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They were some of the first forms of writing, documenting things and ideas. The Semitic script from which our alphabet derives can be traced to origins in the Hieroglyphics. Until Champollion discovered that Hieroglyphics are semi-alphabetic writing, whose words have abstract meaning with no obvious connection to the symbols used to record them, we had no knowledge of Egyptian history, literature and religion.

By an accident of history, in 1799 a large fragment of a stone document from the time of Cleopatra was found in the Nile Delta and somehow made its way into the hands of a scholar, Champollion, instead of being used to build an outhouse. It is inscribed with two languages and three forms of writing: Egyptian in Hieroglyphics and a simplified hieratic script - and Greek. Using his knowledge of Greek, Champollion was able to begin deciphering the Egyptian writing.

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13y ago

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