Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/826

* EGYPTOLOGY. 714 EGYPTOLOGY. writing was a sort of synibolisru for conveying abstruse religious niystoriv.s, the individual char- acters being purely ideographic symbols. Uis efforts were therefore not nore successful than those of his predecessors, and his fantastic ren- derings of hieroglyphic texts are among the most remarkable curiosities of Kgyptological litera- ture. But though he failed in his main object, his works did much to excite an interest in EgA-ptian anti(|uities, and he also rendered valu- able service by introducing the study of Coptic into Kuropc. His Coptic grammar, entitled Lingua ^Hgyptiaca liestituta (Konie, l(i43-44), was the first published by a European scholar, and for a long time formed the basis of all work done in this field. Kircher was followed by Lacroze, Wilkens, Mingarclli, Quatreni?re, Zoega, Jablonski, and many others, who did much to develop the study of Co])tic and of Kgyptian antiquities, and thus prepared the way for fur- ther progress. Down to the end of the eighteenth centirv hardly any progress was made in the decipherment of the liierogl_-phics. Kircher's theory was, however, gradually discredited, and the belief gained ground that the hieroglyphic inserijitions wore composed in the language actu- ally spoken by the ancient Egyptians, and that they dealt with history, science, art, and other subjects of a more material character than reli- gious mysteries. Professor Tychsen (1734-1815), of Rostock, was led by careful analysis of many texts to the correct conclusion that certain char- acters served merely to determine the meaning of words (see Hierogltpuics) ; and the learned Coptic scholar Zoega (IT.o.i-lSOO) was the first to point out that some of the characters at least had purely plionctic values, and that the groups of .signs inclosed in oval rings must represent the names of kings. This, however, was practi- cally all that was known in regard to the sub- ject, and many fanciful theories still prevailed. The means of solving the riddle was at length furnished by the famous Rosetta stone (q.v.), discovered in 1709, which contains a decree of the Egyptian priests in favor of Ptolemy V., Epiphanes (B.C. 20.5181), composed in Greek with two parallel versions — one in the vernacu- lar, written in the Demotic character, and an- other in the classical language of ancient Egypt, written in hieroglyphics. The upper part of the hieroglyphic text was broken away, only the last fourteen lines remaining; while the Greek and Demotic texts were nearly complete, and for this reason the Demotic portion was selected for the first attempts at decipherment. The distinguished French Orientalist, Baron Sylvestre de Sacy (17.iS-lS38), by careful comparison of the Greek and Demotic texts, was able to dis- tinguish in the latter .several of the proper names occurring in the decree, and in his Leitre au Ciioyen Chaplal sur I' inscription fgnpiienne du mrmumcnt truuvf, a Itosetta (Paris. 1802) pointed out the Demotic groups corresponding to the names of Ptolemy, IJerenice, and .lexan- der. This achievement was, however, surpassed by the Swedish .scholar, .7. D. Akerblad (1703- ISIO), who established the phonetic values of nearly all the TVmotic characters occurring in the proper names, and also by the aid of Coptic determined the meaning of several words of the text. His results were published in his Letlrc aur I'innrription (gyplienne de Rossette adressfe uu Citoyen S. de i^acy (Paris, 1802). Follow- ing these investigators, the English physicist, Dr. Thomas Young (1773-1829), was able, through careful study of many Egj'ptian inscrip- tions and papyrus rolls to distinguish l)etween the Hieratic and the Demotic scripts, and to de- termine the meaning of a number of groups of characters, although ignorant of their phonetic values. Utilizing Zoega"s conjecture that the groups of signs in oval rings were royal names. Young next pointed out the hieroglyphics equiva- lent for the name of Ptolemy in the Rosetta text, and attempted to analyze it. The name is written with seven alphabetical characters ( 1' t o 1 m i s), and three of them (P, t, and i) ■^'oung determined correctly. Of the remaining four, he took the letter o for a silent determina- tive, and explained the letters /, m, and s as syllabic signs, reading them as otc. ma, and ox respectively. He also recognized the name Here- nice in a hieroglyphic inscrijition from Karnak. but in it he correctly determined but one addi. lional character, the letter n. In his attempts to decipher other hieroglyphic names he was com- pletely unsuccessful, and thus the sum of his achievements in hieroglyphic decipherment was the determination of fimr alphabetic characters. hile to Young belongs the credit of being the fii"st to assign correct i>honctic values to a few hicToglyjihic signs, the true credit for the de- cipherment of the Egyjitian hieroglyphics and lor the foundation of modern Egyptology belongs to .Jean Francois Champnllion (q.v.K Born at Grenoble in 1790, he early applied himself to the study of Egj'ptian antiquities, was a master of Coptic, and at the age of twenty-four was known as the author of an important work on the history and civilization of ancient Egypt — L'Egypte sous les Pharaons (2 vols.. Paris. 1811- 14). In his investigations of the hieroglyphics Champollion, imlike Young, worked upon the theory that the characters u.sed for writing royal pro)jcr names were purely alphabetic. On a small obelisk from Phila>. containing parallel hieroglyphic and Greek inscriptions, he read and correctly analyzed the names of Ptolem.y and Cleopatra, and by substituting the phonetic values thus obtained in a large number of other hieroglyphically written names, he was able at once to control his results and to extend his sys- tem. In this way he was soon able to make out all the alphabetic characters, and to read the names, not only of Ptolemaic kings and of Rom- an emperors, but also of the Pharaohs of the Old Empire. In the course of subseqient investiga- tions he discovered the use of the ideograms and determinatives, and surmised at least the pho- netic employment of the syllabic signs. He pub- lished an outline of his system in his celebrated Lcttrea a if. Dacicr relatives a Vnlphahct des liierogli/phes phonvligues employe pnr les Egyp- iiens (Paris, 1822), and devcloi>ed it more filly in his Precis du systrme hiiToglyfihiqur des ancicns Egypiiens (Paris. 1824: 2d cd. 1827-2SK Until his death Chanipi>llion devoted himself with wonderful energy and success to the elucidation of the language, history, religion, and antiquities of ancient Egypt, and left, in addition to his published works, a large mass of manuscript. His Grammaire egyplienne (Paris. 1830-41) and his Dirlionnaire egyptien (Paris. 1841-46) were not published until after his death.