A photo of the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum (taken in 1995)
Here’s a quotation from an article about the 20-year history of the internet, by Guy Rundle in The Age on Sunday 15 March:
Five thousand years ago, the invention of writing in Mesopotamia [Sumer] separated information from presence – a few strokes of cuneiform on a clay tablet established that meaning, intent, communication could be separated and transmitted without a person there to present it.
From this event flows every modern institution of the state…”
Photo of the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx kindly provided by John Bayley
Ancient Egyptian writing:
http://www.ancientscripts.com/egyptian.html
Use this site to write some notes on the nature of hieroglyphic writing for your Emit assignment.
A Biography of Jean-Francois Champollion
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/abcde/champollion_jean-francois.html
The Story of the Decipherment of Hieroglyphics
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/decipherment_01.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/decipherment_02.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/decipherment_05.shtml
These links tell you the story of a man who started learning dead languages (and writing his diary in them) when he was as young as you are. He knew that understanding an ancient language would unlock secrets. Read the story of his determination and final achievement.