Abstract
In “Science News a Century Ago”, in NATURE of August 8 (p. 257), an extract appears from the \ Aihenceum describing an obelisk erected to the \ memory of Champollion, and bearing the inscription 1 “To the memory of F. J. T. Champollion, who first penetrated into the mysteries contained in the writing and monuments of ancient Egypt. . . .” A correspondent has pointed out that, even allowing for the generosity of interpretation of a ‘lapidary inscription’, Champollion has no claim to the honour of first penetrating into the mysteries of the writing of ancient Egypt. That honour, beyond all question, belongs to our versatile countryman, Thomas Young. In 1819, Young published an article, “Egypt”, in the supplement to the “Encyclopaedia Britannica”, in which he gave a list of alphabetic and syllabic characters, an article which has been described by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge as “practically the foundation of the science of Egyptology”. In 1821, two years later, Champollion published a treatise in which he shows not the slightest trace of knowledge of anything alphabetic in hieroglyphic or hieratic characters; Champollion's publication of an alphabet dates from 1822. Concerning Champollion's alleged attempt to suppress his unfortunate work of 1821, we need say nothing here; the whole story of the Rosetta Stone and the decipherment of the hieroglyphic characters was discussed some years ago in an article in NATURE (April 30, 1932, p. 638). It is sufficient here to say that the inscription on the tablet to the memory of Young in Westminster Abbey states no more than the bare truth when it describes him as the one who “first penetrated the obscurity which had veiled for ages the Hieroglyphics of Egypt”.
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Champollion and Hieroglyphics. Nature 138, 278–279 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138278d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138278d0