How We Decoded The Hieroglyphs Of Ancient Egypt

'How We Decoded The Hieroglyphs Of Ancient Egypt'

In this clip from the History Hit documentary 'The Story of Egyptology', Dr Chris Naunton explores how 18th century scholars worked frantically to decode the secrets of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs after the discovery of the Rosetta Stone.

Egyptologist Dr Chris Naunton explores the story of how Ancient Egypt was rediscovered, and how its incredible sites and treasures were gradually decoded. Starting with the earliest travellers who ventured inside the pyramids, Chris traces how this curiosity exploded into Egyptomania in the 18th and 19th centuries. Beginning with the French invasion under Napoleon, we discover how Egypt was explored, plundered and eventually deciphered as increasingly scientific approaches were taken. Highlights include the audacious treasure hunting by Belzoni, the painstaking decoding of hieroglyphs and Flinders Petrie's introduction of modern methodology - all leading to Howard Carter's opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun.

[HistoryHit]

He'll be talking about his first full-length documentary on History Hit TV, 'The Story of Egyptology'. There'll also be a live watch-along of the episode and the chance to put your questions to the producers, Mark Edger and Milo Cumpstey. 😀

[SamMC]

Every time I watch something like this it baffles me how ridiculously intelligent some individuals have been throughout history.

[theoriginaltoadnz]

Probably one of the most well presented docos i have seen in recent years. This fellow has a knack for explaning things carefully and isn't over the top with expressions or tv persona. Sorta reminds me of the great bbc docos of old, where the narrator actually narrates and informs rather than belittles or is comical about the content. Thankyou very much.

[Coastfog]

This should be shown to anyone who says history is boring. Even the history of exploring history can be fascinating.

[pbxn-rdx-percent]

Egyptologist after deciphering hieroglyphs: "It's a cookbook! It's a cookbook!" 😄

[allandnothing]

"The work done by Young & Champollion was truly magnificent". I'm not trying to restart the rivalry, but one guy's main contributions were making some random guesses and actively preventing his rival from getting his hands on useful sources; while the other guy's cracked the supposedly undecipherable code. One work seems a tad more magnificent than the other.

[Yrenne]

All of this hinges on this one random stone that happened to survive relatively intact for close to two millennia. That, to me, is insane.

We might have been able to decipher hieroglyphics without the stone eventually but it would have taken longer and no one would have ever been 100% sure that they were actually correct as they wouldn't have had a direct translation to compare their findings to.

[GiI]

It absolutely blew my mind to learn that this was the same Young who devised the original double slit experiment. What an absolute genius.

[kevinhoward]

I have always been fascinated by Ancient Egypt. Thousands of years of history all crammed into one country.

[frankhoffman]

First time in my long life to find out heiroglyphics were substantially phonetic! That's a major revelation

[bigmacdaddy]

Imagine having to chisel a picture of a bird every time you want an 'a'

[littleveganchef]

I never comment on Youtube videos but did want to express how well put together and presented this is. Subscribed!

[stretmediq]

I visited the British Museum and stood in front of the Rosetta Stone all by myself for over an hour without a single other person taking the time to even peruse it so I got a good long uninterrupted look at it

[delmerHRIV]

I believe Carl Sagan's Cosmos mentioned this story with an added detail about Champollion's childhood with the Mathematician Joseph Fourier. Fourier was on the expedition that discovered the Rosetta Stone, and Sagan explained that an 11 year old Champollion, gifted with languages, was invited to Fourier's office and was so enthralled by the undecipherable text that he declared he'd be the one decipher it. But is it true? How much did Fourier interact with Champollion? What Cosmos episode was that?

[mmneander]

For me, even more fascinating and wonderful than Egyptian culture/history is the fact that Europeans, since the Renaissance, have this incredible curiosity, the fascination with new things and the drive to find out how things work.

[MosesMatsepane]

This video gave exactly what I was looking for when I searched for this topic.

[melquiadespabillare]

Amazing narrative and well research short documentary.

[IntrepidFraidyCat]

Very interesting! Even with the stone, it's amazing that they cracked it. 👍🏻 New subscriber!

[stormygayle]

I’ve been waiting for this for a v long time., so thank you! 🙏

[elp.]

I admire such people! I could watch these videos till the end of the time.