Hieroglyphics and the Rosetta Stone
Ancient Egyptian Writing Decoded by 19th Century Scholars
Several days before British Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson destroyed the French fleet at Abuquir in Egypt, French archaeologists discovered a granite slab in a region known as “Rosetta” at the town of Rashid. The stone contained writings representing three ancient forms of writing: Greek, demotic, and hieroglyphs. Over the next few decades, British, French, and German scholars would use this stone to ultimately decipher the ancient writing of the Egyptians. The slab, known as the “Rosetta Stone,” was placed in the British Museum in 1802 and is still there today.
Hieroglyph Development in Ancient Egypt
Scholars debate the origins of Egyptian hieroglyphs, dated to the unification of Egypt in 3050 BCE or at least within 150 years of that date. Although certain similarities to Mesopotamian cuneiform writing may exist, archaeologists like Aiden Dodson at Bristol University believe that the “idea of writing” might have come from Mesopotamia, but that Egypt developed its hieroglyphs independent of the ancient Near East.
Hieroglyphs began as pictograms, simple depictions such as a boat or a tree that told a simple story. The evolution of Egyptian pictograms to ideograms and phonograms parallels other ancient world systems, notably the Chinese. In Egypt, phonograms reflected certain signs that became specialized symbols. Nicolas Grimal, the noted French Egyptologist at the Sorbonne in Paris, concludes that, “These were essentially unilateral signs which comprised a kind of twenty-six letter alphabet.” (33)
Hieroglyphs were used on monuments, temple and burial walls, and public buildings. Everyday Egyptians developed a “cursive” form which Grimal refers to as a “short hand method of writing,” known as “Hieratic.” Hieratic writing eventually evolved into demotic, one of the writing forms found on the Rosetta Stone. Over time, hieratic/demotic evolved into the Coptic form that would eventually lead to the Greek alphabet. This is fairly significant in that Jean Champollion, one of the leaders in unlocking the secrets of the Rosetta Stone, knew Coptic.
Unraveling the Mystery of the Rosetta Stone
Although Jean-Francois Champollion is generally credited with deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, many other scholars contributed. Once the British neutralized Napoleon’s foray into Egypt, most of the discovered antiquities, including the Rosetta Stone, were sent to London. Copies of the message or story on the stone were sent to the learning centers of Europe. In addition to Champollion, whose efforts represent the lion’s share of discovery and understanding, English physicist Thomas Young also contributed to unlocking the secrets of the stone.
Champollion correctly deduced that the hieroglyphs had a phonetic basis, taking his cue from the Egyptian “cartouche” that bore specific names of rulers. Champollion died before proving his theory yet it was another Frenchman, Emmanuel de Rouge, who ultimately provided the system with which to decipher hieroglyphs, based on Champollion’s extensive research.
Secrets Still to be Revealed
Scholars studying ancient Egypt point to many already discovered artifacts stored in museum and universities basements just waiting to be deciphered. Each new tantalizing tidbit provides yet another chapter in how everyday life in Egypt progressed.
At the same time, museums and toy companies capitalize on hieroglyphs as a teaching tool. The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, for example, sells a kit called “Fun With Hieroglyphics” that features ink stamps of Egyptian hieroglyphs so that users can “send secret messages in an ancient and mysterious language…All you need is your own papyrus!”
Sources:
Aidan Dodson, The Hieroglyphs of Ancient Egypt (Barnes and Noble Books, 2001).
Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt (Barnes and Noble Books, 1997).
Rosetta Stone
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