In Egypt, in the footsteps of Champollion: 200 years ago, he deciphered hieroglyphics

“Ayn al-hegara al-maktuba?”

Where are the written stones?

We are in Egypt, in 1828. Jean-François Champollion goes on the Nile with his companions aboard their boat, a cange.

At each landing, the one who broke the hieroglyphic code six years earlier harangues the local residents to ask them where the "written stones" are.

But dressed in oriental style and wearing scimitars at their belts, the members of the expedition often send off the fellahs who take them for Turkish soldiers.

To discover

• Discover the “Best of the Goncourt Prize” collection

He speaks 12 languages ​​at 17

The trip to Egypt is Champollion's holy grail.

Born in Figeac in the Lot in 1790, the Egyptologist did not set foot in the Nile valley until the end of his life.

A precocious child, he learned the rudiments of Latin and ancient Greek very early on, read Homer and Virgil at the age of 8, then became interested in Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Chaldean, mastering a dozen languages ​​at the age of 17, including Coptic, the last avatar of the ancient language of the pharaohs.

In 1822, after teaching history…

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