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Ancient Egyptians - Jean-Francois Champollion |
Jean-Francois Champollion & the Rosetta Stone Jean-Francois Champollion - known as the first translator of the Rosetta Stone Ancient Egypt - Jean-Francois Champollion Fact Sheet Fact 1 about Champollion: Jean-Francois was born the son of a book seller, at Figeaci, Lot, in southwest France on 23 December, 1790. The names of his parents were Jacques Champollion and Jeanne Francoise Champollion. Fact 2 about Champollion: He came from an impoverished family who were unable to send him to school. Fact 3 about Champollion: He was tutored by his older brother, Jacques, who quickly realised that his young brother had a brilliant mind with a particular gift for learning languages. Fact 4 about Champollion: Jean-Francois was totally obsessed with learning as many different languages as possible and his interest in the stories of the Bible led him to study Hebrew, Syrian, Ethiopic and Arabic as a child. He would later add Persian, Sanskrit and Coptic to his range of languages. Fact 5 about Champollion: The young Jean-Francois was also highly influenced by the exploits of Napoleon Bonaparte and the French exploits and discoveries that were made in Egypt during the French war with the British. Fact 6 about Champollion: In 1799 a young French officer called Pierre-Francois Bouchard (1772 - 1832) discovered engraving that would be called the Rosetta Stone. Fact 7 about Champollion: The Rosetta Stone was discovered at Rosetta (Rashid) in the Nile Delta of Egypt, from which it got its name. Fact 8 about Champollion: The Rosetta Stone was an engraving that had a royal decree of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ptolemy V (r.204 BC-180 BC.) which was written in three different languages. Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek. Fact 9 about Champollion: Linguists of the time were familiar with the Greek language but few were conversant with the Demotic script which was a descendent of Coptic script, the language of ancient Egyptians. Fact 10 about Champollion: The race began amongst European scholars, linguists and historians to translate the engravings on the Rosetta Stone and decipher the writing of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. In 1802, Antoine Isaac Silvestre De Sacy 1758-1838 and his Swedish student Johan David Akerblad (1763-1813) attempted to decipher the Demotic text on the Rosetta Stone. continued... Ancient Egypt - Jean-Francois Champollion Fact Sheet Facts about Jean-Francois Champollion Jean-Francois Champollion Ancient Egypt - Jean-Francois Champollion Fact Sheet Fact 11 about Champollion: As time passed his brother recognised the genius of Jean-Francois and financed his endeavours for most of his life. In 1801 he was sent to study at the Lyceum in Grenoble. His studies focussed on Oriental languages. Fact 12 about Champollion: In 1807 the seventeen year old Jean-Francois read before the Academy of Grenoble an introduction to a complete description of Egypt under the Pharaohs. Fact 13 about Champollion: Jean Francois attended courses at the College de France and the Ecole des langues orientales in Paris, where he studied Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Syriac, Chaldean, and Coptic. But his passion was Egypt. Fact 14 about Champollion: His efforts to decipher the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone began in 1808. Fact 15 about Champollion: In 1809, he became assistant-professor of History at Grenoble University. Fact 16 about Champollion: In 1812 he married Rosine Blanc. Fact 17 about Champollion: In 1814 the English scientist and Egyptologist Thomas Young (1773 – 1829) was one of the first to attempt to decipher the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone and "made a number of original and insightful innovations" in the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs during his investigations. Fact 18 about Champollion: In 1817 the great explorer of Egypt, Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778-1823), cleared of the sand the great temple at Abu Simbel and discovered many other ancient Egyptian artefacts containing hieroglyphics during his exploration of Egypt. Fact 19 about Champollion: In 1822 the latest discoveries from Egypt and the race to decipher hieroglyphics together with Jean-Francois interest in oriental languages, especially Coptic, led him to be officially tasked with deciphering the writing on the Rosetta Stone. Fact 20 about Champollion: In early 1822 Nicolas Huyot (1780-1840) presented Jean Francois with copies of the inscriptions on the temple at Abu Simbel which had been made by the Great Belzoni, from which Jean Francois was able to decipher the name of the Pharaoh Ramses. continued... Ancient Egypt - Jean-Francois Champollion Fact Sheet Jean-Francois Champollion Ancient Egypt - Jean-Francois Champollion Fact Sheet Fact 21 about Champollion: In 1822, Jean Francois made his breakthrough and isolated the demotic cartouche with the name of Ptolemy and was able to transpose it to the hieratic and the hieroglyphic. Fact 22 about Champollion: In 1824 Jean Francois produced the 'Précis du système hiéroglyphique' that was the beginning of the entire field of modern Egyptology. In the same year his wife, Rosine, gave birth to their daughter who they named Zoraide. Fact 23 about Champollion: The King Louis XVIII and King Charles X of France became his patrons and sponsored his further studies overseas. He travelled to Italy to study Egyptian artefacts in Naples and Rome. Fact 24 about Champollion: In 1827 Jean Francois and a young Italian Egyptologist named Ippolito Rosellini embarked on a trip to Egypt. The journey was subsidized by the French government and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold II and became known as the Franco-Tuscan expedition. Fact 25 about Champollion: 1827 - 1829 Jean Francois, and his friend and colleague Ippolito Rosellini, followed the length of the Nile from it mouth to the second cataract bordering Nubia examining the monuments of ancient Egypt. Fact 26 about Champollion: Jean Francois wrote letters detailing his explorations that were published in France on a day to day basis. Fact 27 about Champollion: He returned to France exhausted from his travels in Egypt and was immediately made a member of the Academie des Inscriptions in 1829. Fact 28 about Champollion: Also in 1829 Jean Francois was elected to the chair of Egyptian archaeology, founded for him at the College de France. Fact 29 about Champollion: Although Jean Francois was still a young man his health continued to decline following his travels in Egypt and he was forced to retire to Quercy, near the town of Lot where he was born. Fact 30 about Champollion: During his short retirement in Quercy, Jean Francois devoted the last months of his short life to the completion and revision of his book on Egyptian grammar and dictionary. Fact 31 about Champollion: 4 March 1832: Jean Francois died of a stroke on a visit to Paris. He was only 41 years old. Jean Francois was buried in Psre Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Fact 32 about Champollion: Following his death, his letters were reprinted in book form by his brother, in 1833. They were printed again by his daughter in 1868. Fact 33 about Champollion: Jean Francois was a genius, a brilliant linguist whose translation of the Rosetta Stone provided scholars with the key to unlocking the secrets of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Ancient Egypt - Jean-Francois Champollion Fact Sheet Jean-Francois Champollion Jean-Francois Champollion |