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% A sample HtX source file for generating slide shows notes using the
% slide style and slidenotes.htx.

% Written by Richard M. Salter for use in his course ``Cryptology'' at
% Oberlin College, fall 1995.

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% HtX v. 1.0b1  (c) 1995-7, Richard M. Salter
% Please read copyright and distribution agreement
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% This is the ``notes'' version of exslide.htx (differs only in documentstyle)

\documentstyle{slnotes}
\me{rms@cs.oberlin.edu}

% Set to point back from notes to class home page. 

\classpage{../../Default.html\#exsliden}

\title{The Rosetta Stone}

\begin{document}
\begin{presentation}
\maketitle
The Rosetta Stone was the key used to decrypt two Egyptian writing systems:
hieroglyphs (used for official texts) and demotic (used for everyday
communication).

\entry*{Background}
\begin{seqlist}
\sitem From 452 to 1822, ``Egypt was silent'':  
\begin{quote}
The ability to read hieroglyphic inscriptions on monuments and tombs,
and papyrus texts using cursive scripts like demotic, was lost.
\end{quote}

\sitem However, the spoken language itself survived, ...

\sitem .. using Greek letters plus 7 signs derived from demotic, as the 
{\it Coptic\/} language.
\end{seqlist}

\entry*[1]{The Rosetta Stone}
\begin{seqlist}
\sitem The Rosetta Stone was discovered in July, 1799, while some of
Napoleon's troops were demolishing ancient structures to make way for
a fort.

\sitem It contains 3 inscriptions, suspected to be a single text in 3
different scripts.

\sitem The first 2 are hieroglyphs and demotic.

\sitem The third inscription is in Greek.
\end{seqlist}

\slide
The stone contains 14 lines of hieroglyphs, 32 lines of demotic and 54
lines of Greek.

The 14 lines of hieroglyphs are only partial, and correspond to the
last 28 lines of Greek, which are also damaged.

The first 14 lines of demotic are damaged at the beginnings.

The last 26 lines of Greek are damaged at the ends

\slide
\centerline{\image{rosetta3.gif}}

\slide
\begin{tabular}[8]{lc}
{\font{+1}Hieroglyph}&\image{rheiro.gif}\\
\end{tabular}

\slide
\begin{tabular}[8]{lc}
{\font{+1}Demotic}&\image{rdemotic.gif}\\
\end{tabular}

\slide
\begin{tabular}[8]{lc}
{\font{+1}Greek}&\image{rgreek.gif}\\
\end{tabular}

\entry*{Decryption}

\begin{seqlist}
\sitem Major issue:  Are the hieroglyphs and demotic texts alphabetic
or symbolic?

\sitem Thomas Young showed that both demotic and hieroglyphic writing
contain both alphabetic and symbolic elements.  And they are closely
related.
\end{seqlist}

\begin{slist}[Young's method]{itemize}
\sitem Find a word in the Greek text which occurred more than once.
\sitem Then look for a group of signs in the demotic section which
occurred approximately an equal number of times.
\sitem Using this method he was able to identify the demotic for {\it
and\/}, which occurred on almost every line.
\end{slist}

\begin{slist}{itemize}
\sitem Words that appeared most frequently were equated with {\it
king\/}, {\it Ptolemy\/} and {\it Egypt\/}.
\sitem The Greek equivalents were written above the demotic and then
he ``filled in the gaps''.
\sitem This was made more difficult by the fact that the Greek and
demotic were not literal translations of each other.
\end{slist}

\entry[1]{Champollion cracks the code}
\image[right]{obelisk.gif}
At first, despite Young's results, J. F. Champollion believed that
hieroglyphs were purely symbolic.

Then he received a copy of a bilingual inscription in hieroglyphs and
Greek from the Bankes obelisk.

\entry[1]{The details}

\image[right]{rd0.gif}

First, it was correctly assumed that the elongated oval ({\it
cartouche\/}) contained a royal name.

\image[right]{rd1.gif}

The only cartouche that appeared 6 times was assumed to be that of
Ptolemy, since the Greek section showed that the inscription was about
a Ptolemy.

It was also assumed that the characters sound out the Greek form of
the name ``Ptolemy''.

\begin{seqlist}
\sitem On the Bankes obelisk, the Greek section mentions 2 royal
names:  Ptolemy and Cleopatra.  In the hieroglyphic section two
cartouches occured close together.  

\sitem One of them was nearly identical to the cartouche on the
Rosetta Stone:
\end{seqlist}

\begin{tabular}[10]{lc}
{\font{+1}Rosetta Stone}&\image{rd1.gif}\\
{\font{+1}Bankes Obelisk}&\image{rd2.gif}
\end{tabular}

\begin{seqlist}
\sitem\image[right]{rd3.gif}
Then the other cartouche from the Bankes obelisk was thought to
contain the name of Cleopatra.

\sitem Now consider Ptolemy and Cleopatra together:
\end{seqlist}

\begin{tabular}[10]{lc}
{\font{+1}A. Ptolemy}&\image{rd4.gif}\\
{\font{+1}B. Cleopatra}&\image{rd5.gif}
\end{tabular}

\begin{slist}[
\begin{tabular}[10]{lc}
{\font{+1}A. Ptolemy}&\image{rd4.gif}\\
{\font{+1}B. Cleopatra}&\image{rd5.gif}
\end{tabular}]{itemize}
\sitem $A_1 = B_5$:  Must be {\it P}.
\sitem $A_4 = B_2$:  Must be {\it L}.
\sitem Then $B_1$ must be {\it K}.
\end{slist}

\begin{seqlist}
\sitem\image[right]{rd6.gif}
Substituting the known letters into Cleopatra.
\sitem The 2 vowels {\it E\/} and {\it O\/} between {\it L\/} and {\it P\/}
are probably the equivalents of $B_3$ and $B_4$, respectively.
\sitem In some forms of the Cleopatra cartouche, $B_7$ is replaced by
$B_{10}$, which is also $A_2$.  Both are probably {\it T}. 
\sitem $B_6$ and $B_9$ must be {\it A}.
\end{seqlist}

\begin{seqlist}
\sitem\image[right]{rd7.gif}
Now we have
\sitem The last 2 signs ($B_{10} and B_{11}$) have been shown to be an
honorific for goddesses, queens and princesses.
\sitem That leaves $B_8$ = {\it R}.
\end{seqlist}

\begin{seqlist}
\sitem\image[right]{rd8.gif}
Now substitute the known letters into the cartouche of Ptolemy.
\sitem There are items that don't correspond to part of the name
(which in Greek is {\it Ptolemaios}).
\sitem \image[right]{rd8a.gif}
But there are other forms of Ptolemy on the Rosetta Stone.
\end{seqlist}

\begin{seqlist}
\sitem Compare:

\begin{tabular}[10]{lc}
{\font{+1}Rosetta Stone}&\image{rd1.gif}\\
{\font{+1}Rosetta Stone}&\image{rd8a.gif}\\
{\font{+1}Bankes Obelisk}&\image{rd2.gif}
\end{tabular}
\end{seqlist}

\begin{seqlist}
\sitem \image[right]{rd2.gif}
The other stuff (\image{rd8b.gif}) must be the ``royal epithets''
which in the Greek text read ``living for ever, beloved of Ptah''.

\sitem\image[right]{rd8a.gif}
The last sign in the simplest form, \image{rd8c.gif}, must be
the {\it S\/} of {\it Ptolemaios}.

\sitem The remaining signs (\image{rd8d.gif} and \image{rd8e.gif})
must translate to {\it M\/} and an {\it I}-like vowel.
\end{seqlist}

\end{presentation}
\end{document}