British Museum Book of The Rosetta Stone

Dorset Press [Published Date: 1991]. Hardcover, 64 pp. Reprint edition. Black and white illustrations. Contents include: Hieroglyphs before decipherment; The discovery of the Rosetta Stone; How the Stone came to England; Description of the Stone; The earlier decipherers of the Rosetta Stone; The method of decipherment; the contents of the Rosetta Stone; The Greek section of the Rosetta Stone; The ancient Egyptian language; The hieroglyphic alphabet. [From jacket flap] Until the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, Egyptian Hieroglyphs were a mystery, and could not be read. Even with the translation of the Greek text, there was confusion as to whether hieroglyphs were alphabetic or non-alphabetic (symbolic) signs. There were many who made contributions to the decipherment of the hieroglyphs, but it was Jean-Francois Champollion (179-1832) who established the foundations on which present knowledge of the language of the ancient Egyptians is based, and he is rightly looked upon as the Father of the Decipherment of Hieroglyphs. The British Museum Book of the Rosetta Stone tells of the discovery of the Stone, and the Story of how its mystery was solved. There is a translation of the text on the Rosetta Stone; a hieroglyphic alphabet, and a brief illustration of the ancient Egyptian language. As such, this book is an essential tool to anyone who wants to understand ancient Egyptians.