Discovery at Rosetta - Hardcover

Jonathan Downs

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 184529579X ISBN 13: 9781845295790

Publisher: Constable, 2008

Synopsis

In 1798, the young French general, Napoleon Bonaparte, entered Egypt with an army and a brigade of 'savants', scientists, anthropologists and historians. His aim was not just conquest on the banks of the Nile but the rediscovery of the ancient world after years of obscurity under the Ottoman Empire. At the heart of this quest was a stone that was discovered in the small town of Rossetta which would offer the key to unlock the mysteries of the ancient Egyptian. It contained wording in Greek, Hieroglyphs and demotic Egyptian. It was the prize that Napoleon had dreamed of, but in a series of adventures the stone came into English hands. Discovery at Rosetta will be the first book that tells the full story of how the English won the battle to claim the Stone and how it was then shipped to England. The book also tells the story of the extraordinary characters involved leading up to the race to decipher the Stone's code between Thomas Young and Champollion.

About this title

About the Author

Jonathan Downs is a writer and editor. The original story comes from an article in History Today that first revealed the true story of how the French lost the stone.

From Publishers Weekly

This latest recounting of the 1799 discovery of the Rosetta Stone—the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics—focuses less on the decoding itself and more on the French invasion of Egypt that led to the discovery and the military and cultural battle with Britain that followed. British military historian Downs tells an engrossing story full of larger-than-life and sometimes simply wacky characters, led to Egypt by Napoleon. Among them were dozens of scholars, artists and scientists who produced an explosion of knowledge on both ancient Egyptian and later Islamic culture. The invasion itself ended in disaster when Admiral Nelson's armada destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. Napoleon returned to France; his army, left to wither from heat, disease and deprivation, surrendered to Britain in 1801. Much of the book concerns clumsy French efforts to avoid turning over their artifacts, including the Rosetta stone, to the victors. Downs takes an original tack to this well-known story with a straightforward, dramatic account of the 1,500-pound stone from its discovery until its arrival at the British Museum, where it rests today. (July)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Constable
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 184529579X
• ISBN 13: 9781845295790
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 262