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Summary
Summary
For more than 15 centuries, no one could read the strange-looking Egyptian hieroglyphs. And then in 1799 a French soldier in Napoleon's army in Egypt stumbled across the Rosetta Stone, an ancient inscription recorded in Greek, hieroglyphs, and demotic script. Many of the brightest scholars of the time--Egyptologists, historians, and linguists--as well as detectives, professional code breakers, and plain amateurs, all set out to decipher the forgotten words.
Carol Donoughue tells us the fascinating story of the hieroglyphs and the race to decipher them, explaining how this curious writing system began with simple drawings of everyday objects. She compares the hieroglyphic system to modern alphabets in an entertaining narrative complemented with numerous photographs and drawings, maps, historical timelines stretching from ancient Egypt to Napoleon, a glossary, and numerous sidebars. The book culminates in an edge-of-your-seat description of how the brilliant French archaeologist Champollion finally succeeded in deciphering the hieroglyphs. A final section displays an alphabet of "hieroglyphs" and offers some fun activities for children based on hieroglyphic writing.
Author Notes
Carol Donoughue is a former teacher and produced television programs for schools. She now devotes her time to writing, research, and working with teachers.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-Through this involving history of the Rosetta Stone, readers share the excitement of being able to translate hieroglyphics. For hundreds of years, Europeans struggled to know what Egyptian picture writing said, and whether the pictures stood for sounds, for objects, or for ideas. When the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799, it provided a translating key: the same text was written in hieroglyphics, Egyptian, and Greek script. Over the years, language experts Thomas Young and Jean Francois Champollion worked to "crack the code." Finally, in 1822, Champollion realized that the hieroglyphs stood for sounds, and the Rosetta Stone and many other ancient writings could be translated. What makes this book so involving is that readers must do their own learning, translating, and reading of hieroglyphics as they travel through this history. By the book's end, they should be able to decipher some glyphs and write their own messages in this ancient language. Graphic examples of concepts make them easy to grasp. For example, readers struggle to decipher words written backwards or upside down in English, to illustrate how difficult it is to read glyphs, which often appear this way. There are some fascinating tidbits of information along the way, here, too. For example, Egyptian scribes practiced writing on small stones, called ostracons, which were like scratch paper. Crisp color photos, reproductions, and sidebars enrich the text. An enticing volume.-Cathryn A. Camper, Minneapolis Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
The key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs was missing for centuries, until the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and the hard work of many scholars. Readers are led through a historical account of Egyptian writing and its decoding, with helpful comparisons to the English language. The clear design uses illustrations of hieroglyphs that are integral to understanding how the mystery was solved. Bib., glos., ind. From HORN BOOK Spring 2000, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A picture-filled history of the decoding of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, including the discovery of the Rosetta Stone by the French, and its appropriation by the British, the steps leading to deciphering it, and some basic information on how to read hieroglyphs. Also covered are the importance of cartouches, facts on the way the Egyptians wrote, and snippets of cultural information. This fascinating story of historical and linguistic deduction is made clear and accessible to readers. Central chapters on the works of Thomas Young and Jean Franois Champollion on decoding the stone describe in detail the steps of the process that led to the final breakthrough. The text is intelligent and thorough, and the many full-color photographs and drawings both add interest and help clarify difficult points. (maps, diagrams, chronology, further reading, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Booklist Review
Gr. 3^-6. Two hundred years ago, the discovery of the Rosetta Stone set in motion a chain of political events and intellectual challenges that led to the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphs in 1822. This attractive book describes the characteristics, history, and significance of the stone. There is also information about how the Egyptians wrote and how to read hieroglyphs. The text clearly explains the subject in terms a child can understand, though the tone is marred occasionally by school-marm queries such as, "Would it have been easy to get the Stone out of its hiding place and hand it over to the English? How heavy do you think it is?" Spacious in design, the pages include many illustrations, such as portraits, carvings, engravings, documents, artifacts, and drawings of hieroglyphs. Not only useful for reports on the subject, this book will intrigue children who enjoy codes and puzzles. An excellent introduction to the subject. --Carolyn Phelan
Table of Contents
How the Egyptians wrote | p. 4 |
How we know | p. 12 |
The discovery of the Rosetta Stone | p. 20 |
Thomas Young | p. 24 |
Jean Francois Champollion | p. 30 |
Success at last | p. 32 |
Champollion goes to Egypt | p. 34 |
Reading hieroglyphs | p. 40 |
Further reading | p. 45 |
Glossary | p. 46 |
Index | p. 48 |