The riddle of the Rosetta : how an English polymath and a French polyglot discovered the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs /

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Buchwald, Jed, 1949- author.
Imprint:Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2020]
Description:xi, 561 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Language:English
Subject:
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/12416633
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:Josefowicz, Diane Greco 1971- author.
ISBN:9780691200903
0691200904
9780691200910
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Summary:"In 1799, a French officer was clearing debris from a military installation when he discovered a stele bearing three scripts: ancient Greek, hieroglyphic, and a third that could not be definitively identified. This artifact, which came to be known as the Rosetta Stone, has traditionally played the starring role in the history of decipherment, which has until now been understood as an instance of code-breaking, a kind of Bletchley Park avant la lettre. In The Riddle of the Rosetta, Buchwald and Josefowicz delve into a wide array of British and French sources as well as archival material to produce a comprehensive new history of the decipherment. More than a puzzle-solving exercise based on a single artifact, the decipherment engaged with the era's social, cultural and intellectual contexts. It grew in the midst of heated disputes about language, historical evidence, the status of the Bible, the nature of polytheism, and the importance of classical learning. Jean-François Champollion in France and his British rival, the medical doctor and polymath Thomas Young, approached the decipherment from different standpoints derived from their contrasting temperaments, educational experiences, and attitudes to antiquity. Imbued with reverence for Greek culture and raised a Quaker, Young disdained Egyptian culture and saw Egyptian writing principally as a way to uncover new knowledge about Greco-Roman antiquity. To him, the decipherment was akin to a challenge posed by a problem in mathematics or science. Champollion's altogether different motivations and attitude unfolded amidst the political chaos of Restoration France, in fierce response to the intrigues of opposing scholars aligned with throne and altar. Unlike Young, Champollion admired ancient Egypt, and this sympathy, coupled with his willingness to upend conventional wisdom about the enigmatic Egyptian signs, freed him to travel a path down which Young refused to go. A remarkable intellectual adventure reaching from the filthy back streets of Georgian London to the hushed lecture rooms of the Institut de France, from the forgotten byways of provincial France to the splendor of the Valley of the Kings, this book reveals the decipherment in its full historical complexity"--
Other form:Online version: Buchwald, Jed, 1949- The riddle of the rosetta Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2020 9780691200910

MARC

LEADER 00000cam a2200000 i 4500
001 12416633
005 20201106142701.9
008 190724s2020 njua e b 001 0 eng
003 ICU
010 |a  2019032326 
040 |a ICU/DLC  |b eng  |e rda  |c DLC  |d OCLCO  |d OCLCF  |d BDX  |d YDX  |d GL4  |d YDX  |d UBY  |d AJB 
019 |a 1202534714 
020 |a 9780691200903  |q (hardcover) 
020 |a 0691200904  |q (hardcover) 
020 |z 9780691200910  |q (electronic book) 
035 |a (OCoLC)1110656207  |z (OCoLC)1202534714 
042 |a pcc 
050 0 0 |a PJ1531.R5  |b B77 2020 
082 0 0 |a 493/.1  |2 23 
100 1 |a Buchwald, Jed,  |d 1949-  |e author.  |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2019108664  |1 http://viaf.org/viaf/7121156497234617740000 
245 1 4 |a The riddle of the Rosetta :  |b how an English polymath and a French polyglot discovered the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs /  |c Jed Z. Buchwald & Diane Greco Josefowicz. 
264 1 |a Princeton, New Jersey :  |b Princeton University Press,  |c [2020] 
300 |a xi, 561 pages :  |b illustrations ;  |c 25 cm 
336 |a text  |b txt  |2 rdacontent  |0 http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/contentTypes/txt 
337 |a unmediated  |b n  |2 rdamedia  |0 http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/mediaTypes/n 
338 |a volume  |b nc  |2 rdacarrier  |0 http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/carriers/nc 
520 |a "In 1799, a French officer was clearing debris from a military installation when he discovered a stele bearing three scripts: ancient Greek, hieroglyphic, and a third that could not be definitively identified. This artifact, which came to be known as the Rosetta Stone, has traditionally played the starring role in the history of decipherment, which has until now been understood as an instance of code-breaking, a kind of Bletchley Park avant la lettre. In The Riddle of the Rosetta, Buchwald and Josefowicz delve into a wide array of British and French sources as well as archival material to produce a comprehensive new history of the decipherment. More than a puzzle-solving exercise based on a single artifact, the decipherment engaged with the era's social, cultural and intellectual contexts. It grew in the midst of heated disputes about language, historical evidence, the status of the Bible, the nature of polytheism, and the importance of classical learning. Jean-François Champollion in France and his British rival, the medical doctor and polymath Thomas Young, approached the decipherment from different standpoints derived from their contrasting temperaments, educational experiences, and attitudes to antiquity. Imbued with reverence for Greek culture and raised a Quaker, Young disdained Egyptian culture and saw Egyptian writing principally as a way to uncover new knowledge about Greco-Roman antiquity. To him, the decipherment was akin to a challenge posed by a problem in mathematics or science. Champollion's altogether different motivations and attitude unfolded amidst the political chaos of Restoration France, in fierce response to the intrigues of opposing scholars aligned with throne and altar. Unlike Young, Champollion admired ancient Egypt, and this sympathy, coupled with his willingness to upend conventional wisdom about the enigmatic Egyptian signs, freed him to travel a path down which Young refused to go. A remarkable intellectual adventure reaching from the filthy back streets of Georgian London to the hushed lecture rooms of the Institut de France, from the forgotten byways of provincial France to the splendor of the Valley of the Kings, this book reveals the decipherment in its full historical complexity"--  |c Provided by publisher. 
504 |a Includes bibliographical references and indexes. 
505 0 |a Part 1 : A Quaker's odyssey. Dinner at Longman's -- In the classroom of nature -- An errand in the city -- The vocal circle -- Lecturer and physician -- The Herculaneum papyri -- Part 2 : Antiquity embraced. Words from Egypt's past? -- The sounds of an ancient language -- Paris atmospheres -- Rooted in place -- Hier pour Demain -- L'Affaire Polycarpe -- An Egyptian geography of Egypt -- Indications -- Part 3 : Scripts and bones. Summer at Worthing -- Letters from Paris -- The papyri of the Description de l'Égypte -- Seeking uxellodunum -- The master of conditions -- Abandoning the alphabet at Grenoble -- Demonstrations -- Iconoclasm at the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres -- Part 4 : Reading the past. The obelisk from Philae -- A singluar and puzzling artifact -- A momentous change -- Words and sounds -- Parisian reactions -- Words across the Channel -- Part 5 : Antique letters. Grey's box -- An opportune encounter -- The "true key" to Egyptian hieroglyphs -- The semantic trap avoided -- The reception of the Précis -- "Hold your laughter, friends!". 
600 1 0 |a Young, Thomas,  |d 1773-1829.  |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85830093  |1 http://viaf.org/viaf/128851 
600 1 0 |a Champollion, Jean-François,  |d 1790-1832.  |1 http://viaf.org/viaf/34454460 
630 0 0 |a Rosetta stone.  |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n84160110 
600 1 7 |a Champollion, Jean-François,  |d 1790-1832.  |2 fast  |0 http://id.worldcat.org/fast/00047450  |1 http://viaf.org/viaf/34454460 
600 1 7 |a Young, Thomas,  |d 1773-1829.  |2 fast  |0 http://id.worldcat.org/fast/00164731  |1 http://viaf.org/viaf/128851 
630 0 7 |a Rosetta stone.  |2 fast  |0 http://id.worldcat.org/fast/01358645 
650 0 |a Egyptian language  |x Writing, Hieroglyphic.  |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85041349 
650 7 |a Egyptian language  |x Writing, Hieroglyphic.  |2 fast  |0 (OCoLC)fst00903961 
700 1 |a Josefowicz, Diane Greco  |d 1971-  |e author.  |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2009151578 
776 0 8 |i Online version:  |a Buchwald, Jed, 1949-  |t The riddle of the rosetta  |d Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2020  |z 9780691200910  |w (DLC) 2019032327 
903 |a HeVa 
929 |a cat 
999 f f |i 284f335b-a3e4-591e-ab0a-afc36712494a  |s 8d4dab1e-2dd7-5bdc-b892-3d0728806a2f 
928 |t Library of Congress classification  |a PJ1531.R5 B77 2020  |l JRL  |c JRL-Gen  |i 12028010 
927 |t Library of Congress classification  |a PJ1531.R5 B77 2020  |l JRL  |c JRL-Gen  |e LEEH  |b 116845540  |i 10259688