EGYPTOLOGY. The study of the language, history, and antiquities of ancient Egypt. One who engages in such studies is termed an Egyp tologist. As early as the sixteenth century the monuments of Egypt began to attract the atten tion of European scholars. and between 159 and 1589 some ineffectual attempts were made to 41e cipher the Egyptian hieroglyphics. In the fol lowing century the subjeet was revived by the learned Jesuit. Father Kircher, one of the foremost scholars of his time. whose as tonishing activity and versatility were exhibited in ninny tiebls of research. Kircher proceeded upon the mistaken theory that the hieroglyphic writing was a sort of symbolism conveying abstruse religious mysteries, the individual char act, rs tiding purely ideographic symbols. His ettmis wore therefore not more successful than tins( of Lis predecessors. and his fantastic ren derings of hierp):•Iyiphic texts are aim lig the most remarkable curiosities of Egyptological litera ture. But though he failed in his main object, his works did much to excite an interest in antiquities. and he also rendered valu alde service introducing the study of Coptic into Europe. llis Coptic grammar. entitled Lingua ..Egyptiaca Rest ituta I Rome, 11;43-441. 1\ :I, the tirst published by a European scholar, and for a long time formed the basis of all work done in this field. Kircher was followed by Lacroze, Wilkens, :\lingarelli. Zoega, Jablonski, and many others, who did much to develop the study of ('optic and of Egyptian antiquities, and thus prepared the way for fur ther 'Progress. Down to the end of the eighteenth century hardly any progress was made in the decipherment of the hierogl•phies. Kircher's theory was. however, gradually discredited. and the belief gained around that the hieroglyphic inscriptions were ('on) pi in the language actu ally spoken by the ancient Egyptians. and that they dealt with history, science. art. and other subjects of a more material character than reli gious mysteries. Professor Tychsen (1734-1S15), of Rostock, was led by careful analysis of many texts to the correct conclusion that certain char acters served merely to determine the meaning of (see ThEnoGLYPItics) ; and the learned ('optic scholar Zoitga I I753-1S09) was the first to point out that some of the characters at least had purely phonetic values, and that the groups of signs inclosed in oval rings must represent the 1111111es of kings. This, however, was practi cally all that was known in regard to the sub ject, and many fanciful theories still prevailed. The means of solving the riddle was at length furnished by the famous Rosetta stone (q.v.),
discovered in 1799. which contains a decree of the Egyptian priests in favor of Ptolemy V., Epiphanes (n.c. 205- I ) , composed in Greek with two paralhd versions—one in the vernacu lar, written in the Demotic eharacter, and an other in the classical language of ancient Egypt, written in hieroglyphics. The upper part of the hieroglyphic text was broken away, only the last fourteen lines remaining; while the Greek and Demotic texts were nearly complete, and for this reason the Demotic portion was selected for the first attempts at decipherment. The distinguished French I /rientalist. Baron Sylvestre de Sney (17:3S 1S.:IS), by careful comparison of the Greek and D•motie texts, was able to dis tinguish in the latter several of the proper names occurring in the decree, and in his LeHre oet l'iloytn Chapin? stir e'agptionne du (itonu(io nt Masse t (Paris. 1'40•1) pointed out the Demotie groups corresponding to the names of Ptolemy. Bereniee, and Alexan der. This achievement was, however. surpassed by the Swedish sehohr. .1. I). Akerblad (1763 Iti19), who established the phonetic values of nearly all the demotic characters occurring in the proper names. and also by the aid of Coptic determined the meaning of several xvords of the text. His results were published in his Lettre Sur l'in.ccriptinn igypti,une de Rosette adressee on Citoyen S. de tiny 18(12). Follow ing these investigators. the English physicist, Dr. Thomas Young (1773-18291. was able, thnnigh careful study of many Egyptian inscrip tions and papyrus rolls to distinguish between the Hieratic and the Demotic scripts. and to de termine the meaning of a number of groups of characters. although ignorant of their phonetic values. Utilizing Zoi>ga's conjecture that the groups of signs in oval rings were royal names, Young next pointed out the hieroglyphics equiva lent for the name of Ptolemy in the Rosetta text, and attempted to analyze it. The name is with seven alphabet leaf characters (I' t o 1 m i s), and three of them (P, t, and i Young determined correetly. Of the remaining four, he took the letter o for a silent determina tive, and explained the letters I, tn, and s syllabic signs, reading them as oh., ma, and es respectively. lle also recognized the name Bere nice in a hieroglyphic inscription from Karnak, hut in it he correctly determined but one addi tional character, the letter n. In his attempts to decipher other hieroglyphic names he was com pletely unsuccessful. and thus the stun of his achievements in decipherment determination of four alphabetic characters.