Cracking Codes

The author of "How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs" provides an in-depth history of the Rosetta Stone, the famous Egyptian antiquity that allowed decipherers to "crack the code" of Egyptian writing and opened up Egyptian culture as a whole to historians. 200+ photos & illustrations.

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Publication to accompany a major 1999 exhibition at the British Museum celebrating the bicentenary of the Stone's discovery, and including a selective catalogue of the exhibits. It also examines the wider issues of script and writing in ancient Egypt and beyond, for example, the relationship between hieroglyphs and art, the social prestige of literacy, and the practical aspects of writing (scibal exquipment and training). Other issues in decipherment are also discussed, such as Linear B and Meroitic, a language which still remains to be read.