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The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt
Contributor(s): Ray, John (Author)
ISBN: 0674063945     ISBN-13: 9780674063945
Publisher: Harvard University Press
OUR PRICE:   $30.40  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: April 2012
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | Ancient - Egypt
- Travel | Middle East - Egypt
- History | Europe - Great Britain - General
Dewey: 493.1
Series: Wonders of the World
Physical Information: 0.57" H x 4.37" W x 7.42" (0.43 lbs) 208 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - Ancient (To 499 A.D.)
- Cultural Region - North Africa
- Cultural Region - British Isles
- Cultural Region - Middle East
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Read the Bldg Blog interview with Mary Beard about the Wonders of the World series(Part I and Part II)

The Rosetta Stone is one of the world's great wonders, attracting awed pilgrims by the tens of thousands each year. This book tells the Stone's story, from its discovery by Napoleon's expedition to Egypt to its current--and controversial-- status as the single most visited object on display in the British Museum.

A pharaoh's forgotten decree, cut in granite in three scripts--Egyptian hieroglyphs, Egyptian demotic, and ancient Greek--the Rosetta Stone promised to unlock the door to the language of ancient Egypt and its 3,000 years of civilization, if only it could be deciphered. Capturing the drama of the race to decode this key to the ancient past, John Ray traces the paths pursued by the British polymath Thomas Young and Jean-Francois Champollion, the father of Egyptology ultimately credited with deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs. He shows how Champollion broke the code and explains more generally how such deciphering is done, as well as its critical role in the history of Egyptology. Concluding with a chapter on the political and cultural controversy surrounding the Stone, the book also includes an appendix with a full translation of the Stone's text.

Rich in anecdote and curious lore, The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt is a brilliant and frequently amusing guide to one of history's great mysteries and marvels.


Contributor Bio(s): Ray, John: - John Ray is Herbert Thompson Professor of Egyptology at Cambridge University, and is also a Fellow of Selwyn College.