“I am entirely dedicated to Egypt; she is everything to me.” This was the immortal quote of Egypt’s great admirer, the eminent French scientist, Professor Jean Francois Champollion (1832–1790), who passed away 185 years ago. Champollion is known for deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs using the Rosetta Stone; thus, endowing humanity with the most valuable gift that is the Ancient Egyptian civilization.
At the age of seventeen, his ingenuity had already started showing, as he demonstrated great dexterity in learning ancient languages and comparing them. After completing his education at a young age, he was appointed Chair Professor of Egyptian Antiquities at Collège de France; he also published the first Coptic language dictionary in the world. Despite chronically suffering from gout and tuberculosis, Champollion never ceased to search, explore, and study. He was the first to raise a formal note to the Governor of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha at that time, pleading him to issue a legislation to protect Egyptian antiquities from theft and prevent them from being traded.
Sickness and the hassle of travelling and searching extensively exhausted Champollion, bringing his life to an end on 4 March 1832, at the young age of forty-one. He lived a short, yet full life of great achievement. He was buried in the tombs of Père Lachaise in Paris; his tomb distinguished by a model of an Egyptian obelisk decorating it.
Champollion might have left our mortal world, but the Rosetta Stone, currently displayed at the British Museum in London, remains as witness on his immortality. The Rosetta Stone was accidentally discovered in 1799 by one of the soldiers of the French Expedition in Egypt. It is a stone made of diorite, with engraved text in two languages and three writings: Ancient Egyptian, first written in hieroglyphs, which is the sacred writing, because it was used inside temples; then in Demotic, meaning popular writing; and finally, the same text is written in Ancient Greek. Champollion succeeded in deciphering the Rosetta Stone by comparing between the three writings, as he had prior knowledge of the Coptic language from which Demotic language descended, in addition to his knowledge of the Ancient Greek language.
For this historic feat, Champollion is celebrated as the “Father of Egyptology” thanks to his contribution towards uncovering the secrets of the Ancient Egyptian civilization, enabling scientists to discover the details of the lives of Ancient Egyptians; in addition to their sciences, arts, as well as their social, economic, and political systems. After deciphering the symbols of the Rosetta Stone in 1822, Ancient Egyptian history was written based on fossil discoveries, papyri readings, paintings, and engravings on the walls of the temples and tombs.
In 1858, the researches of the great French scientist Auguste Mariette Pasha, along with the French expedition assisting him, reorganized, classified, and dated Egyptian antiquities; Mariette Pasha being the founder of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. In 1922, the British traveler Howard Carter discovered the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun, thanks to the funding of Lord Carnarvon. The discovery attracted more attention to Egyptology, supporting it with many details and information.
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It is thanks to Champollion’s discovery that scientists are able to read many papyri; such as medical papyri, the most known of which the Edwin Smith Papyrus, the Brooklyn Papyrus, the Carlsberg Papyrus, and the Brugsch Papyrus. Moreover, the administrative regulations of the Ancient Egyptians were clearly evident in the Abusir Papyri, which are considered among the most important discoveries related to the administrative documents of the Old State. These papyri provided detailed information about operating the royal cadavers temple, including priests’ work shifts, instruments’ inventory, and lists of daily presentations of the two solar temples in Abu Ghorab, north of Abusir, as well as the related speeches and permits.
The Kahun Papyri offers a group of different topics and data in many fields, including worksheets of the sanctification of Senusret II, hymns to King Senusret III; in addition to medical information related to gynecology, a set of mathematical texts, and a papyrus about veterinary medicine. They also show details of the festivals celebrated at that time.
The oldest civilization in history was disclosed to humanity thanks to Champollion, who unlocked that chest of secrets, to dazzle the world then, now, and forever.
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