Archive | 200 years ago the science of Egyptology was born

The tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was discovered on November 4, 1922.

In 1822, Jean-François Champollion elucidated a centuries-old mystery. He managed to decipher the hieroglyphics of the Egypt of the pharaohs. This discovery led to the creation of a new science, Egyptology, as our archives tell us.

“It took him 14 years to elucidate the principles of this writing. »

— Charles Tisseyre talking about Jean-François Champollion

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Egypt of the pharaohs fascinated but retained most of its mysteries.

In particular, the meaning of the writing that adorned its monuments and its tombs.

Report in which is told how Jean-François Champollion deciphered the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt. Host Charles Tisseyre is the narrator.

On November 21, 1999, director Francine Charron and journalist Isabelle Montpetit offered a report on the show Découverte, in which they explained how we discovered the key to understanding the hieroglyphs and the Egypt of the pharaohs.

It was during the military campaign led by Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt (1798-1801) that the first element to decipher the writing of the ancient Egyptians was discovered.

In 1799, in a village at the mouth of the Nile called Rosette, the team of archaeologists accompanying the French military expedition found a granite stele.

On this stele is engraved a decree of Pharaoh Ptolemy V.

This is copied identically in three languages: in Greek, in demotic (the written language of the Egyptians at the time of Ptolemy V) and in the sacred language transcribed in hieroglyphics.

The three versions, chiseled on what is called the Rosetta stone, will allow the French scientist and linguist Jean-François Champollion to translate the hieroglyphs in 1822.

Champollion has developed a brilliant intuition.

Hieroglyphics are basically rebuses: drawings and symbols whose phonetic reading reveals a word.

Using this method, Champollion succeeded in deciphering hieroglyphs which respectively designate the pharaohs Ramses, Ptolemy, Thutmose as well as Queen Cleopatra.

Champollion has just broken the secret of ancient Egyptian writing!

Over the following years, he traveled through the archaeological sites of Egypt and brought back from oblivion a multitude of elements of the history of the pharaonic civilization.

Jean-François Champollion's discovery paved the way for what is now called the science of Egyptology.

On November 4, 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter announced that his expedition had unearthed the inviolate tomb of a pharaoh called Tutankhamun.

The wealth of artifacts discovered amazes the world. The mask and funerary furniture of the young pharaoh become symbols of ancient Egypt.

In 1967, the Parisian museum of the Petit Palais opened an exhibition presenting the treasures of Tutankhamun.

Journalist Martine de Barsy interviews Egyptologist Christiane Desroches Noblecourt about the exhibition presenting the treasures of Tutankhamun at the Petit Palais in Paris.

On April 6, 1967, journalist Martine de Barsy interviewed Egyptologist Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt for the program Woman of today.

This acts as the curator responsible for the event.

The particular interest of the exhibition, underlines the curator, is that you can see almost complete royal funerary furniture there.

Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt confirms to Martine de Barsy that Tutankhamun was an unimportant monarch in the country's history.

The splendor of its treasure can only leave us pensive, notes the Egyptologist.

This is particularly true when ;one thinks of the possible splendor of the tombs of more prestigious pharaohs, like Ramses II, who were looted.

Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt also rejects the legends of the existence of a curse surrounding the excavations that led to the discovery of Tutankhamun's mummy.

Nor did the Egyptians unlock the secret of the atom or radio waves, she assures us.

In 1979, it was the turn of the Gallery of Art to host the wonders of Tutankhamun's treasure.

For the record, this traveling exhibition had been so successful that the Toronto institution had to remain open at night to allow visitors to access it.

< p class="e-p">In 60 days, the museum had seen 760,000 people pass through its halls.

Report by journalist Jean-Yves Michaud on the exhibition of the treasures of Tutankhamun presented at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto

Journalist Jean-Yves Michaud's report, presented on Téléjournal on October 31, 1979, gives us an overview of the 55 objects exhibited in Toronto.

Bernard Derome hosts the Téléjournal.

The centerpiece on display is unquestionably the funerary mask of the late monarch composed of more than 10 kilos of gold.

Egyptology continues to fascinate us. Especially since all the secrets of the civilization of the pharaohs are not yet known or discovered.

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