Champollion

Jean-François Champollion was a French scholar, who is primarily known for deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. Growing up, Champollion’s father worked as a book trader and was known as a drunk, while his mother was absent most of his young life. He was raised by one of his older brothers, Jacques-Joseph. After being enrolled in school, Champollion hated the curriculum, which only allowed him to study a language one day per week. He decided to study Coptic, which is part of the Egyptian language that was used until the 17th century. Before moving, Champollion gave his paper Geographical Description of Egypt before the Conquest of Cambyses, to the Academy of Grenoble in Paris. The members were then impressed and admitted him into the school. While at the Academy, he studied under Silvestre de Sacy, the first Frenchman to attempt to decipher the Rosetta Stone. He also met Raphaël de Monachis, the Arabic translation to Napoleon.

Even at a young age, Champollion was fascinated with Egyptian history. At the age of sixteen, he submitted a paper to the Academy of Grenoble where he argued that the Egyptian hieroglyphics were closely related to the Coptic language. Other theories of the time thought that hieroglyphs directly related to actions or concepts, rather than an alphabet or words of sorts. With Champollion’s deciphering of the hieroglyphs, it was made possible to find information ancient Egyptians.

Even after his death in 1832, Champollion’s deciphering didn’t die with him, but instead helped other Egyptologists with their own discoveries. The discoveries he made are now the basis of past and current discoveries in this field. At his home town of Figeac, France, he has been honored with a monument as well as a reproduction of the Rosetta Stone.