ancient civilization has a unique and mysterious knowledge, many of which have been lost over time, or are carried to the grave by the holders.One of these mysteries were Egyptian hieroglyphs.People were eager to unravel their secrets for desecrating the tomb of this tomb.But it managed to make just one person.So who of the scientists managed to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics?
What is it?
ancient Egyptians believed that the characters - these are the words of God.They say the show and silent.That is, they had three purposes: writing and reading, expression of ideas, a method of transmitting secrets between generations.
During the Middle Kingdom more than seven hundred characters included in the Egyptian alphabet.Hieroglyphics were a set of values.One sign could carry a diverse sense.
In addition, there were special characters that are used by priests.They concluded a three-dimensional thought forms.
In those days, the characters were much more important than today's letters.They are credited with the magical power.
Rosetta Stone
the summer of 1799 in Egypt was the expedition of Napoleon.During the digging of trenches around the town of Rosetta from the ground dug a large stone covered with mysterious characters.
Its upper part was broken off.It survived characters arranged in rows and fourteen.And they were driven out from left to right, which is not typical for the oriental languages.
middle part of the surface of the stone contains 32 rows of hieroglyphs ejected from right to left.They have survived the most fully.
At the bottom of the stone have been knocked out in Greek letters.They are located in 54 rows, but not fully preserved because of the stone was broken off the corner.
officers of Napoleon realized that they had made an important discovery.Greek writing immediately transferred.They narrated about the decision to put the priests to become the ruler of Egypt, the Greek Ptolemy Epiphanes, near the statue of the deity.And appoint church festival days of his birth and accession to the throne.Next was the text that this inscription is repeated sacred hieroglyphics of Egypt and demonic characters.It is known that Ptolemy Epiphanes ruled 196 BC.e.Another letter nobody could translate.
stone placed at the Egyptian Institute which Napoleon founded at Cairo.But the British fleet defeated the French army and was strengthened in Egypt.Mysterious stone was handed over to the British National Museum.
mystery of Egyptian hieroglyphics interested scientists around the world.But to know the answer to it was not so easy.
Shapmolon
from Grenoble in December 1790 was born Jacques-Francois Champollion.He grew very smart boy, he loved to spend time with a book in his hand.In five years, he taught himself the alphabet and learned to read.At 9 years old, he was fluent in Latin and Greek.
The boy had an older brother, Joseph, a passion for Egyptology.Once the brothers were in the visiting prefect, where we saw a collection of Egyptian papyrus, written in cryptic signs.At the time, Champollion decided that he will open the mystery of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
At age 13 he began to study Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Coptic, and Sanskrit.While studying at the Lycée Francois wrote a study about Egypt Pharaonic times, which created a furor.
Then the boy was a long period of study and hard work.He saw a copy of the Rosetta Stone, which was performed poorly.To disassemble each character had gazed into it.
In 1809, Champollion became professor of history at the University of Grenoble.But during the reign of the Bourbons, he was expelled from it.In the difficult years of the scientist he worked on the unraveling of the Rosetta Stone.
He realized that the characters are three times more than words in Greek script.Then Champollion visited the idea that they are a likeness of characters.In future work, he realized that the Egyptian hieroglyphs alphabet contained three kinds.
first type - characters that are carved in stone.They represent a large and clear, with a thorough artistic portrayal.
second type - hieratic characters that represent the same characters, but not as clearly depicted.This script used on papyrus and limestone.
third type - the Coptic alphabet, consisting of 24 Greek letters and seven letters, consonants demonic letter.
Tips from antiquity
Identification of Egyptian writing, helped scientists in their future work.But it took years to determine whether the hieratic and demonic characters.
From the inscription in Greek, he knew the place where the embossed name of Ptolemy Epiphanes, which the Egyptian language sounded like Ptolemayos.It is found in the middle of the stone marks corresponding thereto.Then replace them with the characters and found the resulting code at the top of the stone.He guessed that the ancient Egyptians often passed vowel sounds, hence the name of the Pharaoh should sound differently - Ptolmis.
winter of 1822, Champollion got another thing with inscriptions in Greek and Egyptian languages.It is easy to read the name of Queen Cleopatra in the Greek part and found appropriate signs in ancient Egyptian writings.
Likewise, he wrote other names - Tiberius, Germanicus, Alexander and Domitian.But he was surprised that none of them are Egyptian names.Then he decided that the names of foreign rulers, and for the Pharaohs phonetic symbols are not used.
In September 1822 the scientist received the copy of the inscriptions on the walls of the temple of Ramses II.Despite his conviction not to use phonetic symbols, he tried to solve the name on the label.Thus, character by character, he turned the P-th-th-C.If you add the vowels, we get Ramses.He was struck by this fact.Thinking in this way to read further, he got one Thutmose.Gradually, the dead characters come to life.
It was an incredible discovery.Egyptian writing was sound!
scientist rushed to his brother reported his discovery.But, shouting: "I found it!" Unconscious.For almost a week he lay exhausted.
In late September, Champollion announced his incredible discovery French Academy of Sciences.The wars and victories of the Pharaohs, about the life of the people of the country told Egyptian hieroglyphs.Explanation opened a new stage in Egyptology.
last years
Champollion Champollion - one of the scientists who managed to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics, did not stop there.He went to Italy for new materials, because in this country kept many Egyptian documents.
After returning from Italy, the scientist published work describing the grammar of the language of ancient Egypt containing Egyptian hieroglyphics, transcript of which was the cause of his life.
In 1822, Champollion headed an expedition to the pyramids.It was his old dream.He was struck by the grandeur of the temple of Hatshepsut, Dendera and Saqqara.The inscriptions, depicted on their walls, he read with ease.
returning from Egypt, the scientist was elected to the French Academy.He received universal recognition.But he enjoyed the fame is not very long.The only one of the scientists managed to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics, died in March 1832.Say goodbye to him, came thousands of people.He was buried at the Pere Lachaise cemetery.
Egyptian alphabet
A year after the death of his brother, a scientist has published recent work containing the translation of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
First Egyptian letter came down to a simple sketch objects.That is the whole word is represented by one pattern.Then, drawing steel be sounds that make up the word.But the ancient Egyptians did not write vowels.So often different words portrayed a hieroglyph.For their differences about the character is a specific determinants.
Writing Ancient Egypt consisted of verbal, sound and attributive characters.Sound characters consisted of several consonants.Characters consisting of a single letter, was only 24. They made the alphabet and used to write foreign names.All this became known after unraveled the mystery of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
scribes of ancient Egypt
Egyptians used papyrus for writing.The stems of the plants were cut lengthwise and laid so that their edges are slightly found each other.Thus lining several layers and compressed.Parts of the plant were glued to each other using their own juice.
packaging is sharpened sticks.Every scribe had his wand.Email is two colors.Black paint was used for the main text, and the red - only at the beginning of the line.
scribes trained in schools.It was a prestigious profession.
Case Champollion
alive when he died he who deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs, he was worried about the continuation of the study of the culture of ancient Egypt.Nowadays, this area is allocated in separate science.Who studied literature, religion, the history of this civilization.
Here we answer the question of which of the scientists managed to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics.Today, modern researchers are free to work with primary sources.Thanks to Champollion the mysterious world of ancient civilization every year lifts the veil of its mysteries.
Patron of Literature of Ancient Egypt
One God worshiped by the Egyptians as the patron of writing.He was called the "scribe of the gods."The population of ancient Egypt believed that he invented the alphabet.
In addition, he made many discoveries in the field of astrology, alchemy and medicine.Plato attributed to the heirs of his Atlantean civilization, explaining that his incredible knowledge.
