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Egyptian civilization writing system
Analysis of the rosetta stone
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Arguably one of the most important discoveries made regarding the historical and cultural study of ancient Egypt is the translation of the writing form known as hieroglyphics. This language, lost for thousands of years, formed a tantalizing challenge to a young Jean François who committed his life to its translation. Scholars such as Sylvestre de Sacy had attempted to translate the Rosetta Stone before Champollion, but after painstaking and unfruitful work, they abandoned it (Giblin 32). Champollion’s breakthrough with hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone opened up new possibilities to study and understand ancient Egypt like never before, and modern Egyptology was born.
The Rosetta Stone was found in the town of Rosetta and sent to French scholars in Alexandria during the summer of 1799 (Giblin 23). This black, measuring 112 by 76 stone found while the soldiers in the town were destroying a citadel was unprecedented because it had three different languages on it, the only understood one being Greek (Silet 1). The three languages on the stone were, as stated, Greek, the common Egyptian demotic, and 14 lines of hieroglyphics (Giblin 27). Scholars familiar with the Greek language and writing system were able to translate that section, and the final sentence revealed a fact that set the groundwork for future translations of the other parts. The final line reads: “This decree shall be inscribed on a stela of hard stone in sacred and native and Greek characters” (Giblin 27). It came to be understood that the three sections all contained the same message, and scholars promptly set to work on the translations.
One of the first to work with the copies made from the stone (the British had taken the stone during their war with the French) w...
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...and historical scholars. Although the Rosetta Stone remains in London, France triumphantly stands out as the country responsible for the man who made its translation and the rejuvenation of Egyptology possible.
Works Cited
1. Giblin, James. The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone. New York: Harper Trophy, 1990. Print
2. Meyerson, Daniel. The Linguist and the Emperor: Napoleon and Champollion’s Quest to Decipher the Rosetta Stone Westminster, MD: Ballantine Books, 2004. Web.
3. Robinson, Andrew. “The Code Breaker’s Secret Diaries: Rediscovering Ancient Egypt.” History Today 60.1 (2010): 57-58. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.
4. Silet, Charles L.P. “The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt.” Magill Book Review (2007). Web 15 Feb. 2012.
5. Champollion: Egyptian Hieroglyphics Deciphered: A Film. Dir. Jean Vidal. Magic Films and International Film Bureau, 1979. VHS.
The need for writing in Uruk was drastically different than that of the Egyptians, however. As evidenced at the archaeological site of Hierakonpolis, the Egyptian sy...
The Ancient Egyptian civilization’s development centered around the luxurious, green and fertile Nile river. Astonishingly, they accurately predicted Nile floods to produce surplus crops and allow the growth of society and culture. In the North of Africa, Egyptians flourished until 525 BC. The lands were ruled by powerful pharaohs who provided dominance and control to their people. The Egyptians every day lives centered around an elaborate system of religious and spiritual beliefs. In tribute to their religious beliefs, pharaohs and gods, the Egyptians built breath taking monuments that often included decoration and hieroglyphs that were symbolizations of their spirituality. The amazing architecture and the mystery to how they built these gigantic structures is one of the most intriguing issues of the ancient world. However, the aspect of society and culture also inspire individuals to ask questions about how the Ancient Egyptians went about their everyday lives, and how they managed to develop such a civilized way of living. The illustrations that adorned tombs, and monuments all around Egypt added insight into the lives of the Ancients. Along with the development of writing, the depiction of effective use in medicine became evident. “Medicine was one of the oldest professions in the Nile valley.”(White 1970) Their medical practices were highly advanced for their time and included several doctors and medical practioners. Medical care was provided by workers who laid claim to specific title such as a specailist in animal bites. Or patients would resort to traditional cures handed down throughout generations.(Donadoni 1990) Doctoral specialization was apparently related to the fields of expertise and included surgeons, general pr...
The researcher learned that the Rosetta stone is one of the most important artifacts of the Egyptians. It was written in three ancient scripts and is located at the British museum in London.
Rosetta Stone was a major factor in Egypt’s way of writing ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. The stone was founded by Napoleon’s army in 1799 in the Nile delta. Britain has had the Rosetta Stone for the past 200 years. The British Museum has it as a centerpiece in their Egyptology collection. A man by the name of Zahi Hawass, who is the director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo, has made it a point to negotiate with academics and curators at the British Museum on getting the stone back.
Leniaud, Jean-Michel and Francoise Perrot. The Sainte Chapelle. Paris: Centre des monuments nationaux, 2007. Print .
Scott, N. The Daily Life of the Ancient Egyptians. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 31, No. 3, The Daily Life of the Ancient Egyptians (Spring, 1973), pp. 123-170
Stonehenge is a statue that had been placed on Wessex, England and was not known pre-cisely who built it or for what purpose it was built. As it was told in Caroline Malone and Nancy Stone Bernard’s Stonehenge book “the meaning of the name of Stonehenge is ‘hanging stones’ because people thought the stones were hanging from the uprights” (10). Stonehenge was de-clared as World Heritage Site by United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organiza-tion (UNESCO) (Malone, 8). Unfortunately Stonehenge was affected badly by negligent people and much of that bad effect are tourist erosion. Even though deterioration on surface of stones, many archeologists and historians made numerous researches about it. Today one of the facts that we gain is Stonehenge’s age. Thanks to the 21st century technology, we learned that Stonehenge is some 5.000 years old (Malone, 10).
W. Raymond Johnson, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, (1996), pp. 65-82, Date viewed 19th may, http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3822115.pdf?&acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=true
Once the British and Ottoman allied troops defeated the French on Egyptian soil, terms of surrender were written for France by Britain. “The Articles of Capitulation of Alexandria, signed in 1801 was the result: Article 16 stipulated that all treasures recovered by the French in their three-year stay were to be handed over to the British (“Returning the Rosetta..” Downs).” This is how the Rosetta Stone found its way into Britain where it has been held on display since 1802.
White, John B. Afterword. Stonehenge Decoded. By Gerald S. Hawkins. New York: Doubleday, 1965. 191-197.
The Stonehenge is not shrouded in mystery just because they are huge stones weighing multiple tons in a circular formation, but that nobody truly knows when the formation came to be. Many archaeologists have opposing views on who created this monument, like Edomond Bolton credits it to the Celtic Queen Boudicca, which would make sense by the cremated remains found at the site. One of the most widely accepted ideas though is that the Druids of the time resurrected Stonehenge. Inigo Jones first said that Stonehenge was not the works of the Druids, but John Aubrey contradicted this by saying otherwise (“Stonehenge and the Druids”). Aubrey’s opposing views were recorded in his book “Monumenta Brittanica” where he calls Stonehenge a “Templa Druidum” (“Earth Mysteries: John Aubrey”). Many other people took up Aubrey’s conclusions to the creator of Stonehenge, like William Stukeley, but an...
The Archimedes Palimpsest is very important and contains many ideas of Archimedes. During the medieval ages, the parchment on which his work was written was re-used as a prayer book. In order to reuse his parchment, the medieval monks palimpsested (in Greek “scraped off”) the text and then wrote over the remains. It is currently being refurnished at Rochester Institute of Techn...
While the Valley of the Kings has a rich history, its modern-day contributions not only include advancements of our knowledge of Ancient Egypt, but positive economic effects as well. In 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter unveiled King Tutankhamen’s tomb in its entirety, hidden from any pervious tomb raiders and thieves (Reeves and Wilkinson 86). The hidden tomb was left intact, and Carter’s discovery revealed the riches and artifacts of an ancient civilization. As Reeves and Wilkinson explains, “Because of this vast show of wealth, 70 years after the discovery Tutankhamen remains the valley’s most famous son” (8). Since then, the mainstream...
...layed in the British Museum since 1802 (Cracking Codes 8). In July 2003, Egypt demanded that the Rosetta Stone be returned to Cairo (Edwardes and Milner 2003). The director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo said, “If the British want to be remembered, if they want to restore their reputation, they should volunteer to return the Rosetta Stone because it is the icon of our Egyptian identity.” (Edwardes and Milner 2003). As of 2009, the British and the Egyptians were in talks to loan the Rosetta Stone to Egypt’s Grand Museum for a short period of time (al-Atrush 2009).
Approximately four thousand years ago in Menet Khufu, a small village in Ancient Egyptian, the beginnings of an essential component to cryptology was founded, the modification of text. In a tomb of a local noblesman, Khnumhotep II, hieroglyphic inscriptions were written with unusual symbols in order to confuse and obscure the meaning of the inscriptions being written. It is said that a nobleman’s tomb’s decorations often “break” with the norms of a typical Egyptian tomb (www.cs.dartmouth.edu). Khnumhotep’s tomb is an example of this “breaking from the norm”, which could signify his importance during his lifetime. The next example of cryptology surfacing in ancient times is about 400 years later in Ancient Mesopotamia.