Which person deciphered hieroglyphics?

Answer 1

Jean-Fracois Champollion, born in 1790, was a French Egyptologist, who is acknowledged as the father of modern Egyptology and is best known for his work on the Rosetta Stone. It was his deciphering of the hieroglyphics contained on the Stone that laid the foundations for Egyptian archaeology.

In 1828, he began a year-long trip to Egypt. He traveled with one of his students, Ippolito Rosellini. Rosellini was an Italian, who became a fairly well-known archaeologist in his own right. While they toured Egypt, Champollion took detailed notes of what he saw. Rosellini did the same, although his medium was engravings/drawings, and not words. The notes and engravings they left behind are still regarded as some of the best ever done. Together, they preserved a lot of information that otherwise would have been lost.

A partial listing of his works include:
Introduction to Egypt Under the Pharaohs
1814 Egypt of the Pharaohs: Researches in the Geography, Religion, Language and History of the Egyptians Before the Invasion of Cambyses
1836 Egyptian Grammar
1842 Egyptian Dictionary

The earliest translation of the Greek text on the Rosetta Stone into English was done by Reverend Stephen Weston in London in April 1802 before the Society of Antiquaries . About this time, both deSacy and Thomas Young, attempted to decipher the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone. Young was successful in determining that foreign names could not be represented by symbols because symbols are based upon the words used in a given language. Thus, foreign names had to be spelled phonetically. In hieroglyphics there are groups of symbols that are separated from other symbols. These encircled inscriptions are called cartouches. Thomas Young determined that the cartouches were proper names of people who were not Egyptian like the names of Ptolemy and Alexander which in Greek were Ptolemaios and Alexandrus. He successfully deciphered 5 cartouches. His publication on this matter was far reaching.

At this point there is involvement by a young French historian and linguist named Jean-Fracois Champollion. Later in his career, Champollion had compiled a Coptic dictionary and read Thomas Young in 1819. Looking at Young’s writing on the subject of hieroglyphics, he realized that what Young had actually proven was that all of hieroglyphics were phonetic, not just those hieroglyphics that were contained within the cartouches. Utilizing hieroglyphics from an estate at Kingston Lacey in Britain, Champollion correctly identified the names of Cleopatra and Alexandrus and verified Ptolemeus which had previously been identified by Young He published his results and continued his research. In 1822 new inscriptions from a temple at Abu Simbel on the Nile were introduced into Europe and Champollion had correctly identified the name of the pharaoh who had built the temple. That name was ‘Ramses.’ Utilizing his knowledge of Coptic he continued to successfully translate the hieroglyphics opening up an understanding of the Ancient Egyptians.

Answer 2

Jean Francois Champollion.

Answer 3

Not all hieroglyphs are found in Egypt. They are also found on Aztec and Mayan pyramids, in Mesoptamian ruins, and on Assyrian Ziggarauts. Linguists can be highly specialized in all the various glyphs.

Answer 4

it was a French guy, and yes, he used the Rosetta Stone to work it all out. I can't remember his name though.

Answer 5

go search for "Rosetta stone" for your answer.