The Riddle of the Rosetta: How an English Polymath and a French Polyglot Discovered the Meaning of Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Buchwald, Jed Z.; Josefowicz, Diane Greco; Rob Tempio, Sara Lerner, Alyssa Sanford, Cas Ferrante, Erin Suydam, Amy Stewart, Cathryn Slovensky, James Basire, Howard Romero, Deana Kormos-Buchwald

ISBN 10: 0691200904 / ISBN 13: 9780691200903

Edité par Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2020, 2020

A propos de cet article

1st ed., 1st printing ; xi, 561 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm ; ISBN 9780691200903, 9780691233963, 0691200904, 0691233969 ; OCLC 1110656207 ; dark grey cloth in dustjacket; dustjacket attached to endpapers ; Contents: A Quaker's Odyssey. Dinner at Longman's -- In the classroom of nature -- An errand in the city -- The vocal circle -- Lecturer and physician -- The Herculaneum papyri -- Antiquity Embraced. Words from Egypt's past? -- The sounds of an ancient language -- Paris atmospheres -- Rooted in place -- Hier pour demain -- L'Affaire Polycarpe -- An Egyptian geography of Egypt -- Indications -- Scripts and Bones. Summer at Worthing -- Letters from Paris -- The papyri of the Description de l'E?gypte -- Seeking uxellodunum -- The master of conditions -- Abandoning the alphabet at Grenoble --Demonstrations -- Iconoclasm at the Acade?mie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres -- Reading the Past. The obelisk from Philae -- A singular and puzzling artifact -- A momentous change -- Words and sounds -- Parisian reactions -- Words across the Channel -- Antique Letters. Grey's box -- An opportune encounter -- The "true key" to Egyptian hieroglyphs -- The semantic trap avoided -- The reception of the Pre?cis -- "Hold your laughter, friends!" ; "In 1799, a French officer was clearing debris from a military installation when he discovered a stele bearing three scripts: ancient Greek, hieroglyphic, and a third that could not be definitively identified. This artifact, which came to be known as the Rosetta Stone, has traditionally played the starring role in the history of decipherment, which has until now been understood as an instance of code-breaking, a kind of Bletchley Park avant la lettre. In The Riddle of the Rosetta, Buchwald and Josefowicz delve into a wide array of British and French sources as well as archival material to produce a comprehensive new history of the decipherment. More than a puzzle-solving exercise based on a single artifact, the decipherment engaged with the era's social, cultural and intellectual contexts. It grew in the midst of heated disputes about language, historical evidence, the status of the Bible, the nature of polytheism, and the importance of classical learning. Jean-Franc?ois Champollion in France and his British rival, the medical doctor and polymath Thomas Young, approached the decipherment from different standpoints derived from their contrasting temperaments, educational experiences, and attitudes to antiquity. Imbued with reverence for Greek culture and raised a Quaker, Young disdained Egyptian culture and saw Egyptian writing principally as a way to uncover new knowledge about Greco-Roman antiquity. To him, the decipherment was akin to a challenge posed by a problem in mathematics or science. Champollion's altogether different motivations and attitude unfolded amidst the political chaos of Restoration France, in fierce response to the intrigues of opposing scholars aligned with throne and altar. Unlike Young, Champollion admired ancient Egypt, and this sympathy, coupled with his willingness to upend conventional wisdom about the enigmatic Egyptian signs, freed him to travel a path down which Young refused to go. A remarkable intellectual adventure reaching from the filthy back streets of Georgian London to the hushed lecture rooms of the Institut de France, from the forgotten byways of provincial France to the splendor of the Valley of the Kings, this book reveals the decipherment in its full historical complexity" ; FINE/FINE.

N° de réf. du vendeur 009317

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: The Riddle of the Rosetta: How an English Polymath and a French Polyglot Discovered the Meaning of Egyptian Hieroglyphs
• Éditeur: Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2020
• Date de parution: 2020
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0691200904
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780691200903
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: 1st Edition.
• État de l'article: Fine
• État de la jaquette: Fine
• Type de livre: Book

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

A major new history of the race between two geniuses to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Europe In 1799, a French Army officer was rebuilding the defenses of a fort on the banks of the Nile when he discovered an ancient stele fragment bearing a decree inscribed in three different scripts. So begins one of the most familiar tales in Egyptology-that of the Rosetta Stone and the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs. This book draws on fresh archival evidence to provide a major new account of how the English polymath Thomas Young and the French philologist Jean-Francois Champollion vied to be the first to solve the riddle of the Rosetta. Jed Buchwald and Diane Greco Josefowicz bring to life a bygone age of intellectual adventure. Much more than a decoding exercise centered on a single artifact, the race to decipher the Rosetta Stone reflected broader disputes about language, historical evidence, biblical truth, and the value of classical learning. Buchwald and Josefowicz paint compelling portraits of Young and Champollion, two gifted intellects with altogether different motivations. Young disdained Egyptian culture and saw Egyptian writing as a means to greater knowledge about Greco-Roman antiquity. Champollion, swept up in the political chaos of Restoration France and fiercely opposed to the scholars aligned with throne and altar, admired ancient Egypt and was prepared to upend conventional wisdom to solve the mystery of the hieroglyphs. Taking readers from the hushed lecture rooms of the Institut de France to the windswept monuments of the Valley of the Kings, The Riddle of the Rosetta reveals the untold story behind one of the nineteenth century's most thrilling discoveries.

À propos de l?auteur

Jed Z. Buchwald is the Doris and Henry Dreyfuss Professor of History at the California Institute of Technology. He lives in Altadena, California. Diane Greco Josefowicz is a writer, editor, and activist. She has served for more than a decade as science and technology editor for the Victorian Web (victorianweb.org). She lives in Providence, Rhode Island. Buchwald and Josefowicz are the authors of The Zodiac of Paris: How an Improbable Controversy over an Ancient Egyptian Artifact Provoked a Modern Debate between Religion and Science (Princeton). Twitter @dianegreco