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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 January 2000 Issue No. 465 
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Published in Cairo by Al-Ahram established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 January 2000 Issue No. 465
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| Published in Cairo by Al-Ahram established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Al-Ahram:
A Diwan of contemporary life (321)
To the French scientist Jean-Francois Champollion, Egypt and the world owe much of their knowledge about the Pharaonic era and the immense wealth of priceless antiquities it bequeathed. Champollion deciphered ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics engraved on the Rosetta Stone found in 1799. His unravelling of the language came in 1822 when he was only 32 years old. Both Egypt and France celebrated the centennial of the great discovery with tributes to Champollion who made no secret of his love for everything Egyptian. Al-Ahram devoted much space in the summer of 1922 to articles and research relating to the decoding of the Rosetta Stone. Dr Yunan Labib Rizk * goes through the newspaper pages to review the event
illustration: Makram Henein
Honouring the great revelation
Millions of people around the world who studied something of the history of the Pharaohs are aware of the credit owed to the man who discovered the key to unraveling their secrets: Jean-Francois Champollion.
The story of Champollion's unlocking of the riddles of the ancient Egyptian language reads like a detective novel. All he had to work with was a mere stone discovered by M Beauchard, one of the scientists of the Napoleonic expedition to Egypt, in the citadel of Rashid (Rosetta). The stone was named after the ancient port in which it was discovered. The Rosetta Stone ultimately ended up in the British Museum, having been appropriated by the British following their campaign in 1801 to force the French to withdraw from Egypt. It seems amazing, therefore, that a young French scholar would succeed in gaining access to the storerooms of that venerable institution where, in 1822, he succeeded in breaking the code of the hieroglyphs, thereby opening the door to the modern study of Egyptology. Champollion, born in 1790, was only 32 at the time.
Yet, detracting slightly from the impact of the amazement is the fact that Champollion, who would die at an early age 10 years later (in 1832), was a precocious youth. Already at 28 he had been appointed to the chair of history in the Royal College of Grenoble and soon afterwards he became the curator of the Egyptian department in the Louvre. His proficiency in numerous ancient languages, notably Greek and Coptic, is what had prepared him for unravelling the secrets of the Rosetta Stone.
In 1922, Champollion would naturally impose himself on the pages of Al-Ahram; it was the 100th anniversary of his success at deciphering hieroglyphics. This centennial thus afforded the newspaper's readers the opportunity to learn much about the man himself and about those mysterious ancient Egyptian symbols.
As is generally the case with such legendary figures, Al-Ahram's biography of Champollion blended fact with fiction. The story of his coming into the world, for example, is reminiscent of numerous myths of the ancient world. The newspaper recounts that, before Champollion was born, "his mother became afflicted with a fatal disease that defied the treatments of the most eminent physicians. As a last resort, the family brought in a seer who prophesied that she would recover in eight days and that a year later she would be blessed with a child that would give her great joy and contentment. Indeed, eight days later, the illness passed and just before a year had lapsed she gave birth to Jean-Francois Champollion."
More down to earth, the newspaper relates that the French scholar was of aristocratic lineage. His father died when he was a child and he was brought up by his elder brother. "He was a highly intelligent and gifted youth. By the age of 13, without a teacher, he had learned Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, Arabic and Chinese. Although he delved into other languages as well, his forte was Coptic. In fact, he once wrote to his brother: "Among all the peoples I like in this world, none have a place in my heart equal to that of the Egyptians."
When the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799, scholars immediately recognised its value. Texts were inscribed on it in three languages: hieroglyphics, demotic and Greek. Champollion was only one of the many European scholars intrigued by the stone, but he was to beat them all to breaking the code of the hieroglyphs. Al-Ahram relates that the young French scholar "turned every element of his diligence, discipline and genius to fathoming the essence of hieroglyphs and the words they formed. It occurred to him that the Greek text was a translation of the hieroglyphic and demotic texts. At that time, the Coptic language preserved most of the grammatical and morphological rules of ancient Egyptian. Although Champollion was well-versed in this language, he wanted to study it further to become as proficient in it as he was in Hebrew, Arabic and Greek".
Armed with this knowledge, Champollion "began to decipher the Rosetta Stone, whose mysteries had defied all other scholars of his time. Benefiting from previous essays of other scholars, he turned his attention to a cartouche that he suspected was engraved with the name of Ptolemy, the brother of Cleopatra. Champollion ascertained his hypothesis by comparing the symbols in the cartouche with those inscribed on the Luxor obelisk that had been transported to London and was known to bear the Graeco-Egyptian ruler's name. He assiduously applied the same approach until he was able to discover many other symbols of the Pharaonic alphabet, thereby furnishing scholars with the key to reading the hieroglyphic lexicon, with the aid of Greek, Hebrew or Latin translations of hieroglyphic texts".
On 27 September 1822, in the Academy of Sciences in Paris, Champollion awed the world with his discovery. In addition to earning the gratitude of the scientific community, his efforts were commended by the French king who presented him with a gold box on which was inscribed, "This is a gift from Louis XVIII to Champollion in reward for his discovery of the hieroglyphic alphabet". But this was only the beginning for the French academic luminary, who travelled first to Italy to visit the museum of antiquities there and then to Egypt where he would stay for two years.
If that tour was "his expedient towards furthering his most cherished cause," death would suddenly intervene to thwart the continued pursuit of his life's work. His early demise on 4 March 1832 is a mystery that one may be tempted to attribute to the 'curse of the pharaohs' for having disclosed their secrets. Whatever the cause, he bequeathed an invaluable contribution to the study of human civilisation, as he himself realised, for his dying words were: "I leave the volumes of my studies, dictionary and memoirs on the language of the hieroglyphs to posterity". Among many of his contemporaries who recognised the debt of gratitude due to him was the eminent French writer Francois Chateaubriand who wrote, "The name of Champollion will remain alive as long as these antiquities whose mysteries he revealed to us exist".
Jean-François Champollion (1790-1832)
The Rosetta Stone
The centennial of Champollion's landmark discovery generated considerable interest among Al-Ahram readers. Yusef Niazi contributed an article to Al-Ahram's 7 July 1922 edition entitled, "The history of the discovery of the ancient Egyptian language". Clearly an antiquities expert himself, Niazi discussed the numerous precursors to Champollion's efforts at deciphering hieroglyphs. In the early 17th century -- two centuries before Champollion began his work in this endeavour -- some scholars had begun to investigate methods for decoding the ancient Egyptian symbols, but "their studies brought little avail," the author adds. Interest in the mystery revived again towards the end of the 18th century when the British scholar Warburton "succeeded in deciphering some royal seals on which the names of the kings were inscribed". Warburton's conclusions were upheld by two eminent Swedish scholars. "Then came the British scholar, Thomas Junior who began the study of the inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone."Thomas Junior, Niazi goes on to relate, wrote a thesis entitled, "Observations on the Egyptian text on the Rosetta Stone". The thesis, dated 1815, seven years before Champollion announced his discovery at the French Academy of Sciences, argued that it was possible to juxtapose the hieroglyphic symbols with the characters of the demotic alphabet, thereby permitting the process of decoding. After four years of continued research, Thomas published his findings in the Encyclopedia Britannica of 1819.
Although Niazi had no intention of denying the value of Champollion's contribution, it was his opinion that it must be placed within the context of an ongoing communal scholastic process that began before Champollion and continued long afterwards. Moreover, he was quick to add that "the discoverer of the secrets of the Pharaohs" had made another important contribution to the study of ancient Egypt. Before deciphering the Rosetta Stone, Champollion wrote a history of Egyptian Pharaohs in which "he availed himself of Coptic documents he was able to obtain in order to trace the boundaries of the ancient Egyptian territories" and in which "he explained that there were three distinct ancient Egyptian writing systems: hieroglyphics, used for monument inscriptions, hieratic, a modified form of hieroglyphics, and demotic, an abbreviated form of hieratic".
Champollion's death created a void in Egyptology, Niazi writes, but not for long. It was not long before the German scholar, Lepsius compiled an ancient Egyptian grammar, thereby filling in many of the gaps left by Champollion.
Another Al-Ahram reader, Anton Zakari, assistant curator of the Egyptian museum, discussed the wonder that the ancient Egyptians were able to preserve their language for four millennia. The secret behind the language's longevity, he writes, was that the ancient Egyptians believed that their language was a divine gift and could not possibly have been man-made. He goes on to explain that according to ancient Egyptian mythology, Thoth, the god of arithmetic, medicine and wisdom, also gave man the hieroglyphs. The deity was portrayed as a human body with the head of an ibis, carrying a slate in his left hand and a pen in his right. Inscriptions would implore him, "Come to us, Thoth, scribe of the supreme gods! How wondrous are your creations which generate happiness".
The actual origins of ancient Egyptian are a matter of contention among scholars, Zakari continued. German scholars argue that it bears many similarities to the Semitic tongues, such as Hebrew and Arabic, as well as to the languages of east Africa and the Berber tongues of north Africa. The French, on the other hand, rejected any Semitic links, maintaining instead that it was brought to Egypt by an African tribe that had migrated northwards in 4000 BC and mingled with the native Egyptians, generating a hybrid that would be written in hieroglyphs. In Zakari's opinion, hieroglyphics was a purely Egyptian invention. "It has always been one of the Egyptian people's finer traits to sanctify their heritage. This is why they could preserve their language and writing unchanged for four thousand years and why the Egyptian at the time of the Ptolemies could easily read and understand the texts of the first dynasty." Moreover, "such was the veneration accorded to writing that scribes were elevated above all other artisans and craftsmen and were exempted from taxes and other duties". As a concluding note, Zakari adds that the tradition extended to the government functionary of his day, a tradition that quite evidently did not live long afterwards.
Zakari contributed a subsequent article in which he attempted to describe the ancient Egyptian writing system. Hieroglyphic, he explained, means the sacred writing, due to the belief that it was a gift from the god Thoth. This writing system began before the dawn of history and continued in use until the 2nd century AD. There were thousands of hieroglyphic characters, of which "the meanings of 4,152 are known to date". They "are stylised images of human beings, animals, plants, furniture, arms and other natural and man-made items". He added that they could be read from left to right, right to left or vertically. Hieratic was a slightly abbreviated form of hieroglyphs, which were too intricate to be written in the speed necessary for daily transactions and the dissemination of knowledge and information. "This writing was primarily used on papyri, but occasionally used on wood and sometimes stone. It was written from the right to left, or vertically." Demotic, the third variation, first appeared in the 25th or 26th dynasty. The term in this case was used to refer to "the language of the people of Egypt," and was derived from the Greek word for "popular". And, indeed, "it became the common writing system in the nation for daily use, while hieroglyphics were relegated to purely religious matters" .
But, Zakari maintains, because demotic "was born of its two predecessors," it took some time to develop. A well-developed language can be seen in the papyri housed in the museums in Berlin, Paris, London and Turin, until finally the system developed further in the Roman era, "becoming the Coptic language which was the last phase of transition of the ancient Egyptian tongue". He goes on to say that the use of Coptic coincided with the spread of Christianity and the eventual closure of the ancient Egyptian temples, which were considered pagan. By 389 AD, the use of hieroglyphics and demotic vanished as Egyptians adopted the Greek alphabet, to which they added seven demotic letters. This system remained in use until the advent of the Islamic era.
While the interest in hieroglyphs occasioned by the Champollion centennial generated many more pages of public scholastic contribution to Al-Ahram, it also generated minor side battles. Some readers, championed by Yusef Niazi, believed that the occasion merited having the text of the Rosetta Stone translated into Arabic and published in the press. Niazi wrote, "These inscriptions have never been translated into Arabic and are largely unfamiliar to Arabic language readers, which is particularly regretful given the vast importance of these inscriptions to archaeologists". Niazi, himself, eventually translated the inscriptions, which were published in Al-Ahram on 25 August 1922.
But, to Al-Ahram's and perhaps Niazi's surprise, a week after his translation appeared another Al-Ahram reader, Farag Girgis, wrote to the newspaper to announce that the Rosetta Stone had previously been translated into Arabic and that this translation appeared in a book entitled Sukkan Ard Al-Nil (The Inhabitants of the Land of the Nile). Niazi, he said, had, therefore, no right to claim that he was the first to translate the famous hieroglyphic text into Arabic. Girgis hastened to add that he simply believed that the author of Sukkan Ard Al-Nil should not be deprived of the credit due to him.
But apart from this minor dispute, there was nothing to cloud the centennial of Champollion's deciphering of the hieroglyphs as celebrated by Al-Ahram and its readers.
The celebrated Egyptian historian, Dr Mohamed Sabri, nicknamed El-Sorbonni after his Parisian alma mater, was in the French capital in mid-July 1922 in order to attend the commemorative celebrations there. On the front page of its 17 July edition of that year, Al-Ahram features El-Sorbonni's coverage of this event. The Parisian "Asiatic Society", which coincidentally also celebrated its own centennial, was sponsoring the celebration and had prepared an extensive programme that would last for several days.
The first event took place in the venerable Sorbonne University on 11 July. In addition to Sorbonne and Asiatic Society staff and officials, the celebration was also attended by "accredited ambassadors and the members of foreign diplomatic missions". Numerous speeches were made "in honour of the unwavering devotion of scholars who have dedicated themselves to the study of ancient manuscripts" .The speakers urged the continued pursuit of research into the history of ancient civilisations. In addition, the French government representative announced that it would furnish "all possible assistance" towards that endeavour.
The following day, ceremonies moved to the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities (in Paris). Following speeches from the delegate of the French president, the director of the National Museum Authority, the chairman of the Asiatic Society and the superintendent of the Museum of Egyptian antiquities, officials "unveiled a granite plaque commemorating the discovery of the great French scholar".
On 13 July, the Parisian municipality hosted the next phase of celebrations. In his address, the director of the municipality opened with a witty touch, saying that although Champollion, in his memoirs, had evinced no emotional ties to the French capital, "Paris will not reciprocate such cruelty".
Al-Ahram took the opportunity to announce that an Egyptian delegation had attended the celebrations. The delegation consisted of "Ahmed Bek Kamal, former curator of the Egyptian Museum, Adolph Bek Qattawi, secretary of the Royal Geographic Society and Ali Bek Bahgat, curator of the Arabic Antiquities Museum". The presence of an Egyptian delegation was particularly fortuitous, because the French president was personally present on this occasion. Opening the speeches was the chairman of the Asiatic Society who, as Al-Ahram reports, "described the activities of his society and emphasised the importance of Champollion's success in deciphering the ancient Egyptian symbols". The newspaper goes on to relate that numerous other speakers followed, not least among whom was Qattawi.
After offering the customary expressions of gratitude to French officials, Qattawi said that Champollion "demonstrated that our country had a civilisation dating to the earliest times of antiquity and rivalling in spirit, refinement and grandeur that of ancient China. Modern Egypt, which has inherited that glory and honour from its ancestors will never forget the abundant favour France has bestowed upon it and offers its gratitude and praise to Champollion who revived the study of its history and revealed its true stature". Qattawi's speech, the newspaper went on to relate, "was received with resounding and enthusiastic applause, indicating the depth of universal admiration for the Egyptian nation".
Naturally, celebrations were also held in Cairo. A committee, "under the sponsorship of His Majesty the King" was charged with commissioning a statue to Champollion. Members of the committee differed as to whether the statue should be erected in the fortress at Rashid (Rosetta), where the stone was discovered, or in Cairo. The latter opinion was supported by Qattawi and by King Fouad. In response to an advertisement placed in Al-Ahram by the committee soliciting contributions for the monument, the newspaper urged Egyptians to perform their duty "in gratitude to the man who had done them the favour of establishing the glory of their ancestors and furthering the renown of their country". Unfortunately, the newspaper never tells us the results of the committee's endeavours or whether a commemorative statue ever came into being. But all Egyptians know that in the vicinity of Mariette Street, named after the famous French archaeologist, another street was named after the young decoder of the mysteries of the hieroglyphs. And, Champollion Street remains continues to exist today.
* The author is a professor of history
and head of Al-Ahram History Studies Centre.
