Hieroglyphs : unlocking ancient Egypt / edited by Ilona Regulski.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Regulski, Ilona, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hieroglyphics.

Hieroglyphics--Exhibitions.

Egyptian language--Writing, Hieroglyphic.

Egyptian language.

Egypt.

Physical Description:

272 pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 29 cm

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023.

Summary:

"Today the history of ancient Egypt is known around the world, recognizable in precious museum collections and countless retellings from popular culture. Yet for hundreds of years, from the late Roman Empire to the 19th century, the wonders of this ancient civilization were frozen in time, locked in artifacts that could not be understood due to the loss of the ancient Egyptian language. In 1799 the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, a slab inscribed in three scripts, hieroglyphs, demotic and Greek, changed the course of history, unlocking thousands of years of ancient culture and eventually becoming one of the world's most famous museum artifacts. Hieroglyphs: unlocking ancient Egypt tells the story of the Rosetta Stone and of countless other objects that were central to efforts to decode the hieroglyphs dating back to the Islamic Golden Age. Featuring fascinating objects from the British Museum and international lenders, the book shows how the presence of a written language was crucial to understanding life in ancient Egypt, from everyday business affairs to the sacred secrets of the afterlife. Interweaving the story of decipherment with colonial history, the book takes readers up to the present day, revealing what researchers are doing now to tell us more about one of the world's longest surviving civilizations through the understanding of their writing. Published to coincide with the bicentenary of Jean-Fraṅois Champollion's breakthrough in decipherment, this beautifully illustrated book shows how an unassuming gray stone was the key to the secrets of ancient Egypt and led to one of the most significant code breaking moments in history"--Publisher's description.

Contents:

Introduction

The truth in translation

The race to decipherment

The impact of decipherment

Rediscovering Ancient Egypt

New approaches.

ISBN:

1512825387

9781512825381

OCLC:

1373982422