Egypt

Book Review: Cracking the Egyptian Code

Wall Street Journal

Cracking the Egyptian Code, By Andrew Robinson. Oxford.

On Sept. 14, 1822, as legend tells the tale, Jean-François Champollion burst into his brother's Paris office at the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, flung a bundle of drawings upon the desk and cried, "Je tiens mon affaire!" ("I've done it!"). Champollion promptly fainted before he could utter news of the great intellectual feat for which he is still celebrated: the decipherment of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. The story of the young, frail, hotheaded scholar and his volatile time, full of upheavals political and scientific, is a remarkable tale, wonderfully told in Andrew Robinson's "Cracking the Egyptian Code: The Revolutionary Life of Jean-François Champollion."

The founding father of Egyptology started young and lived a relatively short life. Born in 1790 in southwest France, Champollion became fascinated by Oriental history and languages not long after he was sent to school in Grenoble at age 10, having exhausted local teachers.

- Online: The Art Of Medicine By Andrew Robinson
andrewrobinson.org Two page article from The Lancet. The art of medicine. Jean-François Champollion and ancient Egyptian embalming By Andrew Robinson 200 years ago this year, the future founder of Egyptology, French linguist and archaeologist...

- Online: Jean-françois Champollion And Ancient Egyptian Embalming
The Lancet (Andrew Robinson) Thanks very much to Yvonne Buskens for this link The Lancet, Volume 379, Issue 9828, Pages 1782 - 1783, 12 May 2012 200 years ago this year, the future founder of Egyptology, French linguist and archaeologist Jean-François...

- Three Book Reviews On The Ft
Financial Times (John Ray) Cracking the Egyptian Code: The Revolutionary Life of Jean-François Champollion, by Andrew Robinson, Thames & Hudson, RRP£19.95, 272 pages A History of Ancient Egypt: From the First Farmers to the Great Pyramid, by John...

- Review: The Last Man Who Knew Everything - Thomas Young
http://tinyurl.com/2tuv75 (calendarlive.com)"Resistant to artificial barriers and educated in various countries, Young became one of the first truly international scientists, corresponding with experts from all over the world. . . . The best part of the...

- Figeac
http://tinyurl.com/de6g2 (The Telegraph) This is actually a travel article about the south of France, but it does contain a quick couple of paragraphs about hieroglyph decipherer Champollion's home town Figeac, where his former home is now a museum:...

Egypt