One of the greatest achievements in human history was the invention of writing. She was born in the Ancient East, and one of its oldest species is the hieroglyphs of Ancient Egypt.
The letters are silent if no one knows how to read them. In ancient Egypt, the most educated part of society was the priests, and this class disappeared in the Hellenistic period, when the Egyptian temples were closed by the decree of the emperor Theodosius I. During the reign of the Greeks, and then the Romans, even the language spoken by the Egyptians was lost, what can we say about the ability to read hieroglyphs.
Subsequently, attempts were made to decipher the ancient Egyptian writing. For example, the Jesuit priest Kircher tried to do this in the 17th century, but did not achieve success. A breakthrough in this area followed in the 19th century, and Napoleon indirectly contributed to it.
Rosetta stone
Unlike many other conquerors, Napoleon took artists and scientists on his campaigns. The Egyptian campaign of 1798-1801 was no exception. Napoleon did not succeed in conquering Egypt, but the artists sketched the pyramids and temples, copied the letters found in them, and among the trophies was a flat slab of black basalt covered with letters. The slab was named the Rosetta Stone after the discovery.
This find gave hope for deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphs, because, along with the Egyptian text, it had a text in Greek, which scientists knew well. But it was not easy to compare the two texts: the hieroglyphic inscription occupied 14 lines, and the Greek - 54.
Researchers remembered the ancient scientist Gorapollon, who wrote in the 4th century. a book about Egyptian hieroglyphs. Gorapollo argued that in Egyptian writing, symbols do not mean sounds, but concepts. This explained why the Greek inscription was shorter than the Egyptian one, but did not help decryption.
Jean Champollion
Among the researchers interested in Egyptian writing was the French scientist Jean Champollion. This man was interested in Egypt from early youth: at the age of 12 he knew Arabic, Coptic and Chaldean languages, at 17 he wrote the book "Egypt under the Pharaohs", and at the age of 19 he became a professor. It is to this person that the honor of deciphering the hieroglyphs belongs.
Unlike other scientists, Champollion did not follow the path indicated by Gorapollon - he did not look for concepts-symbols in hieroglyphs. He noticed that some combinations of hieroglyphs were circled in ovals, and suggested that these were the names of kings. The names of Ptolemy and Cleopatra were present in the Greek text, and it was not so difficult to find a match. So Champollion received the basis of the alphabet. Deciphering was complicated by the fact that hieroglyphs were used as letters denoting sounds, only in names, and in other places they denoted syllables and even words (in this, Gorapollo was right). But after a few years, the scientist said with confidence: "I can read any text written in hieroglyphs."
Subsequently, the scientist visited Egypt, where he studied hieroglyphic inscriptions for a year and a half. Shortly after returning to France, Champollion died at the age of 41, and after the death of the scientist, his main work, "Egyptian Grammar", was published.
Champollion's discovery was not immediately recognized - it was challenged for another 50 years. But later, using the Champollion method, it was possible to read other Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions, which confirmed his correctness.
