WI: Rosetta Stone discovery delayed 200 years

Some other bilingual inscription offers the basis for decipherment of the hieroglyphs at some point. Depending on when it is found and how and by whom it is deciphered, butterflies may be relatively huge, possibly affecting to some extent the formation of the modern "canonical" understanding of history in the West (maybe the Mesopotamian cultures are regarded more prominently) and the formation of the Egyptian national consciousness (which will happen of course, but maybe in a different form).
Archeological exploration of Egypt will surely happen, but details may differ a lot. Egyptology develops differently, and since it is a relatively important field (esp. in its effects on popular culture and wider cultural perceptions) you may have a lot of changes. However, I expect hieroglyphs to be deciphered with not much of a delay. If you can push that farther enough, (hard) you may have effects on such things as the time when the Suez Canal is built. This would be massive.
 
Can I ask how the knowledge of hieroglyphics impacts the Suez Canal? Just looking at it, it seems like it's something that would have been highly desired anyways, for the same reasons people pursued a Tehuantepec/Nicaragua/Panama canal project.
 
Can I ask how the knowledge of hieroglyphics impacts the Suez Canal? Just looking at it, it seems like it's something that would have been highly desired anyways, for the same reasons people pursued a Tehuantepec/Nicaragua/Panama canal project.

Of course it was highly desired anyway (IIRC, Napoleon had already schemes in that sense). I have no doubt that it would be built sooner or later. Butterflies may affect timing.
It may be argued that discoveries in nascent Egyptology help drawing attention toward Egypt at large, esp. in France (as, remember, Rosetta Stone was a French discovery, Champollion and Mariette were Frenchmen). France happened to be the main sponsor and financer of the Suez project.
People were sensitive to such things. Egypt was a to-go place, among other things, partly because all the interest sparked by the Napoleonic expedition and the ensuing decipherment. French Science for you!!!
Maybe without knowlege of hieroglyphs, and the ensuing fascination with Egypt, some investors are slower to answer this call (had already happened for similar things) delaying the whole scheme, or having France capital less promininent in it.
Now, imagine if the Canal is not completed by the time of the Franco-Prussian war, if it happens on schedule.
 
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