Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - The Sleepy History of the Rosetta Stone

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Starting point is 00:01:27 and sign up, follow the link for Get Sleepy Premium in the show notes, or you can subscribe directly with in Apple podcasts. Thanks so much for your support. Welcome to Get Sleepy, the podcast where we listen, we relax and we get sleepy. I'm Tom, your host. Thanks so much for tuning in. A lot of you have told us how much you've enjoyed our sleepy history tales, so I can't wait for you to hear the latest instalment tonight. On this occasion, we'll travel back in time and learn the history of Egypt's Rosetta Stone.

Starting point is 00:02:17 It's an object of study and fascination, controversy and understanding. So get yourself nicely settled in and out of your body. Feel your body's weight supported by the mattress giving your muscles a chance to rest. With your eyes closed, just grant too much attention to any of them, but also not putting pressure on yourself to ignore them. Just realize that you're simply observing with no attachment and no feeling of being consumed by your thoughts. Gradually allow them to drift away. And as you do, center your mind and just one intentional thought. I'd like you to simply trace back through your day just gone, and to identify just one

Starting point is 00:04:20 moment that brought you a sense of contentment or pleasure. Just try to capture one small and simple moment where you remember that positive feeling. It might have been when you enjoyed your usual breakfast. Maybe something inspiring or amusing that you saw on a commute to work or on a walk in the park. Perhaps it was a conversation with a friend or loved one, a book you're reading, or just something you enjoyed watching on TV. Hold it in your mind for the next few moments. Regardless of whatever else happened throughout the day, be thankful for that moment. It may have been fleeting, but by remembering it now and allowing the contentment to resurface, you're being positively

Starting point is 00:05:51 mindful and filling yourself with gratitude. Take a nice deep breath and as you exhale, allow that thought to float away too. Let your imagination drift further back in time, all the way to ancient Egypt, where we'll learn the story of a stone whoids, the rest of the world has been fascinated by this ancient culture. Whether it was the Greeks borrowing from the mystery cult of ISIS to form the alusinian mysteries, European alchemists searching for the book of Thoth during the Enlightenment, The ancient Egyptians have captivated imaginations for centuries. But, until recently, there was no direct portal to life in ancient Egypt, because the ancient Egyptian language changed so greatly after the 4th century CE. In the British Museum, there sits a stone that has held the key to understanding the language for centuries.

Starting point is 00:08:14 On display in a glass case, the crumbling Rosetta stone may not be as glamorous as the mummies or pathonon figures elsewhere in the museum. Yet it is one of the most popular exhibits, both fascinating and inspiring visitors, who come from all over the world to see it. Until the Rosetta Stone was found, most of what historians knew of the ancient Egyptians was from archaeological speculation and writings from other Near Eastern cultures. Scholars gathered information about the Egyptians, from what the Greeks, Romans and Hebrews had written about them, but they were unable to crack the code of the hieroglyphs, the infamous written language of ancient Egypt.

Starting point is 00:09:25 So let us travel through the ages to this country, rich in history, art and culture to understand how the Rosetta Stone was found, how it was deciphered and the historical implications of the text on the stone. The hieroglyphic language is a pictorial script, meaning that instead of using letters that we would recognize as an alphabet, the Egyptians drew small pictures of everyday objects like birds, swinxes and people as their written language. Those pictures have both meanings and sounds associated with them, but it took modern scholars many years to understand how to read them. Once the language was well known across the Near East. However over the centuries of Greek, Roman and Ottoman rule, the ability to read and understand ancient Egyptian was

Starting point is 00:10:48 lost to time. It wasn't until the 18th century when linguists were able to use the Rosetta stone to understand the old language, that modern historians could study Egyptian history, art and mythology through the language of ancient Egypt. Our journey to understanding this language begins in 1798, when a French military leader named Napoleon went on an imperial mission to Egypt. Napoleon sought to establish French trade and military dominance in the area. This part of the mission was unsuccessful, and after a few short years, the French retreated from the country. However, Napoleon's journey wasn't only about politics and trade. He also established a scientific and cultural exchange during his time in Egypt.

Starting point is 00:12:10 Over 150 archaeologists, scientists, and artists eager to explore the remnants of the ancient world accompanied Napoleon on his journey. Napoleon sailed from France across the Mediterranean to the city of Alexandria. Palm trees swayed on the Azure coast as his team approached one of the great cultural centers of both the modern and ancient worlds. His crew disembarked to see the city with modern markets, ancient stone fortresses and the famous library of Alexandria, a gateway to the ancient world. From the port city, Napoleon tre glittering beneath the warm sun. Occasionally, they'd catch a glimpse of the famous Nile River, winding its way to Cairo,

Starting point is 00:13:37 just like Napoleon and his men. At last, the French group arrived in the great city of Cairo, which held many ancient and modern wonders. The Nile rushed through the city, an important feature and resource resource filled with small boats and children enjoying the cool water. In the city centre, ancient and modern buildings intermingled, leaving the French in awe. The troops explored the city, stocking up on supplies at the colourful bazaar. Merchant sold fruits, vegetables, lentils, crusty bread, silks, cotton, and other goods, and were eager to trade with the French. While Napoleon failed to retain the French influence, he sought to establish in the region.

Starting point is 00:14:56 The cultural implications of his expedition held to the key to deciphering the ancient language. One year after Napoleon arrived in Egypt, in 1799, the they landed one year earlier. While digging up the foundations of a military fort, a soldier noticed that one of the old stones had writing on it. A grace slab of rock about the size of a medium suitcase with rough crumbling edges, the stone may not have seen as interesting as other artifacts that had already been found. However, Napoleon's team recognized the potential scholarly significance the stone could have. Even though they couldn't understand what was written on the stone, they saw its importance

Starting point is 00:16:20 as a triscript. A triscript is a document that has the same text in three different languages. Bioscripts which have two languages and triscripts are often used in bilingual and tri-lingual countries today. For example, in Canada, all official signs are written in both English and French. In Catalonia, many signs are written in Catalan, Castilian and English. The soldiers recognized the Greek characters at the bottom of the tablet, and thought it might be important in understanding the two scripts above, which were hieroglyphic and demotic. The French soldiers called the town of Rashid by a different name, Rosetta. That's how the tablet received its famous name. It's a simple name for a complex piece of linguistic treasure. The soldiers brought the stone back to Cairo, where French scientists

Starting point is 00:17:50 and scholars studied the text. They were able to translate the Greek text on the tablet, yet none of Napoleon's team could understand the hieroglyphs or domestic text. Indeed, it would take several more years and many scholars working on the project for the code of the hieroglyphs to be cracked. Just two years later, in 1801, Napoleon left Egypt and had to forfeit much of what he'd found there. Because the British influence was strong in the region, the Rosetta Stone was sent to England for study. The soldiers wrapped the old stone in paper, delicately loading it on board a ship heading for Britain. The stone travelled down the Nile River, rocking rocking back and forth on the gentle water until arriving in Alexandria. Then it continued its seabound journey

Starting point is 00:19:13 until its arrival in Portsmouth, whose cold and windy shore was nothing like the humid Mediterranean. nothing like the humid Mediterranean. From Portsmouth, the stone was taken over land to the British Museum, where it remains to this day. Though Egyptians have repeatedly called for its repatriation, creation, and that of other antiquities taken from the country in the years since. Even though Napoleon's exploits in Egypt were short-lived, his team would go on to write 24 larger-than-life volumes about their time in the region. These would later aid many modern scholars, historians and interested students in understanding the long and rich history of the country. Scholars from all over Europe arrived to see and study the stone, hoping to crack the

Starting point is 00:20:29 code of the ancient language. The bottom, a most well preserved part of the stone, was written in the Greek alphabet. The top part of this stone, with crumbled and missing lines, was written in Egyptian hieroglyphs. The middle part was written in a script called Dhammotic. Dhammotic was the common written language in the later years of ancient Egypt. It was easier to write than hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs, viewed as the language of the gods, were often reserved for important documents and art. Because hieroglyphs are a pictorial script, scholars believed that the pictures had meanings attached to them, but not sounds. It was a physicist, not a linguist named Thomas Young, who was the first to realize that some of the hieroglyphs sounded out the name of one of Egypt's most famous rulers, Ptolemy.

Starting point is 00:21:55 Young was able to pick out the name of the Pharaoh because of a facet of ancient Egyptian writing called Ak cartouche. A cartouche is an oval shape around a group of hieroglyphs that indicate those characters represented by a royal name. Even though parts of the hieroglyphic text were unreadable or lost due to decay, young was able to line up the cartooshes in the Egyptian languages with those in the Greek language and decipher the characters which spelt tolemies name. Yet, even with this breakthrough, there was still much work to be done towards fully understanding the old language, and it would take more than just one scholar. To follow our story after Young's findings, we must travel to the streets of Paris, where a young French scholar, Jean-François Champollion had just finished a posting as an assistant professor of languages at

Starting point is 00:23:31 Grenoble in the French Alps. He returned to the bustling city life of Paris with no job but a fascination with near-eastern languages, including the Coptic language which he taught himself when he was a boy in school. The Coptic language was a bridge language in ancient Egypt. It used Egyptian words but was written in a Greek alphabet and used some Greek grammar and vocabulary. This was the language of Egypt until the 13th century CE when it was replaced by Egyptian Arabic.

Starting point is 00:24:25 Shampolyon's knowledge of this language would help him connect the meanings of the Greek and ancient Egyptian languages. He was one of the leading language scholars in Europe at the time. He knew the modern Egyptian language, which inspired him to work on studying the Rosetta stone, in the hopes of understanding the ancient tongue. In a small apartment in Paris, he used his knowledge of Coptic and other Near Eastern languages to build on Young's decipherment of the Cartouches on the stone. Like most scholars at the time, Champolyon believed that the intricate, hieroglyphic characters had meanings rather than sounds. Gazing at the beautiful symbols in the cartouche on the Rosetta stone, he was certain that

Starting point is 00:25:35 it was only names of foreign leaders that were spelled out phonetically. physically. Shampolion took long meandering walks through Paris. The wide, cobbled boulevards and narrow streets provided the backdrop for his thoughts and ideas. Finally, he realised he needed more than just the Rosetta Stone, as his base point for translating hieroglyphs. Luckily, he had access to another piece of ancient Egyptian writing. An obelisk believed to have Cleopatra's name inscribed on it. Studying the Grey Tower, he identified the cartouche with Cleopatra's name.

Starting point is 00:26:36 He realized that several of the characters overlapped between Cleopatra's name and that of Tollamy. With this information, he was able to record the first keys of the alphabet, the characters that corresponded with the Greek letters P, T, L and K. From there, Shampolion began to read other words in Egyptian, especially names. For several years, he thought that only the names of important foreign leaders, like and leaders like Tolemie, Cleopatra and Alexander would be spout out phonetically and that the rest of the script was ideographic. It was this outdated theory that was standing in the way of decipherment, a task which Shampolion was getting close to accomplishing. It was only when he read the published text from Napoleon's mission, called the description

Starting point is 00:27:57 of Egypt, that he gained access to a wider array of hieroglyphic writing. As he studied the new texts, especially the characters and the cartouches, he realized it wasn't only foreign words, spelled out phonetically. Egyptian leaders also had phonetic, rather than ideographic names. At long last, he was able to read the hieroglyphs. Using the Greek text, he matched the letters up to the demonic and hieroglyphic writing, until he had a fairly good idea of what sounds the ancient Egyptian letters made. Thanks to his hard work, the world was well on its way to understanding hieroglyphs. Due to the Greek text on the tablet and his knowledge of Coptic, he was able to make one of the first translations from Egyptian in centuries.

Starting point is 00:29:20 When Shampolyon made his discovery, he was so elated that he ran through the autumnal streets of Paris, shouting, j'attend leur faire, I have it. So after following this year's long journey, what indeed did the Rosetta stone say? It's time to travel further back in history again to the first century BCE and the Egypt of the Tollamaic period. the Great Pyramids' House of Hentian Feroes and the treasures of knowledge, writing and art were abundant in the land of Egypt. The Tollamy rulers were descendants of Alexander the Great. They moved the capital of Egypt from Memphis near modern-day Cairo to Alexandria. Just like the French who would arrive in Egypt thousands of years later, the tolamies were mesmerized by the port city. Named after the great man himself, Alexandria became the intellectual, cultural, and historic center

Starting point is 00:31:08 of Egypt. In the ancient western world, it was second only to Rome in its cultural significance. While the Tolemies ruled, warm Mediterranean breezes rustled the palm trees, and the Nile snaked its way from the sea through the country, connecting the ancient empire. The Rosetta Stone was written to mark the coronation of Ptolemy V, who came to the Egyptian throne at the age of 6, 9 years prior to the creation of the tablet. It may surprise some to learn that this magnificent object which has been so revered for its role in understanding history is more or less a tax document. However, even mundane things when placed in a historical context, can provide a wonderful insight into ancient life. The Rosetta Stone, in three different scripts, outlines tax exemptions for the Egyptian priests.

Starting point is 00:32:47 Egyptian priests. It also records a gift of grain and silver, Ptolemy V gave to the temples in the eighth year of his reign. It then asks the priesthood to serve Ptolemy as any other god. Historians believe there were originally many copies of the stone sent from Alexandria to be placed at the entrance to every temple in the empire. However, only one stone survived the course of history. In ancient Egypt, pharaohs acted as messengers between the gods and the people. The Egyptians believed in the lines of pharaohs were chosen by the gods. Thus, the leaders had important roles in both civic and religious life. The Egyptian priests would bless new fairos at their coronation, and in return, the priests

Starting point is 00:33:57 were given special benefits like tax breaks. The Rosetta Stone indicates that the boy king and his advisors were hoping to build positive relations with the Egyptian priests through these gifts. During the reign of the Tolomies, Egypt became a multicultural center in the Mediterranean and Near East. The Rosetta Stone was written in both Greek and Egyptian because those were the languages spoken in the country. While there are three different types of text, hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek, the stone only contains two languages. Both demotic and hieroglyphic are written in the same language but in different ways or styles of writing.

Starting point is 00:35:08 There was only one spoken ancient Egyptian language, but two different writing systems. Hieroglyphs, beautifully crafted and intricate to draw, were used as the language of the gods. Hieroglyphic writing was saved for important messages, for religious texts, and for use in art. Dhmotic, which was much easier to produce, was used for everyday writing. When the Rosetta Stone was created, the Egyptians had already been under Greek rule for 100 years. The tolamis would continue to rule until the reign of the infamous Cleopatra VII, rule until the reign of the infamous Cleopatra VII when Egypt would become part of the Roman Empire.

Starting point is 00:36:21 With Greek and Roman used on all official documents, the ancient Egyptian language was slowly lost, only to be deciphered nearly 2,000 years later. Now not only can historians learn about the Egyptians through their own writing, but Egyptians themselves can view their history through the words of Egyptian historians, scientists, and writers, rather than those of outsiders. How miraculous that one stone nearly lost a time and found by chance can tell three fascinating stories. That's of the ancient Egyptians, that's of Napoleon's expedition, and that's of the scholars who worked tirelessly to understand the language, opening a portal through history for people in the years to come. Now hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to the British Museum every year to gaze at the

Starting point is 00:37:48 Rosetta Stone. This humble gateway to another world, another time, and the vast expanse of history. ... I'm going to do a little bit of the work. I'm going to do a little bit of the work. I'm going to do a little bit of the work. I'm going to do a little bit of the work. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... you

Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - The Sleepy History of the Rosetta Stone

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