Ancient Egyptian Writing

Rosetta Stone in BM, our photo

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…”

Sphinx and Great Pyramid JB

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.

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3 Replies to “Ancient Egyptian Writing”

  1. hey Ros,

    that qoute is brilliant! and just the way that it’s phrased is even more brilliant!
    i love the last line of the qoute!
    quick question, why is the Rosetta Stone called that?
    It’s a lovely name tho.

    Btw, on the first day of term i stuck up ur women quotes, and nearly every time i open my locker, the girls around me read them, there so inspirational! can’t wait to do history again, surprisingly it’s the ONLY subject which i havent forgotten any of the imformation.

  2. went to da city yesterday 2 go 2 da footy and we got there early so we had a look in the NGV. their collection of ancient greek and egyptian stuff was great. well worth a look.

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