Rosetta Stone

Al-Ahram ^ | 11-25-2005 | Nevine El-Aref

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[basil]

Very interesting. I don't have a clue what it all means, but it was an interesting read. Thanks for posting it.

[jim_trent]

This sounds a lot like the Russians claiming they invented everything a few years back. Remember when they said they invented baseball?

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

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[RaceBannon]

I got to touch it in 1993. I was shocked it is in the middle of the floor, wide open for all to grab and whatever.

[King Moonracer]

this over-hasty conclusion ignores the vast contribution of mediaeval Arab scholars in general and Egyptians in particular between the seventh and 16th centuries.

Gosh they sound smart, I wonder when they'll discover Democracy and Freedom.

[DUMBGRUNT]

"Arabs came to power and admired the splendid ancient Egyptian monuments they maintained the same principles"
Maybe, but what about the Bamiyan Buddhas ?

[pabianice]

A fourth text segment has since been deciphered. It says, "Bush lied!"

[Mr. Rational]

SHHHH. It's revisionist history week.

[Mr. Rational]

SHHHH. It's revisionist history week.

[TruthWillWin]

This sounds a lot like the Russians claiming they invented everything a few years back. Remember when they said they invented baseball?

What? I thought baseball was invented by Algore.

[Lost Dutchman]

First of all, the stone is Aswan granite, not Black Basalt.

Second, it would have been quite easy for the Arabs to decipher the Hieroglyphs over 1000 years ago because they were still in use until 1400 years ago.

[DWPittelli]

Since 1822 it had been thought that Champollion was the first person to break the hieroglyphic code, but a recent analysis... has proved that Arabic scholars decoded hieroglyphs 1,000 year earlier.

I wondered how the Egyptians built such a large civilisation when they couldn't read their own writing!

On a more serious note, you are right about the rock type, but most people thought it "black basalt" until it was cleaned by the British Museum recently:

"Analysis of the stone has shown that it is a granite-like rock and not a basalt as it has previously been described.... All of these contaminants, including the white paint, were removed to reveal a grey stone with a natural sparkle and a broad pinkish vein at the top."

http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/conservation/cleaning2.html

[JohnCliftn]

Many of the Arab scholars were Jewish or Christian, not Roman or Greek Orthodox, but Christian nonetheless. They translated the old Greek manuscripts, etc. When people were no longer free, not just tolerated but really free, to have, express, debate and promote their religious beliefs the scholarly advances cease.

This provides a lesson for us, I think. We are not truly free to express our religious beliefs. In some places it is actually a crime punishable by fine, court order, etc.; even though freedom of expression is expressly guaranteed in the First Amendment.

[Little Bill]

It means, that though the Islamic civilization largely ignored all those things that built their civilization, Age of Unbelief, they recently discovered, that they, not the frogs, deciphered the glyphs that constituted the ancient language of Egypt.

[Little Bill]

Race: Envy, I have read about this stuff since I was 9 years old.

[Dustbunny]

Ping

[RaceBannon]

I was shicked I could rub it, scratch it, touch it, and all there was, was a red rope around it, not steel bars!

[Little Bill]

Race, back in 1954, my Granddad gave me a bunch of old books with grainy photo's, it was a series, that he got somewhere, he had broad interests, hooked me on history and archeology.