Rosetta Stone to dust

[oshron]

suppose that, during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, a stray cannonball hits what would eventually be discovered as being the Rosetta Stone before it was ever realized as such; there could potentially be bits and pieces of it left behind, but its more or less unrecognizable rubble. what does everyone think the repercussions of this would be? obviously, egyptology is more or less completely unlike how it is IOTL, if it exists at all, with the primary source of hieroglyphic translation lost forever.

 

[Van555]

suppose that, during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, a stray cannonball hits what would eventually be discovered as being the Rosetta Stone before it was ever realized as such; there could potentially be bits and pieces of it left behind, but its more or less unrecognizable rubble. what does everyone think the repercussions of this would be? obviously, egyptology is more or less completely unlike how it is IOTL, if it exists at all, with the primary source of hieroglyphic translation lost forever.

Nooooo It's too horrible to contemplate

 

[Lalli]

Maybe we don't know much about Ancient Egypt. Perhaps just little more as about Indus Culture.

 

[Emperor Norton I]

You....you Monster. You Monster!

 

[XanXar]

There was that Egyptian fellow in the middle ages, forgot his name. Apparently he got very close to decoding the Hyrogliphs, he would most likely be considered the primary source on Egyptology.

 

[Elfwine]

It would be interesting to see if something else is found, or what, and when.

I don't want to dismiss the Rosetta stone, but the idea that it alone could do it seems unlikely - although it would naturally be later, almost certainly, and probably more sketchy.

 

[PlayerOne]

suppose that, during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, a stray cannonball hits what would eventually be discovered as being the Rosetta Stone before it was ever realized as such; there could potentially be bits and pieces of it left behind, but its more or less unrecognizable rubble. what does everyone think the repercussions of this would be? obviously, egyptology is more or less completely unlike how it is IOTL, if it exists at all, with the primary source of hieroglyphic translation lost forever.

These are the things I think about when I wake up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat.

 

[Pangur]

It would be interesting to see if something else is found, or what, and when.

I don't want to dismiss the Rosetta stone, but the idea that it alone could do it seems unlikely - although it would naturally be later, almost certainly, and probably more sketchy.

It is always seemed strange that so far the Rosetta stone is a one off. However so far it is. The track record working out say the Inca knot language has not been great so

There is a however to the above which is there is the treaty between the Hittites and the Egyptians which is still visible. It is written in both Hittite script and hieroglyphics. Just maybe if someone had cracked the Hittite script independently then they could use that to translate hieroglyphics

 

[Jared]

Fortunately, the Rosetta Stone is not the only ancient bilingual Egyptian text which has been discovered. There were a series of decrees published in Greek and Egyptian (both demotic and heiroglyphic) by various Ptolemaic (Greek) rulers of Egypt. There is, in fact, more than one surviving copy of the inscription which was found on the Rosetta Stone itself.

None of the later ones were discovered for a long time after the Rosetta Stone (1860s-1880s, if memory serves), but they did survive. So, short version, the study of Egyptology is held back for several decades if the original Rosetta Stone is destroyed (or just never found), but the heiroglyphs will eventually be deciphered.

 

[Elfwine]

It is always seemed strange that so far the Rosetta stone is a one off. However so far it is. The track record working out say the Inca knot language has not been great so

There is a however to the above which is there is the treaty between the Hittites and the Egyptians which is still visible. It is written in both Hittite script and hieroglyphics. Just maybe if someone had cracked the Hittite script independently then they could use that to translate hieroglyphics

That's the sort of thing I'd expect in this scenario. Something giving us bits and pieces but not a practically perfect key.

Unless Jared is right, but the "bits and pieces from other sources" is what I expect(ed).

 

[Pangur]

Follow on question on that. Do you have any idea what percentage of hieroglyphics were worked out via the stone?

 

[Jared]

Unless Jared is right, but the "bits and pieces from other sources" is what I expect(ed).

I am right. The "Rosetta Stone is the only bilingual Egyptian text" is just another of those tiresome historical myths.

Google "Stele of Canopus" or "Decree of Canopus" if you don't believe me. Or "Decree of Alexandria" for another one. If I remember right, the Stele of Canopus actually had more hieroglyphs than the Rosetta Stone, and overall contributed more to their decipherment. (Not every known heiroglyph was worked out from the Rosetta Stone.)

Or just check out the link here for one reference to the multiple texts.

 

[Elfwine]

I am right. The "Rosetta Stone is the only bilingual Egyptian text" is just another of those tiresome historical myths.

Google "Stele of Canopus" or "Decree of Canopus" if you don't believe me. Or "Decree of Alexandria" for another one. If I remember right, the Stele of Canopus actually had more hieroglyphs than the Rosetta Stone, and overall contributed more to their decipherment. (Not every known heiroglyph was worked out from the Rosetta Stone.)

Or just check out the link here for one reference to the multiple texts.

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that I don't know enough about the subject to say "like what he said" in regards to your post.

But that's interesting.

 

[Roger II]

Hmm, this might delay Egyptology enough that when it does become a big thing excavation methods will be much better. Which would actually be a good thing.
On a related note, you would probably get bigger butterflies by destroying the Behistun Inscription, which would badly, badly, badly set back cuneiform studies.

 

[Kaiphranos]

There is a however to the above which is there is the treaty between the Hittites and the Egyptians which is still visible. It is written in both Hittite script and hieroglyphics. Just maybe if someone had cracked the Hittite script independently then they could use that to translate hieroglyphics

If I recall, the Hittite language was deciphered independently of hieroglyphics--they found documents in the Hittite language using a type of cuneiform script, and from there they were able to figure out that it was a sort of Indo-European language, and so on. However, the original paper on the topic was written in 1915 or so, and wasn't widely known until some years later due to some nonsense about a world war or something. So unless you can get that chain of events to occur much sooner, I think someone will translate hieroglyphics by another route first.