How the secret of the famous Rosetta stone became the key to unraveling all the secrets of ancient Egypt

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The powerful and mysterious Egyptian civilization, so ancient that it is even difficult for a person who is far from history to imagine how much. Attempts to unravel all its secrets have long been undertaken by various scientists and for the most part unsuccessfully. After all, the key to unraveling many secrets is the ability to read Egyptian texts, which was lost in antiquity. In these incomprehensible symbols, researchers saw astrological, kabbalistic signs. Some even suggested their alien origin and some mystical secret teachings. Who would have thought that at first glance, an unremarkable archaeological find discovered by Napoleon's soldiers would become that unique key that would help to find out all the secrets of Ancient Egypt.

If we imagine that after many millennia the history of our period is being studied by scientists-archaeologists of the future, then what will appear before their eyes? There are a lot of architectural structures, material values, household items, works of art, but all this is relatively useless - they do not know our language, the principles of constructing our speech and cannot read a word! That is, everything that constitutes the foundations of the organization of our society, religion, spirituality and everyday life will remain a mystery to them.

This has already happened in history: the unsolved cuneiform of the peoples of Mesopotamia, Mayan texts and Egyptian hieroglyphs. The moments when these secrets were solved by scientists can be compared to when a light was suddenly turned on in a dark garage littered with various rubbish. All vaguely visible objects suddenly became clear - these were genuine breakthroughs in science. In such amazing discoveries, a special place is occupied by the solution of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

A valuable find

Unfortunately, many valuable archaeological artifacts were destroyed. Near the famous Valley of the Kings in Egypt, there is an unremarkable village where the inhabitants have lived for centuries by plundering tombs. The damage to history and archeology from such vandalism is hard to imagine!

Despite this, attempts to unravel the long-lost secrets of the ancient Egyptian writing never stopped. An unprecedented surge of European scholars to the secrets of Ancient Egypt arose during the campaigns of Napoleon at the end of the 18th century. The Egyptian adventure of the future emperor ended militarily ingloriously, but its value for science cannot be overestimated!

General Napoleon's army was accompanied by an entire research institute by today's standards. There were scientists, archaeologists, engineers, artists. While the army fought, the scientists worked tirelessly. They researched, studied, documented absolutely everything they could see. Everything that you could take with you was packed and taken away. At that time, a myriad of different ancient Egyptian texts fell into the hands of historians.

During this time, French troops occupied most of Egypt. The vain Corsican dreamed of spreading influence to India in order to defeat the hated England. In the Nile Delta, the military was building Fort Saint-Julien, not far from the small town of Rosetta. While the sappers were digging trenches around the fort, officer Pierre-Francois Bouchard noticed a curious stone and ordered to extract it. After closer examination, the captain immediately realized that this find was extremely valuable and ordered to send the slab to Cairo, where the newly formed Institute of Egypt was then located.

The expansion of France lasted only three years, the British were able to oust them from Egypt. The Rosetta stone (as this find is called to this day) came to England along with other valuable artifacts. The plate is still kept in the famous British Museum. Despite all the claims of the Egyptians, the museum flatly refused to return the Rosetta Stone to its historical homeland.

What is the Rosetta Stone?

The famous Rosetta Stone is an impressive black block of stones. Outwardly, it does not look as impressive and interesting as other ancient Egyptian artifacts. One side of it is polished and completely covered with inscriptions, the other side is rough. At first, the stone was mistaken for granite, but later it turned out that it was granodiorite. The writings inscribed on the slab are made in three forms: Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, Ancient Greek, and Egyptian demotic writing. The stone is only part of a huge stele, not a single text on it is complete.

Ancient Greek inscriptions were deciphered immediately. Later they managed to translate the demotic text. Both inscriptions contained an identical story of gratitude to the king of Egypt, Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The text dates back to 196 BC. Despite the presence of these translations, it was only nearly thirty years later that it was possible to decipher the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. The most difficult task for scientists was precisely the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Scientists knew very little about this type of writing. A breakthrough in this area was made by a French scientist who is considered the founding father of such a science as Egyptology - Jean-François Champollion. This happened due to chance.

Decryption history

Immediately after the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, a French magazine wrote about it. The issue of this magazine accidentally caught the eye of a nine-year-old boy, the son of a bookseller. The boy was smart beyond his years. At the age of five, he learned to read on his own. When little Khan was seven, his brother Jacques went with the very expedition of Napoleon to Egypt. And then Jean_Francois stumbles upon an entry about the Rosetta stone. The boy was simply bewitched by the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. He was so intrigued that he devoted his entire future life to deciphering them.

By the age of thirteen, Champollion already knew Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, Syrian, Chaldean languages. He began studying ancient Chinese to clarify its relationship with ancient Egyptian. Gradually, the talented boy got to the Coptic language, which is something akin to a bridge to the ancient Egyptian. By the age of seventeen, the young genius was unanimously elected a member of the French Academy. Now at his disposal was such a powerful arsenal of knowledge that one could only dream of.

Jean-François did not trade in deciphering individual characters or words. He decided that it was necessary to understand the very system of their construction. At some point, it dawned on Champollion that the names of the rulers could serve as a key. This was the main impetus for the subsequent solution. The young man deciphering the hieroglyphs in this way was able to read the name of Pharaoh Ramses inscribed on the wall of the temple. Having received a certain set of already understandable symbols, Champollion slowly but surely moved towards his goal.

Champollion's labor

In 1822, the scientist published a book about the ancient Egyptian alphabet of phonetic hieroglyphs. This work was devoted to Champollion's first studies in the field of decryption. His next research work was published in 1824. This period is considered by scientists to be the birth of Egyptology as a science.

Despite all his work and life devoted to the mysteries of Ancient Egypt, Jean-Francois has never been there. In 1828, the scientist decides to go there with an expedition. To the greatest regret, on this journey his already weak health was completely undermined. The genius who solved the ancient Egyptian code died at the age of forty-one. The main linguistic work of his life "Egyptian Grammar" was published after Champollion's death.

Text on the Rosetta Stone and Its Significance to Science

The deciphered text says that the Memphis priests issued in honor of Pharaoh Ptolemy V Epiphanes, decree. It contained gratitude and praise to the ruler for his generosity. Quotations of Ptolemy about amnesty, forgiveness of debts, exemption from military service, principles of taxation were carved on the stone.

The Rosetta stone, despite its unassuming appearance and not particularly curious text, played an important role in the birth and subsequent development of Egyptology. It was this slab that became the key that helped to decipher many ancient Egyptian texts. Before the appearance of this key, scientists did not even understand how to approach the solution of these hieroglyphs.

All this information helped researchers and historians to penetrate into all the secrets of Ancient Egypt that were inaccessible: who built the famous pyramids, what gods were honored by the ancient Egyptians and why they made mummies. So the Rosetta stone, undoubtedly, was the most important artifact of Ancient Egypt and it is impossible to overestimate its importance for Egyptology.

To learn more about the history of Ancient Egypt, read our article on one of its greatest rulers. how Queen Cleopatra became the wife of two of her brothers at once; and other extraordinary facts about the ruler of Egypt.