1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:03,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:16,279 Speaker 1: I'm editor Key and Just Gibson joined my staff writer 4 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 1: Jane Grahams. Hey there, Jane. When you think of ancient Egypt, 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:26,800 Speaker 1: what comes to mind? Mummies? Yeah, I think of Pyramid 6 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: and Cleopatra with her crazy black eyeliner. And I guess 7 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 1: everyone wore a black outline and it wasn't so crazy. 8 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 1: I think it actually helped deflect the sun, or it's 9 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: sort of some sort of very practical purpose. It wasn't 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,360 Speaker 1: just cosmetic. I'm wearing mine day to look cool and 11 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,040 Speaker 1: super goth, not to deflict this one, not to depose 12 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: it's you know, it's kind of wintry and hazy out 13 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:50,559 Speaker 1: the other day. The point being that all that we 14 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 1: think about ancient Egypt, and all of the Egyptian lore 15 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: that we know, and everything you know about mummies and 16 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: farrows and tout and Clepatra and Ramsey's we take it 17 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 1: for grant in it, I think, but there was a 18 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: really long period of time that no one really knew 19 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 1: what ancient Egypt was all about. Like they could see 20 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: these things that their eyes, but they were mysteries to them. Yeah, 21 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,400 Speaker 1: and they knew this was a huge civilization obviously, but 22 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,200 Speaker 1: we didn't really know the secrets of what happened during 23 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 1: the time that it rained and was so powerful because, uh, 24 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:23,840 Speaker 1: the language was sort of forgotten and the and so 25 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:27,600 Speaker 1: the inscriptions that were written about it could not be 26 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: translated and language aside. It was almost like the fascination 27 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 1: we have today with with Mars and outer space and 28 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: imagining that there may be people out there. It's popular 29 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: culture to us because there's no scientific or historical basis, 30 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 1: and that's how Egypt wise, it was very much a 31 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: subject of popular culture. And well that may strike you 32 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: as funny if you're sitting in school today maybe and 33 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: you've got a thirty minute lecture about one of the pharaohs. 34 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: Um imagine that back during the time that Napoleon was 35 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: in power in France, people dabbled in Egypt. People collected 36 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 1: parts of Egypt, and they would they would buy, like 37 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: collectors for collectors, items from Egypt themselves, and like the 38 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: Egyptians who didn't quite know what they're worth, right exactly. 39 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: And that's the thing that we should mention too, is 40 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 1: that not even the Egyptians knew what their cultures about. 41 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 1: It was all just just fun in games really that 42 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: you could go into these pyramids and you could find gold, 43 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: or you could find mummies, or you could find artifacts 44 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,839 Speaker 1: and and pawn it off and make some change. And 45 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:34,919 Speaker 1: and that all changed once Napoleon invaded Egypt. That's so 46 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 1: funny to me that Egyptian France have such a strong 47 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,840 Speaker 1: high as fire as deciphering their history. But that's kind 48 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:43,680 Speaker 1: of how it went. Yeah, it's interesting. It's pretty cool. Actually, 49 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 1: look at when Napoleon did, when he was trying to 50 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: get power over the strategic position where Egypt was, he 51 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: gathered this he had. He took his soldiers, but he 52 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: also took a troop of academics basically scientists, chemists, even zoologists. 53 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 1: And he called him up and he's like this super 54 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: secret mission and just say that you're doing this really 55 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: good of France and we're gonna, you know, study the 56 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: culture and see what's going on. And I would just 57 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: love it if like the President called me up today 58 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: and was like, Jane, we need you for a secret 59 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: academic mission and leave you to come to this mysterious 60 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 1: land with this that hells this mysterious civilization and find 61 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: out what it's all about. It must have been amazing. 62 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: And Napoleon was nothing if not a shrewd leader, and 63 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: so he didn't just plan to invade Egypt. He planned 64 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: a very thorough infiltration. So this group of academics, it 65 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: was called the Institute of Egypt, they set up camp 66 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: alongside the soldiers, and unfortunately things went a little bad 67 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: military wise, and the French were essentially cut off. All 68 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,040 Speaker 1: their ships were destroyed, they had no way out and 69 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: they were sort of stranded in Egypt for at eighteen years. Yeah, 70 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: it's true. It's interesting because he went. Napoleon landed with 71 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: his troops and stuff. He was successful for a little while. 72 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:54,400 Speaker 1: He captured Alexandria, he won the Battle of the Pyramids. 73 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: But then um, sort of by accident, this British uh 74 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: general or admiral, I should say, Horatio Nelson saw his 75 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: ships off the coast and they didn't have Um Napoleon 76 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: in it, but he destroyed the ships themselves. So they 77 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: were stranded there. Um Napoleon and his troops and there's 78 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,480 Speaker 1: a lot that you could accomplish in eighteen years, and 79 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: they really did. They ended up writing a multi volume 80 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: work all about Egypt. But before that ever happened, they 81 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,080 Speaker 1: had to build reinforcements. They had to build forts, they 82 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:28,280 Speaker 1: had to build strongholds. And when the soldiers were at work, 83 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: they were tearing down walls of an old temple, I think, 84 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: and starting to erect a new Fortnit's place, and a 85 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:40,720 Speaker 1: soldier stumbled across this shiny piece of black basalt, and 86 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:42,840 Speaker 1: it had all of these inscriptions in it, and there 87 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:46,039 Speaker 1: were three distinct types of inscriptions, and he thought, I 88 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 1: don't know what this is, but it looks important. So 89 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:51,279 Speaker 1: he took it over to the scholars, which was really handy, 90 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 1: and they couldn't quite tell what it was either for 91 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: a while. But they called this piece of basalt the 92 00:04:57,279 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: Rosetta stone because it was found in the town of Rozetta. 93 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,719 Speaker 1: And it wasn't huge, but it wasn't small either. It 94 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:05,679 Speaker 1: was sort of about the size of maybe a small 95 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: coffee table, and it was pretty happy because it was 96 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: done maybe like a medium sized L C D television 97 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:12,919 Speaker 1: or something like that, if you think about it in 98 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,400 Speaker 1: those terms. So they thought they knew it was really important, 99 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:18,479 Speaker 1: even though they couldn't quite figure out why. Um. But 100 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,200 Speaker 1: so they wanted to hang onto it um first and 101 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:25,360 Speaker 1: foremost for Napoleon. But when the English obviously had their 102 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,679 Speaker 1: hold over over France in that area of the English 103 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: were really adamant that they handed over. Yeah, I said, 104 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 1: by the Treaty of Capitulation, they had to give it 105 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: over to the British. But the French were pretty quick thinking, 106 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: so they made some copies that first of all, and 107 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: that was more really really smart. So the British had 108 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 1: the original rosettas down, the French had copies of it, 109 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:46,680 Speaker 1: and both camps set to work trying to figure out 110 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,160 Speaker 1: what it was. And this is pretty it was pretty hard. 111 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:51,159 Speaker 1: Like when I when I learned about the Rosetta stom 112 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:53,119 Speaker 1: back in school. I guess I just learned the basic 113 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,800 Speaker 1: facts that it was the key to figuring out hieroglyphics. 114 00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: But it's interesting to look at the history because it 115 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 1: actually took them quite a while to actually figure out 116 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:04,240 Speaker 1: and crack the code. It really did, and it had 117 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:06,839 Speaker 1: three different types of writing on it. That's radeed had Greek, 118 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 1: which was relatively well known a time by academics, and 119 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:14,160 Speaker 1: Demotic and which is sort of a subset of hieroglyphics, 120 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 1: and hieroglyphix itself. So these three different strata of languages, 121 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 1: and we know from the Greek that was the easiest 122 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:24,040 Speaker 1: to interpret because, like you said, scholars did no Greek, 123 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:27,480 Speaker 1: and the Reverend Stephen Weston actually interpreted that. In April 124 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: eighteen o two, we realized that the stone was dated 125 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: from March b C. What scholars later found out is 126 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: that it was one in a series of stella, essentially 127 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: like a religious or governmental decree written on stone, and 128 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,480 Speaker 1: these were very, very common in Egypt. It was almost 129 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,719 Speaker 1: like the Ten Commandments being on a tablet. This was 130 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: what people did. I mean, the Egyptians later have a 131 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:53,880 Speaker 1: pyr respect for the time being, you know, we're putting 132 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 1: their writing on stone. And there were so many that 133 00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: this one there was that a stone really is not 134 00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: that significant, and then rand scheme of things. The actual 135 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: message on it is not that the message on is 136 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:05,600 Speaker 1: not that riveting. I think basically it talks about how 137 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:08,360 Speaker 1: the pharaoh is a good person, the pharaoh respects the gods, 138 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 1: the pharaoh is humble ergo, let's all honor the pharaoh. 139 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:17,080 Speaker 1: But it was the key to deciphering hieroglyphics that makes 140 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: it so memorable today. So here's what happened with hieroglyphics 141 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:24,000 Speaker 1: back when Egypt was its own entity and I didn't 142 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: really have any other outside parties bothering it at years 143 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: the language of hieroglyphics, and this was a very spiritual 144 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: and reverend sort of way of writing. So yeah, no, 145 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: not everybody knew how to write hieroglyphics, Like it was 146 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:39,920 Speaker 1: reserved to like um, the particular carvers and um it 147 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 1: had a specific purpose, like it was either for religious 148 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,280 Speaker 1: writing or like governmental writing, right, and then they decided 149 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 1: they needed a more pedestrian language that everyone could use 150 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:52,480 Speaker 1: and everyone could write in. So then we have Heiradic 151 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: and this was easier, right to to write on like papyrus, 152 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: you know, and it was smooth to like it was 153 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: sort of like a cursive version. There you go, and 154 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: the same process continued, and by then we have different 155 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:05,960 Speaker 1: parties coming into Egypt and different cultures influencing them. We 156 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: have Demotic, which evolves next, and that's a simplification of Herradic, 157 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 1: simplification of hieroglyphics. And then finally when Christians start coming 158 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:17,640 Speaker 1: into Egypt and the culture and religion drastically changed, we 159 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 1: have Coptic, and this uses Coptic uses a group of 160 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,720 Speaker 1: Greek alphabet mostly, but then there were some things that 161 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: the Greek Greek alphabet had that Egyptian language didn't, so 162 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: they incorporated some sort of hieroglyphic like characters in it exactly. 163 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: So the reason that that Rosetta stone had three different 164 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 1: languages on it is because they wanted to make sure 165 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 1: everyone could read this stone. The decree was public for everyone, 166 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:43,560 Speaker 1: and like we said, not that interesting to decree, but 167 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: very public nonetheless. So after west End translated the Greek, 168 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: the next step was trying to go ahead and do 169 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: the demotic, because that seems the next easiest to do. 170 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:57,599 Speaker 1: And there were two men who did that relatively contemporary 171 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: of one another, and that was Johann David her Blood 172 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:05,079 Speaker 1: and Antoine sylvest To say sye, that's right. And these 173 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: people sort of new Coptic relatively well, like they had 174 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:11,439 Speaker 1: studied Coptic before, and so they had an easier time 175 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:17,040 Speaker 1: translating the demonic exactly. But hieroglyphics was a very persistent mystery. 176 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: And one of the reasons for that was that a 177 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 1: fifth century scholar, a Greek scholar named Parapolo put out 178 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: the idea that hieroglyphics were characters representative of symbols or allegories. 179 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,600 Speaker 1: And so, I mean, think about it. If someone told 180 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: you that, um, little white dogs were representative of all 181 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: things evil, it would be really, really hard for you 182 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: to shake the idea that little white dogs were bad. Like, 183 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 1: no matter how you tried to change your ideology in 184 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 1: your way of thinking, you would always have in the 185 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: back of your mind stay away from little white dogs. 186 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: And that's what scholars were encountering as they went through 187 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:59,240 Speaker 1: this interpretation process was that hieroglyphics translated to symbols and allegories. 188 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:01,840 Speaker 1: So they took this horror Apollo's idea and ran with it. 189 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:04,840 Speaker 1: And they just assumed this was right, that that one 190 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:08,720 Speaker 1: character represents an idea basically, and it's not. They assumed 191 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: that it was not like English, for instance, which had 192 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:14,240 Speaker 1: an alphabet where letters have a sound attached to them. 193 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:17,080 Speaker 1: But that's exactly what it was, and no one figured 194 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,200 Speaker 1: that out until years later. So running with this idea 195 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:23,320 Speaker 1: that hieroglyphics represents symbols that Thomas Young came along in 196 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: eighteen fourteen and he discovered the cartouche, which was essentially 197 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:31,160 Speaker 1: a loop around a group of hieroglyphic letters. And he 198 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 1: realized that only proper names were the ones and a cartouche, 199 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,600 Speaker 1: because he was able to discern the name Ptolemy, and 200 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:39,719 Speaker 1: he knew that from you know, the Ptolemic grewers who 201 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:41,800 Speaker 1: had rulers who would come in and he knew that 202 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:43,920 Speaker 1: they would have you know, some help and signified and 203 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,040 Speaker 1: mentioned in a governmental decree. So that's at the standard 204 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:50,840 Speaker 1: for looking for cartouche's. But he was still working on 205 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:55,040 Speaker 1: Hollapolo's um hypothesis, so he couldn't really go much further 206 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:59,360 Speaker 1: than that, right, so he was very limited. Well along 207 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:03,360 Speaker 1: time stant Pallion and he knew from a very very 208 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: young age that he was destined for something great. And 209 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:08,960 Speaker 1: people knew what hieroglyphics were, and they knew that no 210 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:11,520 Speaker 1: one had mastered them. Like it was very much a 211 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 1: challenge that I think people aspired to, sort of a 212 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:16,560 Speaker 1: patriotic challenge to because, like you said, Thomas Young he 213 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:19,439 Speaker 1: was he was actually British and so he was fighting 214 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:22,880 Speaker 1: to translate the hieroglyphics first for for England, you know, 215 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 1: UM and Champoleion was was French and because they found it, 216 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:30,199 Speaker 1: they really wanted to translate it. First two and he 217 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:34,079 Speaker 1: was a very very serious scholar, almost like Albert Einstein 218 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:36,839 Speaker 1: of of France. At this time, he was very withdrawn, 219 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,720 Speaker 1: he was sort of erratic and his behavior. He was 220 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:43,000 Speaker 1: considered sort of an unusual character. And even at birth 221 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:46,480 Speaker 1: people said he looked like he was Egyptian because he had, 222 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: you know, a darker skin tone, and his eyes were 223 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: a little bit more and more yellowish looking. He didn't 224 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:53,559 Speaker 1: look like a Frenchman. And so he was destined for me. 225 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:55,440 Speaker 1: He was destined for this. And I think that there's 226 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:57,560 Speaker 1: some sort of legend that even a fort and teller 227 00:11:57,679 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 1: came in during his childbirth and said he was going 228 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 1: to do something really great having to do with Egypt. 229 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 1: I don't know if that's true, but it's sort of 230 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:07,520 Speaker 1: fun to think about. So his whole life he knew 231 00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 1: that he was going to master hieroglyphics, and even to 232 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:13,280 Speaker 1: the point that his older brother had to care for 233 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 1: him essentially because he wasn't feeding himself properly, he had 234 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 1: no money, he could barely sustain his own life. And 235 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:22,800 Speaker 1: well that makes sense, no, because I heard um that 236 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:25,559 Speaker 1: he fainted when he actually translated the first thing, and 237 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:28,400 Speaker 1: he was now nourished that his brother actually was able 238 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:31,000 Speaker 1: to keep him out of military service. He said that 239 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:33,640 Speaker 1: Chimpallion was doing a greater service to his country by 240 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:36,839 Speaker 1: trying to crack hyerglyphics than he would in the military. 241 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:38,400 Speaker 1: And and good thing too, because I don't think he 242 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:40,000 Speaker 1: would have been a very good soldier. I think he've 243 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,680 Speaker 1: been pretty unhappy in that post. And if he's a fainter, 244 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 1: I don't think you lest, no, not that much. So 245 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:49,680 Speaker 1: he's working off Thomas Young's cartouche and he starts to 246 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: see a couple of different hieroglyphics symbols that he is 247 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:57,559 Speaker 1: parsing out, and he comes up with the idea, well, 248 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:02,440 Speaker 1: what if each symbol relates to a sound, and he 249 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:06,679 Speaker 1: discovers the name Ramsey's using just a couple of figures 250 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:08,600 Speaker 1: trailing in the ladder, and one of the first his 251 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:11,280 Speaker 1: first clues was seeing this circle with a dot in 252 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:12,840 Speaker 1: the middle, and he was like, you know what that 253 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:15,440 Speaker 1: could be the sun? It has you know, he made 254 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:17,880 Speaker 1: this this sleep of faith that you know that maybe 255 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:20,480 Speaker 1: that's the sun. And he knew that in a related 256 00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: language that the sun uh, the word for sun was raw, 257 00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:26,840 Speaker 1: and so using the phonetic like the sound of it, 258 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: he was able to eventually find out that this name 259 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,880 Speaker 1: was Ramsey's. And I think he saw two more characters 260 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:35,520 Speaker 1: that were very clearly meant to be s s. He 261 00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:39,920 Speaker 1: had r a blank as blank ass and he knows 262 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:41,959 Speaker 1: a proper name. He knews a proper name. Who else 263 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,679 Speaker 1: would have been famous in Egypt at that time Ramsay's 264 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,040 Speaker 1: And so that was it, and he fainted, commenced painting. 265 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:50,000 Speaker 1: There you go. And that's not to say that after 266 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:54,640 Speaker 1: Champoleon essentially translated that one name from higher glyphics, this 267 00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:58,160 Speaker 1: still was a very pain stanking and laborious process people 268 00:13:58,160 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 1: had to go through, and there were many, many things 269 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:02,440 Speaker 1: to be translated. But I think that brought about a 270 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:06,840 Speaker 1: lot of excitement because now Egypt and the field of 271 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:11,120 Speaker 1: Egyptology that sprang from it, it was a sanctified field 272 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:14,280 Speaker 1: and archaeology and history and science. It wasn't just a 273 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:16,440 Speaker 1: matter of popular culture. It was kind of sad for 274 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:18,440 Speaker 1: people who realized all of a sudden, oh my gosh, 275 00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:21,240 Speaker 1: I've been selling priceless mommies and here's what they mean, 276 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 1: and who knows who has it now. I think some 277 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:26,880 Speaker 1: of them were even shipped off to Europe ground depth 278 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:29,960 Speaker 1: and um, mom if I remained swallowed, that's right, like 279 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:34,040 Speaker 1: the medieval times. Yeah, so all these these artifacts were 280 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: very far flung around the world. But now at last 281 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 1: people knew what the history was. And this you know, 282 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:42,240 Speaker 1: like you said, it was both academic and sort of 283 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:45,640 Speaker 1: a fed in social areas too, and so um, people 284 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:48,560 Speaker 1: were like obsessed with the culture now and there were 285 00:14:48,600 --> 00:14:51,480 Speaker 1: fights with like the museum, Like obviously England had the 286 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:53,920 Speaker 1: Rosetta stone, and they were also getting all this stuff 287 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 1: that that France had had gotten in Egypt, and so 288 00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:00,240 Speaker 1: there was this like academic fight sort of. And even 289 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:03,560 Speaker 1: to this day people still debate who the real victor 290 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 1: is France or England, because clearly Chambolian was, you know, 291 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: the Frenchman who ultimately discovered hieroglyphics and the key behind 292 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 1: it with the sound corresponding to the word. But on 293 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:18,280 Speaker 1: the other hand, Thomas Young, the Englishman, if he hadn't 294 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:21,040 Speaker 1: discovered the meaning of the cartouche, where the Champoleon have 295 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:24,120 Speaker 1: been without that? So um, I think they debate back 296 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: and forth today. And I think that the Rosetta stone 297 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 1: also went on display in France for a while for 298 00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:32,360 Speaker 1: a celebration of its discovery, and there were rumors at 299 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:35,680 Speaker 1: the French were plotting to just steal it. And and 300 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:39,360 Speaker 1: even today I think that Egypt is opening up a 301 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:42,240 Speaker 1: museum in the not too distant future and they had 302 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:44,720 Speaker 1: wanted to bring the Rosetta Stone home to display it. 303 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 1: That's right. I mean, it's understandable, like like you see 304 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:50,080 Speaker 1: England and France or whatever fighting over this and they're like, hey, 305 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: it's kind of ours. It came from Egypt, stole it 306 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 1: from us. But because it is so heavy and frattle 307 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 1: and then will they would be very difficult to transport it. 308 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:00,720 Speaker 1: So I think you have discussion is still in the 309 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:03,760 Speaker 1: works and we shall see what happens in the interim. 310 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: You can find out more about Ancient Egypt, modern Egypt, 311 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 1: ancient civilizations in general, and there's other stone on how 312 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:12,320 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com, and you can also find out 313 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,320 Speaker 1: more about how encryption works and another house of works 314 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,720 Speaker 1: podcasts called tech stuff you can find on iTunes today 315 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:23,160 Speaker 1: for more on this and thousands of other topics. 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