Just one hundred years ago a flat stone was discovered in Egypt which
has revealed the secrets of that ancient civilization, and has, in
fact, supplied us with a key to the dim past.
For centuries the Egyptian “hieroglyphics” remained a mystery. No
scholar could read them, since there was no means of beginning their
interpretation. It was realized that, if these hieroglyphics could
be read, they would reveal to us much concerning the civilization of
ancient Egypt--its life, art and science.
While excavating in upper Egypt, M. Jean Champollion discovered a flat
stone, since known as the “Rosetta Stone,” because it was discovered
near the Egyptian port of Rosetta. This stone had cut in its surface an
inscription in two languages--Egyptian and Greek. Further, the Egyptian
language was written both in the older form of hieroglyphics and in
the more modern “Demotic” characters. It seemed obvious that all three
of these probably referred to the same thing, and that the Demotic
and Greek lettering were but modern variations or translations of the
earlier hieroglyphic script.
It therefore became the object of Egyptian students to attempt the
translation of the hieroglyphics, with the other languages as partial
keys.
The translation was gradually effected as follows:
It was first of all assumed (correctly) that a continuous line about
certain figures indicated a royal name. This is known as a “cartouche.”
It was also assumed that if the cartouche contained the name of
Ptolemy, the characters in it would have the sounds of the Greek
letters--since the Greek was an attempted translation.
A stone had already been found known to contain the name of Cleopatra,
some of the letters of which were the same as in the name Ptolemy.
For example, “l” is the second letter in Cleopatra, and the fourth in
Ptolemy. “P” is the fifth letter in Cleopatra and the first in Ptolemy,
etc.
Now, in examining the two stones, certain hieroglyphics were found to
be the same. For example, a bird occurred in one name and apparently
stood for a certain letter, where it should stand in both names
according to their spelling. This bird was therefore translated as “a.”
In a similar manner, a sign resembling a closed mouth was translated as
“r.” A sign resembling a folded umbrella was translated as “e,” etc.
In this way, letter by letter, the whole alphabet was gradually worked
out, and the message deciphered.
After this, the interpretation of the Egyptian hieroglyphics became
merely a matter of time and study, and today they can be read almost
with facility. We now know much more of ancient history than any
previous generation, so that, the further we progress from ancient
times, the more we know concerning them! All this has been rendered
possible by the discovery of a single piece of stone.