On 27 September 1822 the French scholar Jean-Francois Champollion presented his 'Letter to M. Dacier' to the Academy of Inscriptions in Paris, showing that hieroglyphs were a mixture of signs for sounds and signs for ideas. He built on the work of Thomas Young, but his fluency in Coptic, the descendant of the Egyptian language, and a comparison of royal names on the Rosetta Stone and on the obelisk from Philae, gave him the key. He spent the rest of his short life, he died in 1832, travelling in Egypt. The reading of hieroglyphs gave back to Egypt its voice.
Before and after
- 27 April 1822Birth of Ulysses S. Grant
- 24 May 1822Battle of Pichincha
- 20 July 1822Birth of Gregor Mendel
- from 7 September 1822 to 15 November 1889Empire of Brazil
- 27 September 1822Champollion deciphers the hieroglyphs
- 4 October 1822Birth of Rutherford B. Hayes
- 20 November 1822Earthquake in Valparaiso, Quillota, Concon, Aconcagua, Chile
- 27 December 1822Birth of Louis Pasteur
- 1823Publication of Der er et yndigt land
More in Civilizations & archaeology
- from 1760 to 1820Industrial Revolution
- 6 February 1819Founding of modern Singapore
- from 1839 to 1876Tanzimat
- 3 May 1841Founding of New Zealand
- 1891Discovery of Gundestrup cauldron
- 17 December 1907Founding of Bhutan
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.