The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt (Wonders of the World)

Book is awesome. Great sense of humor, nice context, covers all the basics without getting too deep into the subject. My favorite book about the Rosetta Stone.

A small but excellent discussion of the Rosetta Stone with full translation of the inscription. Excellent bibliography.

very good

I've always wanted to know more about the Rosetta Stone and this is a great book to start with, and to even start with studying Egyptology, if you're interested!The only negative comment I could possibly make is that there seems to be a bit of romanticization of Jean-François Champollion on the author's part haha. Maybe that's just because I haven't read much on Champollion yet? We'll see.

I knew little about the Rosetta Stone other than what I had learned in school many years ago. Every schoolchild learns that the Rosetta Stone, found in 1799 along the Nile delta, had the same text in three different languages -- Egyptian hieroglyphics, Egyptian demotic (the language of the people), and Greek -- that allowed scholars to, for the first time, decipher Egyptian hierglyphics, thus making it possible to read all the already-found (and subsequently-found) hieroglyphic texts that up to that time had simply not been decipherable. This made possible, really, the study of ancient Egypt as never before, and indeed the whole field of Egyptology. John Ray, professor of Egyptology at Cambridge, writes a fascinating history of the Stone, its discovery, early attempts at deciphering it, the partial success of Thomas Young and the final decipherment by Jean-Francois Champollion. He also gives a history of Greek occupation of Egypt leading up to the creation of the Rosetta Stone in 196 BC early in the reign of Ptolemy V. And he addresses the question of who really owns these treasures of antiquity such as the Stone, the Elgin Marbles and so on. He also gives his own translation of the actual Rosetta Stone text.Part of what makes this book so compulsively readable is Ray's dry sense of humor. He sneaks in wry comments in the most unexpected places and I found myself chuckling frequently. The book, intended for the general reader, is never guilty of talking down and for that one can be thankful.Recommended.Scott Morrison

This book does for the Rosetta Stone what "The Professor and the Madman" did for the OED. It is a well-written story of the discovery, deciphering, traditions, and consequences of the Rosetta Stone. Shows off the personalities of Young and Champollion, and has you rooting for the cognitive advances that unlocked the hieroglyphs.Very readable and enjoyable. Good section on the repatriation of historical objects.

The story of the Rosetta Stone's role in recovering the splendor of Pharaonic Egypt in its own words is generally well known, at least in outline. This delightful book by an eminent expert in the field provides a very readable wealth of context and detail, from the Stone's original purpose and creation, to its current repository at the British Museum. The accidental discovery of the stone by Napoleon's troops is highlighted by the struggle for the Stone's possession. The decipherment story is very much like a mystery novel, with large egos and intense competition among the international contenders. The author makes clear that Champollion certainly was the clear winner. The challenge has aspects that reach into the nature of human intelligence and communication, and while others may provide pieces and hints without complete explanations, the `aha' moment of insight is singularly personal. This is something the author has direct knowledge of in his solution of the unreadable Carian script that also had a home in Egypt. Although a small book, the nine chapters are complemented by the Stone's text, along with an extensive reading list for those wanting more specific details over a wide range of topics and references.

There have been plenty of books about the decipherment of hieroglyphs in recent years, but Ray's book is more wide-ranging than most. Its breadth is surpassed only by by Richard Parkinson, which is impressive, given that Ray's book is far smaller.Ray's credentials for this subject are impeccable. Not only is he an Egyptologist, he also helped decipher the Carian language using a hieroglyphic bilingual text. His style is odd: full of side comments that are often humorous but sometimes just weird. He is pretty fair-minded in treating the dispute between Young and Champollion, and he points out a few things I haven't seen elsewhere, such as a possible reason why Young was uninterested in hieroglyphs except as an intellectual puzzle.Like any book on this topic, Ray's book includes an account of the Rosetta Stone's discovery and a description of the slow process of decipherment. Like many of them, it also gives a translation of the stone's rather uninteresting text and a sample of the much more interesting works of literature that its decipherment allowed us to read. However, Ray also discusses the general process of deciphering an unknown script, with examples of how other scripts were deciphered (Maya and Linear B) and a handy step-by-step guide for anyone trying to decipher a script themselves. He also has a chapter on the controversy over repatriation. Should famous artifacts like the Rosetta Stone, taken from their home countries by imperialist powers, be returned? He argues strongly that repatriation is unnecessary, and though I'm not sure I agree with him, he provides the best defense of his position that I have read.Ray's book is also one of the few that discuss the people who completed the decipherment of Egyptian scripts after Champollion's death. In fact, he does so in more detail than any other book on decipherment—except, oddly, Andrew Robinson's .

Brilliant!

Awesome book by John Ray, love his writings.

I have been to Egypt, the first time was in 1993, and I made my mind up that I'd like to study Egyptology.Although in my second year of studying Egyptology, during my first year I came across this little book. Although it wasn't one of the study books I was required to read I decided to purchase it.Whether you've been to Egypt or not, you'll still must have questions about those wonderful monuments, like the Pyramids and Sphinx etc. For example questions about immortality, ownership, their heritage and how we stand in amongst off of it. John Ray examines their history, alternative theories surrounding the building of them and how archaeologists have dealt with both the Rosetta Stone and Ancient Egypt's rebirth during the 19th Century.I found this book informative, interesting and enjoyable to read.It makes an excellent edition to my little Egyptian library, which now stands at nearly 1000 books on this subject. :-)

It was for my GRANDSONS Birthday he was 11 and loved it.he tuke the book to school and read the book to the class.

If you are looking for a concise history of the Rosetta Stone and its de-coding, this isn't it. I can't add much to what the other reviewers have said. It is a readable , but rather rambling, book. Reading it is akin to trying to round up a flock of chickens. Although it gives a guide on how to go about de-ciphering a code, it doesn't provide a step by step guide as to how Young and Champollion went about de-ciphering the Rosetta Stone.As I said, read the other reviews, including the description by Amazon, to see what you are getting.