Fascinating account of great linguistic detective story — discovery of Stone, history of the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics; work of Young, Champollion, other scholars; much more. 23 photographs. Bibliography.

Read the Bldg Blog interview with Mary Beard about the Wonders of the World series(Part I and Part II) The Rosetta Stone is one of the world's great wonders, attracting awed pilgrims by the tens of thousands each year. This book tells the Stone's story, from its discovery by Napoleon's expedition to Egypt to its current--and controversial-- status as the single most visited object on display in the British Museum. A pharaoh's forgotten decree, cut in granite in three scripts--Egyptian hieroglyphs, Egyptian demotic, and ancient Greek--the Rosetta Stone promised to unlock the door to the language of ancient Egypt and its 3,000 years of civilization, if only it could be deciphered. Capturing the drama of the race to decode this key to the ancient past, John Ray traces the paths pursued by the British polymath Thomas Young and Jean-Francois Champollion, the "father of Egyptology" ultimately credited with deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs. He shows how Champollion "broke the code" and explains more generally how such deciphering is done, as well as its critical role in the history of Egyptology. Concluding with a chapter on the political and cultural controversy surrounding the Stone, the book also includes an appendix with a full translation of the Stone's text. Rich in anecdote and curious lore, The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt is a brilliant and frequently amusing guide to one of history's great mysteries and marvels.

The Rosetta Stone by E. A. Wallis Sir Budge is an interesting and educational book. This volume tells the story of the Rosetta Stone, starting from its discovery during a French military excavation to its preservation in the British Museum as one of the great cornerstones of linguistic studies. The book contains a full and detailed explanation of the meticulous scholarship and inspired impulse that allowed a handful of scholars to decrypt the age-old code. With over 20 photographs, The Rosetta Stone is immensely academic but unstuffy; packed with linguistic details but clear and attainable to the layman; in short, it will fascinate any student of Egyptology, languages, or the history of the ancient Near East. Egyptologists' ground-breaking contributions and the work of linguists over the years eventually led to a true knowledge of the once enigmatic symbols. The book covers the history and meaning of the Rosetta Stone from an academic and also analytical point of view.

The Rosetta Stone is one of the most popular artefacts in the British Museum. Containing a decree written in Greek, Demotic and hieroglyphics, it proved to be the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. This concise study traces the history of `the most famous piece of rock in the world' to become a modern icon and tells the story of the race to use it to decipher Egypt's ancient script by Jean-François Champollion and Thomas Young. Also includes a translation of the text.

Napoleon's troops discovered a granitoid slab in the village of Rosetta in the western Delta in 1799. The Rosetta Stone was to become one of the most famous Egyptian antiquities in the world as well as an instantly recognizable icon of script and decipherment. In this exciting, beautifully illustrated work, Richard Parkinson tells the story of the Stone's discovery and the so-called battle of the decipherers that it inspired. Published to accompany a major exhibition at the British Museum celebrating the bicentenary of the Stone's discovery, and including a selective catalog of the exhibits, this book also examines the wider issues of script and writing in ancient Egypt and beyond. The Rosetta Stone is a fragment of a stela inscribed with a priestly decree in honor of Ptolemy V. The main significance of the text lies not in its content, however, but in the fact that it is written in three scripts--hieroglyphic, demotic, and ancient Greek. Early Orientalists recognized immediately the potential of the Stone for the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Thomas Young made great advances, especially with the demotic text, but it was Jean-Fran�ois Champollion who made the final breakthrough in 1822. In so doing he cracked much more than two Egyptian scripts: He opened up Egyptian culture as a whole to historians. Among the subjects discussed in Cracking Codes are the relationship between hieroglyphs and art, the social prestige of literacy, and the power of writing and its practical aspects (scribal equipment and training). A brief description of other decipherments is also given, drawing on examples such as Linear B and Meroitic--a language which remains to be read. A selection of the History Book Club, the Book-of-the-Month Club, and the Quality Paperback Book Club

The Rosetta Stone by E. A. Wallis Sir Budge is an interesting and educational book. This volume tells the story of the Rosetta Stone, starting from its discovery during a French military excavation to its preservation in the British Museum as one of the great cornerstones of linguistic studies. The book contains a full and detailed explanation of the meticulous scholarship and inspired impulse that allowed a handful of scholars to decrypt the age-old code. With over 20 photographs, The Rosetta Stone is immensely academic but unstuffy; packed with linguistic details but clear and attainable to the layman; in short, it will fascinate any student of Egyptology, languages, or the history of the ancient Near East. Egyptologists' ground-breaking contributions and the work of linguists over the years eventually led to a true knowledge of the once enigmatic symbols. The book covers the history and meaning of the Rosetta Stone from an academic and also analytical point of view.