Cracking the Egyptian Code: The Revolutionary Life of Jean-François Champollion - Softcover

Andrew Robinson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0500051712 ISBN 13: 9780500051719

Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2012

Synopsis

In 1799 Napoleon's army uncovered an ancient stele in the Nile delta. Its inscription, recorded in three distinct scripts--ancient Greek, Coptic, and hieroglyphic--would provide scholars with the first clues to unlocking the secrets of Egyptian hieroglyphs, a language lost for nearly two millennia. More than twenty years later a remarkably gifted Frenchman named Jean-Francois Champollion successfully deciphered the hieroglyphs on the stele, now commonly known as the Rosetta Stone, sparking a revolution in our knowledge of ancient Egypt. 'Cracking the Egyptian Code' is the first biography in English of Champollion, widely regarded as the founder of Egyptology. Andrew Robinson meticulously reconstructs how Champollion cracked the code of the hieroglyphic script, describing how Champollion started with Egyptian obelisks in Rome and papyri in European collections, sailed the Nile for a year, studied the tombs in the Valley of the Kings (a name he first coined), and carefully compared the three scripts on the Rosetta Stone to penetrate the mystery of the hieroglyphic text. Robinson also brings to life the rivalry between Champollion and the English scientist Thomas Young, who claimed credit for launching the decipherment, which Champollion hotly denied. There is much more to Champollion's life than the Rosetta Stone and Robinson gives equal weight to the many roles he played in his tragically brief life, from a teenage professor in Revolutionary France to a supporter of Napoleon (whom he met), an exile, and a curator at the Louvre. Extensively illustrated in color and black-and-white pictures, 'Cracking the Egyptian Code' will appeal to a wide readership interested in Egypt, decipherment and code-breaking, and Napoleon and the French Revolution.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Egyptomania; 1. Hieroglyphic ‘Delirium’ before Champollion; 2. A Revolutionary Childhood; 3. Reluctant Schoolboy; 4. Egypt Encountered; 5. Paris and the Rosetta Stone; 6. Teenage Professor; 7. The Race Begins; 8. Napoleon and Champollion; 9. Exile and Revolt; 10. Breakthrough; 11. An Egyptian Renaissance; 12. Curator at the Louvre; 13. To Egypt, At Last; 14. In Search of Ramesses; 15. First Professor of Egyptology; 16. The Hieroglyphs after Champollion; Postscript: Geniuses and Polymaths

About this title

About the Author

Andrew Robinson is the author of twenty-five books in the arts and sciences, nine of them on aspects of Indian history and culture. They include two definitive biographies: Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye, described by V. S. Naipaul as ‘an extraordinarily good, detailed and selfless book’, and the coauthored Rabindranath Tagore: The Myriad-Minded Man. He holds degrees from Oxford University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, has been a Visiting Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and is currently a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society.

From the Back Cover

This finely illustrated biography - the first in English - charts Champollion's dramatic life and achievements: how, against the odds, he began to decipher a lost world, led an expedition to Egypt with royal backing, lived in the tombs of the Valley of the Kings, and made the voices of the pharaohs and their subjects speak. Living life to the full, he formed undying friendships and rivalries - but his obsession eventually drove him into an early death, at the age of only 41.

Edition details

• Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0500051712
• ISBN 13: 9780500051719
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272