The Rosetta StoneBudge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
History
The Rosetta Stone
Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
Egyptian language -- Writing, Hieroglyphic; Rosetta stone
The first translation of the Greek text was made by the Rev. Stephen
Weston, and was read by him before the Society of Antiquaries of London
in April, 1802. This was quickly followed by a French translation made
by “citizen Du Theil,” who declared that the Stone was “a monument of
the gratitude of some priests of Alexandria, or some neighbouring
place, towards Ptolemy Epiphanes”; and a Latin translation by “citizen
Ameilhon” appeared in Paris in the spring of 1803. The first studies of
the Demotic text were those of Silvestre de Sacy and Åkerblad in 1802,
and the latter succeeded in making out the general meaning of portions
of the opening lines, and in identifying the equivalents of the names
of Alexander, Alexandria, Ptolemy, Isis, etc. Both de Sacy and Åkerblad
began their labours by attacking the Demotic equivalents of the
cartouches, i.e. the ovals containing royal names in the hieroglyphic
text. In 1818 Dr. Thomas Young compiled for the fourth volume of the
“Encyclopædia Britannica” (published in 1819) the results of his
studies of the texts on the Rosetta Stone, and among them was a list of
several alphabetic Egyptian characters to which, in most cases, he had
assigned correct values. He was the first to grasp the idea of a
phonetic principle in the reading of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, and he
was the first to apply it to their decipherment. Warburton, de Guignes,
Barthélemy and Zoëga all suspected the existence of alphabetic
hieroglyphics, and the three last-named scholars believed that the
oval, or cartouche [blank cartouche], contained a proper, or royal
name. But it was Young who first proved both points, and successfully
deciphered the name of Ptolemy on the Rosetta Stone, and that of
Berenice on another monument. Another successful decipherer at this
time was Mr. J. W. Bankes, who, in 1818, deciphered the name of
Cleopatra on the granite obelisk that he had excavated at Philæ in
1815. In 1822 the list of alphabetic Egyptian characters that had been
drawn up by Young was corrected and greatly enlarged by J. F.
Champollion, who, between that date and the year of his death,
correctly deciphered the hieroglyphic forms of the names and titles of
most of the Roman Emperors, and drew up a classified list of Egyptian
hieroglyphs, and formulated a system of grammar and general
decipherment which is the foundation whereon all later Egyptologists
have worked. The discovery of the correct alphabetic values of Egyptian
signs was most useful for reading names, but for translating the
Egyptian language a competent knowledge of Coptic was required. Now
Coptic is only a name meaning “Egyptian.” The Egyptians who embraced
Christianity after the preaching of Saint Mark at Alexandria are called
“Copts,” and the translations of the Holy Scriptures, Liturgies, etc.,
which they made from Greek into their native Egyptian language soon
after their conversion to Christianity, are said to be written in
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account