Grandpa Kewl

Book Review – The Keys of Egypt, Lesley and Roy Adkins

A quite well done history of the decipherment of the ancient Egyptian language.

There were quite a few persons who had made the attempt to understand the language of the monuments and papyrus documents but none were successful until Jean Francois Champollion took up the task at the ripe old age of 16. This is the engaging story of his life, unfortunately cut short at the height of his success. It pains a very complete picture of the place that was France in 1810-30, a rather dangerous place in fact, which had an impact on the discovery and how it was told and when and where it was told. It also shows the competing efforts of others who tried and failed where Champollion succeeded.

This is a very interesting story which is told quite well.

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