| |
N0KFQ > TODAY 19.07.10 21:31l 50 Lines 2286 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 12367_N0KFQ
Read: VE7HFY GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jul 19
Path: DB0FHN<DB0RGB<OE5XBL<OE2XEL<OE6XPE<DB0RES<DK0WUE<7M3TJZ<PY1AYH<CX2SA<
N0KFQ
Sent: 100719/1918Z @:N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA #:12367 [Branson] FBB7.00i $:12367_N
From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@WW
Jul 19, 1799:
Rosetta Stone found
On this day in 1799, during Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian
campaign, a French soldier discovers a black basalt slab
inscribed with ancient writing near the town of Rosetta, about
35 miles north of Alexandria. The irregularly shaped stone
contained fragments of passages written in three different
scripts: Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian demotic. The
ancient Greek on the Rosetta Stone told archaeologists that it
was inscribed by priests honoring the king of Egypt, Ptolemy V,
in the second century B.C. More startlingly, the Greek passage
announced that the three scripts were all of identical meaning.
The artifact thus held the key to solving the riddle of
hieroglyphics, a written language that had been "dead" for
nearly 2,000 years.
When Napoleon, an emperor known for his enlightened view of
education, art and culture, invaded Egypt in 1798, he took along
a group of scholars and told them to seize all important
cultural artifacts for France. Pierre Bouchard, one of
Napoleon's soldiers, was aware of this order when he found the
basalt stone, which was almost four feet long and two-and-a-half
feet wide, at a fort near Rosetta. When the British defeated
Napoleon in 1801, they took possession of the Rosetta Stone.
Several scholars, including Englishman Thomas Young made
progress with the initial hieroglyphics analysis of the Rosetta
Stone. French Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion
(1790-1832), who had taught himself ancient languages,
ultimately cracked the code and deciphered the hieroglyphics
using his knowledge of Greek as a guide. Hieroglyphics used
pictures to represent objects, sounds and groups of sounds. Once
the Rosetta Stone inscriptions were translated, the language and
culture of ancient Egypt was suddenly open to scientists as
never before.
The Rosetta Stone has been housed at the British Museum in
London since 1802, except for a brief period during World War I.
At that time, museum officials moved it to a separate
underground location, along with other irreplaceable items from
the museum's collection, to protect in from the threat of bombs.
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
Using "Outpost Lite" Ver 2.2.1 c85
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
