Cracking the Egyptian Code
Andrew Robinson
(Author)
Description
Cracking the Egyptian Code is the first biography in English of Champollion, widely regarded as the founder of Egyptology. Andrew Robinson meticulously reconstructs how Champollion cracked the code of the hieroglyphic script, describing how Champollion started with Egyptian obelisks in Rome and papyri in European collections, sailed the Nile for a year, studied the tombs in the Valley of the Kings (a name he first coined), and carefully compared the three scripts on the Rosetta Stone to penetrate the mystery of the hieroglyphic text. Robinson also brings to life the rivalry between Champollion and the English scientist Thomas Young, who claimed credit for launching the decipherment, which Champollion hotly denied. There is much more to Champollion's life than the Rosetta Stone and Robinson gives equal weight to the many roles he played in his tragically brief life, from a teenage professor in Revolutionary France to a supporter of Napoleon (whom he met), an exile, and a curator at the Louvre.
Extensively illustrated in color and black-and-white pictures, Cracking the Egyptian Code will appeal to a wide readership interested in Egypt, decipherment and code-breaking, and Napoleon and the French Revolution.
Product Details
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Publish Date | June 01, 2012 |
| Pages | 272 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Hardback |
| EAN/UPC | 9780199914999 |
| Dimensions | 9.4 X 6.5 X 1.3 inches | 1.9 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
"Robinson paints an engrossing portrait of a difficult genius's punishing pursuit of knowledge."--Publishers Weekly
"Andrew Robinson, the man who deciphered Michael Ventris and knows all that's worth knowing about Thomas Young, here shines his lamp of Diogenes on the Frenchman who broke the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic code, illuminating anew Jean-François Champollion's fascinating life as well as his prodigiously fertile work."-- Paul Cartledge, author of Alexander the Great and Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities
"An entertaining, highly readable and authoritative biography of the greatest decipherer of all time, the man who almost single-handedly enabled us to read the hitherto mysterious Egyptian hieroglyphs."--Michael D. Coe, author of Breaking the Maya Code
"At last, a definitive biography of Champollion in English! Andrew Robinson brings his expertise at ancient languages and his research into the nature of genius to bear on one of Egyptology's most remarkable figures ... A memorable, enjoyable and beautifully written historical detective story."--Brian Fagan, author of The Rape of the Nile and Floods, Famines and Emperors
"Andrew Robinson's Champollion is a brash genius, with the power to make loyal friends but also bitter enemies, a man at odds with the Church and much of the Establishment. Above all, how much did he know about the work of his great rival, the English polymath Thomas Young? This is a spirited account of a fascinating subject: the birth of Egyptology." --John Ray, author of The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt
"Robinson has produced the definitive English-language biography of Champollion with this richly illustrated and readily accessible narrative. Highly recommended to Egyptophiles, philologists, historians, and anyone who might be wowed by the drama of a scholar falling unconscious for five days after announcing his long-sought success!"--Library Journal
"Robinson masterfully covres the life of the brilliant and controversial French Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion in this well-written, knowledgeable biography."--E.H. Cline, CHOICE
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