphic 'Delirium' Before Champolion......Page 19
II. A Revolutionary Childhood......Page 32
III. Reluctant Schoolboy......Page 43
IV. Egypt Encountered......Page 53
V. Paris and the Rosetta Stone......Page 61
VI. Teenage Professor......Page 73
VII. The Race Begins......Page 84
VIII. Napoleon and Champollion......Page 96
IX. Exile and Revolt......Page 113
X. Breakthrough......Page 131
XI. An Egyptian Renaissance......Page 155
XII. Curator at the Louvre......Page 171
XIII. To Egypt, At Last......Page 180
XIV. In Search of Ramesses......Page 209
XV. First Professor of Egyptology......Page 230
XVI. The Hieroglyps After Champollion......Page 241
Postcript: Geniuses and Polymaths......Page 257
Notes and References......Page 259
Bibliography......Page 267
List of Illustrations......Page 271
Index......Page 273
Back Cover......Page 280
