Latest / Abide Meditation App / Dreamy Bedtime Story _ The Sleepy History of the Rosetta Stone

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Dreamy Bedtime Story _ The Sleepy History of the Rosetta Stone · Abide Meditation App

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to Get Sleepy, the podcast where we listen, we relax,
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Speaker 1: and we get sleepy. I'm Tom, your host. Thanks so
0:17
Speaker 1: much for tuning in. A lot of you have told
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Speaker 1: us how much you've enjoyed our sleepy history tales, so
0:25
Speaker 1: I can't wait for you to hear the latest installment tonight.
0:30
Speaker 1: On this occasion... We'll travel back in time and learn
0:34
Speaker 1: the history of Egypt's Rosetta Stone. It's an object of
0:39
Speaker 1: study and fascination, controversy and understanding. So, get yourself nicely
0:50
Speaker 1: settled in and ready to wind back the clock many,
0:55
Speaker 1: many years. Just watch the flow of the breath as
1:04
Speaker 1: nourishing air travels in and out of your body. Feel
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Speaker 1: your body's weight supported by the mattress giving your muscles
1:23
Speaker 1: a chance to rest. With your eyes closed Just grant
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Speaker 1: your mind permission to calm and slow down as well.
1:41
Speaker 1: You can let any thoughts just come and go, not
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Speaker 1: paying too much attention to any of them, but also
1:51
Speaker 1: not putting pressure on yourself to ignore them. Just realize
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Speaker 1: that you're simply Observing with no attachment and no feeling
2:05
Speaker 1: of being consumed by your thoughts. Gradually allow them to
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Speaker 1: drift away. And as you do, center your mind on
2:26
Speaker 1: just one intentional thought. I'd like you to simply trace
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Speaker 1: back through your day just gone and to identify just
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Speaker 1: one moment that brought you a sense of contentment or pleasure.
2:52
Speaker 1: Just try to capture one small and simple moment where
2:58
Speaker 1: you remember that positive feeling It might have been when
3:05
Speaker 1: you enjoyed your usual breakfast. Maybe something inspiring or amusing
3:14
Speaker 1: that you saw on a commute to work or on
3:17
Speaker 1: a walk in the park. Perhaps it was a conversation
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Speaker 1: with a friend or loved one. A book you're reading
3:29
Speaker 1: or just something you enjoyed watching on TV. Hold it
3:37
Speaker 1: in your mind for the next few moments. Regardless of
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Speaker 1: whatever else happened throughout the day, be thankful for that moment.
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Speaker 1: It may have been fleeting, but by remembering it now,
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Speaker 1: And allowing the contentment to resurface. You're being positively mindful.
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Speaker 1: And filling yourself with gratitude. Take a nice deep breath.
4:28
Speaker 1: And as you exhale. Allow that thought to float away too.
4:40
Speaker 1: Let your imagination drift further back in time, all the
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Speaker 1: way to ancient Egypt, where we'll learn the story of
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Speaker 1: a stone whose secrets unite the past and the present.
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Speaker 1: Ever since the Egyptians erected limestone pyramids, the rest of
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Speaker 1: the world has been fascinated by this ancient culture. Whether
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Speaker 1: it was the Greeks borrowing from the mystery cult of
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Speaker 1: Isis to form the Eleusinian Mysteries, European alchemists searching for
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Speaker 1: the Book of Thoth during the Enlightenment, or modern creators
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Speaker 1: capturing Egyptian history through film. The ancient Egyptians have captivated
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Speaker 1: imaginations for centuries. But until recently, there was no direct
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Speaker 1: portal to life in ancient Egypt, because the ancient Egyptian
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Speaker 1: language changed so greatly, after the 4th century CE. In
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Speaker 1: the British Museum, there sits a stone that has held
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Speaker 1: the key to understanding the language for centuries. On display
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Speaker 1: in a glass case, the crumbling Rosetta Stone may not
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Speaker 1: be as glamorous as the mummies or Parthenon figures elsewhere
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Speaker 1: in the museum, Yet it is one of the most
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Speaker 1: popular exhibits, both fascinating and inspiring visitors who come from
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Speaker 1: all over the world to see it. Until the Rosetta
7:05
Speaker 1: Stone was found, most of what historians knew of the
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Speaker 1: ancient Egyptians was from archaeological speculations. and writings from other
7:17
Speaker 1: Near Eastern cultures. Scholars gathered information about the Egyptians from
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Speaker 1: what the Greeks, Romans and Hebrews had written about them.
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Speaker 1: But they were unable to crack the code of the hieroglyphs,
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Speaker 1: the infamous written language of ancient Egypt. So let us
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Speaker 1: travel through the ages to this country rich in history, art,
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Speaker 1: and culture to understand how the Rosetta Stone was found,
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Speaker 1: how it was deciphered, and the historical implications of the
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Speaker 1: text on the stone. The hieroglyphic language is a pictorial
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Speaker 1: script meaning that instead of using letters that we would
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Speaker 1: recognize as an alphabet, the Egyptians drew small pictures of
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Speaker 1: everyday objects, like birds, sphinxes, and people, as their written language.
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Speaker 1: Those pictures have both meanings and sounds associated with them.
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Speaker 1: but it took modern scholars many years to understand how
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Speaker 1: to read them. Once, the language was well known across
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Speaker 1: the Near East. However, over the centuries of Greek, Roman,
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Speaker 1: and Ottoman rule, the ability to read and understand ancient
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Speaker 1: Egyptian was lost to time. It wasn't until the 18th
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Speaker 1: century when linguists were able to use the Rosetta Stone
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Speaker 1: to understand the old language that modern historians could study
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Speaker 1: Egyptian history, art and mythology through the language of ancient Egypt.
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Speaker 1: Our journey to understanding this language begins in 1798 when
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Speaker 1: a French military leader named Napoleon went on an imperial
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Speaker 1: mission to Egypt. Napoleon sought to establish French trade and
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Speaker 1: military dominance in the area. This part of the mission
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Speaker 1: was unsuccessful, and after a few short years, the French
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Speaker 1: retreated from the country. However, Napoleon's journey wasn't only about
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Speaker 1: politics and trade. He also established a scientific and cultural
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Speaker 1: exchange during his time in Egypt. Over 150 archaeologists, scientists,
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Speaker 1: and artists eager to explore the remnants of the ancient
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Speaker 1: world accompanied Napoleon on his journey. Napoleon sailed from France
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Speaker 1: across the Mediterranean to the city of Alexandria. Palm trees
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Speaker 1: swayed on the azure coast as his team approached one
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Speaker 1: of the great cultural centers of both the modern and
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Speaker 1: ancient worlds. His crew disembarked to see the city with
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Speaker 1: modern markets ancient stone fortresses, and the famous Library of Alexandria,
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Speaker 1: a gateway to the ancient world. From the port city,
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Speaker 1: Napoleon trekked across the sandy desert. Golden dunes surrounded his troops,
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Speaker 1: glittering beneath the warm sun. Occasionally, they'd catch a glimpse
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Speaker 1: of the famous Nile River, winding its way to Cairo,
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Speaker 1: just like Napoleon and his men. At last, the French
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Speaker 1: group arrived in the great city of Cairo, which held
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Speaker 1: many ancient and modern wonders. The Nile rushed through the city,
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Speaker 1: an important feature and resource, filled with small boats and
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Speaker 1: children enjoying the cool water. In the city center, ancient
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Speaker 1: and modern buildings intermingled, leaving the French in awe. The
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Speaker 1: troops explored the city, stocking up on supplies at the
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Speaker 1: colourful bazaar. Merchants sold fruits, vegetables, lentils, crusty bread, silks, cotton,
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Speaker 1: and other goods, and were eager to trade with the French.
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Speaker 1: While Napoleon failed to retain the French influence he sought
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Speaker 1: to establish in the region, The cultural implications of his
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Speaker 1: expedition held the key to deciphering the ancient language. One
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Speaker 1: year after Napoleon arrived in Egypt, in 1799, the Rosetta
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Speaker 1: Stone was found. French soldiers were visiting the coastal town
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Speaker 1: of Rashid, not far from Alexandria. where they landed one
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Speaker 1: year earlier. While digging up the foundations of a military fort,
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Speaker 1: a soldier noticed that one of the old stones had
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Speaker 1: writing on it. A grey slab of rock, about the
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Speaker 1: size of a medium suitcase, with rough, crumbling edges, the
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Speaker 1: stone may not have seemed as interesting as other artifacts
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Speaker 1: that had already been found. However, Napoleon's team recognized the
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Speaker 1: potential scholarly significance the stone could have. Even though they
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Speaker 1: couldn't understand what was written on the stone, they saw
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Speaker 1: its importance as a triscript. A triscript is a document
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Speaker 1: that has the same text in three different languages. Biscripts,
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Speaker 1: which have two languages, and triscripts are often used in
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Speaker 1: bilingual and trilingual countries today. For example, in Canada, All
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Speaker 1: official signs are written in both English and French. In Catalonia,
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Speaker 1: many signs are written in Catalan, Castilian and English. The
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Speaker 1: soldiers recognized the Greek characters at the bottom of the
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Speaker 1: tablet and thought it might be important in understanding the
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Speaker 1: two scripts above. which were hieroglyphic and demotic. The French
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Speaker 1: soldiers called the town of Rashid by a different name, Rosetta.
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Speaker 1: That's how the tablet received its famous name. It's a
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Speaker 1: simple name for a complex piece of linguistic treasure. the
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Speaker 1: soldiers brought the stone back to Cairo, where French scientists
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Speaker 1: and scholars studied the text. They were able to translate
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Speaker 1: the Greek text on the tablet, yet none of Napoleon's
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Speaker 1: team could understand the hieroglyphs or Demotic text. Indeed, it
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Speaker 1: would take several more years and many scholars working on
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Speaker 1: the project for the Code of the Hieroglyphs to be cracked.
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Speaker 1: Just two years later, in 1801, Napoleon left Egypt and
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Speaker 1: had to forfeit much of what he'd found there. Because
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Speaker 1: the British influence was strong in the region, the Rosetta
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Speaker 1: Stone was sent to England for study, the soldiers wrapped
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Speaker 1: the old stone in paper, delicately loading it on board
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Speaker 1: a ship heading for Britain. The stone travelled down the
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Speaker 1: Nile River, rocking back and forth on the gentle water
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Speaker 1: until arriving in Alexandria. Then it continued its sea-bound journey
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Speaker 1: until its arrival in Portsmouth, whose cold and windy shore
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Speaker 1: was nothing like the humid Mediterranean. From Portsmouth, the stone
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Speaker 1: was taken overland to the British Museum, where it remains
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Speaker 1: to this day. Though Egyptians have repeatedly called for its repatriation,
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Speaker 1: and that of other antiquities taken from the country in
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Speaker 1: the years since. Even though Napoleon's exploits in Egypt were short-lived,
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Speaker 1: his team would go on to write 24 larger-than-life volumes
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Speaker 1: about their time in the region. These would later aid
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Speaker 1: many modern scholars, historians, and interested students in understanding the
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Speaker 1: long and rich history of the country. Scholars from all
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Speaker 1: over Europe arrived to see and study the stone, hoping
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Speaker 1: to crack the code of the ancient language. The bottom,
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Speaker 1: a most well-preserved part of the stone, was written in
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Speaker 1: the Greek alphabet. The top part of the stone, with
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Speaker 1: crumbled and missing lines, was written in Egyptian hieroglyphs. The
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Speaker 1: middle part was written in a script called Demotic. Demotic
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Speaker 1: was the common written language in the later years of
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Speaker 1: ancient Egypt. It was easier to write than hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs,
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Speaker 1: viewed as the language of the gods, were often reserved
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Speaker 1: for important documents and art. Because hieroglyphs are a pictorial script,
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Speaker 1: scholars believed that the pictures had meanings attached to them,
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Speaker 1: but not sounds. It was a physicist, not a linguist,
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Speaker 1: named Thomas Young who was the first to realize that
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Speaker 1: some of the hieroglyphs sounded out the name of one
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Speaker 1: of Egypt's most famous rulers, Ptolemy. Young was able to
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Speaker 1: pick out the name of the pharaoh because of a
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Speaker 1: facet of ancient Egyptian writing called a cartouche. A cartouche
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Speaker 1: is an oval shape around a group of hieroglyphs that
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Speaker 1: indicate those characters represented by a royal name. Even though
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Speaker 1: parts of the hieroglyphic text were unreadable or lost due
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Speaker 1: to decay, Young was able to line up the cartouches
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Speaker 1: in the Egyptian languages with those in the Greek language
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Speaker 1: and decipher the characters which spelt Ptolemy's name. Yet, even
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Speaker 1: with this breakthrough, there was still much work to be
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Speaker 1: done towards fully understanding the old language, and it would
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Speaker 1: take more than just one scholar. To follow our story
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Speaker 1: after Jung's findings, we must travel to the streets of Paris,
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Speaker 1: where a young French scholar, Jean-Francois Champollion began to study
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Speaker 1: the stone. In 1815, Champollion had just finished a posting
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Speaker 1: as an assistant professor of languages at Grenoble in the
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Speaker 1: French Alps. He returned to the bustling city life of
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Speaker 1: Paris with no job. but a fascination with Near Eastern languages,
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Speaker 1: including the Coptic language, which he taught himself when he
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Speaker 1: was a boy in school. The Coptic language was a
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Speaker 1: bridge language in ancient Egypt. It used Egyptian words, but
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Speaker 1: was written in a Greek alphabet, and used some Greek
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Speaker 1: grammar and vocabulary, This was the language of Egypt until
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Speaker 1: the 13th century CE, when it was replaced by Egyptian Arabic.
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Speaker 1: Champollion's knowledge of this language would help him connect the
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Speaker 1: meanings of the Greek and ancient Egyptian languages. He was
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Speaker 1: one of the leading language scholars in Europe at the time.
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Speaker 1: He knew the modern Egyptian language, which inspired him to
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Speaker 1: work on studying the Rosetta Stone in the hopes of
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Speaker 1: understanding the ancient tongue. In a small apartment in Paris,
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Speaker 1: he used his knowledge of Coptic and other Near Eastern
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Speaker 1: languages to build on Jung's decipherment of the cartouches on
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Speaker 1: the stone. Like most scholars at the time, Champollion believed
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Speaker 1: that the intricate hieroglyphic characters had meanings rather than sounds.
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Speaker 1: Gazing at the beautiful symbols in the cartouche on the
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Speaker 1: Rosetta Stone, he was certain that it was only names
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Speaker 1: of foreign leaders that were spelt out phonetically. Champollion took long,
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Speaker 1: meandering walks through Paris. The wide, cobbled boulevards and narrow
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Speaker 1: streets provided the backdrop for his thoughts and ideas. Finally,
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Speaker 1: he realized he needed more than just the Rosetta Stone
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Speaker 1: as his base point for translating hieroglyphs. Luckily, he had
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Speaker 1: access to another piece of ancient Egyptian writing, an obelisk
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Speaker 1: believed to have Cleopatra's name inscribed on it. Studying the
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Speaker 1: Grey Tower, he identified the cartouche with Cleopatra's name. He
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Speaker 1: realized that several of the characters overlapped between Cleopatra's name
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Speaker 1: and that of Ptolemy. With this information, he was able
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Speaker 1: to record the first keys of the alphabet, the characters
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Speaker 1: that corresponded with the Greek letters P, T, L, and K.
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Speaker 1: From there, Champollion began to read other words in Egyptian,
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Speaker 1: especially names. for several years, he thought that only the
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Speaker 1: names of important foreign leaders like Ptolemy, Cleopatra, and Alexander
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Speaker 1: would be spelt out phonetically, and that the rest of
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Speaker 1: the script was ideographic. It was this outdated theory that
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Speaker 1: was standing in the way of decipherment. a task which
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Speaker 1: Champollion was getting close to accomplishing. It was only when
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Speaker 1: he read the published text from Napoleon's mission, called The
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Speaker 1: Description of Egypt, that he gained access to a wider
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Speaker 1: array of hieroglyphic writing. As he studied the new text,
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Speaker 1: especially the characters in the cartouches, he realized it wasn't
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Speaker 1: only foreign words spelt out phonetically. Egyptian leaders also had
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Speaker 1: phonetic rather than ideographic names. At long last, he was
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Speaker 1: able to read the hieroglyphs. Using the Greek text, He
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Speaker 1: matched the letters up to the demotic and hieroglyphic writing
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Speaker 1: until he had a fairly good idea of what sounds
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Speaker 1: the ancient Egyptian letters made. Thanks to his hard work,
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Speaker 1: the world was well on its way to understanding hieroglyphs.
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Speaker 1: Due to the Greek text on the tablet, and his
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Speaker 1: knowledge of Coptic, he was able to make one of
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Speaker 1: the first translations from Egyptian in centuries. When Champollion made
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Speaker 1: his discovery, he was so elated that he ran through
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Speaker 1: the autumnal streets of Paris, shouting, Je t'aime faire, I
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Speaker 1: have it. So, after following this years-long journey, what, indeed,
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Speaker 1: did the Rosetta Stone say? It's time to travel further
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Speaker 1: back in history again, to the first century BCE and
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Speaker 1: the Egypt of the Ptolemaic period. Thousands of years of
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Speaker 1: prehistory made this Ptolemaic period culturally and historically rich. Already,
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Speaker 1: great pyramids housed mummies of ancient pharaohs, and the treasures
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Speaker 1: of knowledge, writing, and art were abundant in the land
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Speaker 1: of Egypt. The Ptolemy rulers were descendants of Alexander the Great,
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Speaker 1: they moved the capital of Egypt from Memphis, near modern-day Cairo,
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Speaker 1: to Alexandria. Just like the French who would arrive in
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Speaker 1: Egypt thousands of years later, the Ptolemies were mesmerized by
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Speaker 1: the port city. Named after the great man himself, Alexandria
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Speaker 1: became the intellectual, cultural, and historic center of Egypt. In
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Speaker 1: the ancient Western world, it was second only to Rome
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Speaker 1: in its cultural significance. While the Ptolemies ruled, warm Mediterranean
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Speaker 1: breezes rustled the palm trees, and the Nile snaked its
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Speaker 1: way from the sea through the country, connecting the ancient empire.
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Speaker 1: The Rosetta Stone was written to mark the coronation of
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Speaker 1: Ptolemy V, who came to the Egyptian throne at the
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Speaker 1: age of six, nine years prior to the creation of
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Speaker 1: the tablet. It may surprise some to learn that this
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Speaker 1: magnificent object, which has been so revered for its role
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Speaker 1: in understanding history, is more or less a tax document. However,
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Speaker 1: even mundane things, when placed in a historical context, can
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Speaker 1: provide a wonderful insight into ancient life. The Rosetta Stone,
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Speaker 1: in three different scripts, outlines tax exemptions for the Egyptian priests.
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Speaker 1: It also records a gift of grain and silver Ptolemy
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Speaker 1: V gave to the temples in the eighth year of
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Speaker 1: his reign. It then asks the priesthood to serve Ptolemy
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Speaker 1: as any other god. Historians believe there were originally many
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Speaker 1: copies of the stone, sent from Alexandria to be placed
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Speaker 1: at the entrance to every temple in the empire. However,
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Speaker 1: only one stone survived the course of history. In ancient Egypt,
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Speaker 1: pharaohs acted as messengers between the gods and the people.
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Speaker 1: The Egyptians believed the lines of pharaohs were chosen by
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Speaker 1: the gods. Thus, the leaders had important roles in both
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Speaker 1: civic and religious life. The Egyptian priests would bless new
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Speaker 1: pharaohs at their coronation, and in return, the priests were
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Speaker 1: given special benefits, like tax breaks. The Rosetta Stone indicates
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Speaker 1: that the boy king and his advisors were hoping to
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Speaker 1: build positive relations with the Egyptian priests through these gifts.
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Speaker 1: During the reign of the Ptolemies, Egypt became a multicultural
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Speaker 1: center in the Mediterranean and Near East. The Rosetta Stone
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Speaker 1: was written in both Greek and Egyptian because those were
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Speaker 1: the languages spoken in the country. While there are three
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Speaker 1: different types of text, hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek, the stone
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Speaker 1: only contains two languages. Both demotic and hieroglyphic are written
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Speaker 1: in the same language, but in different ways or styles
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Speaker 1: of writing. there was only one spoken ancient Egyptian language,
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Speaker 1: but two different writing systems. Hieroglyphs, beautifully crafted and intricate
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Speaker 1: to draw, were used as the language of the gods.
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Speaker 1: Hieroglyphic writing was saved for important messages, for religious texts,
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Speaker 1: and for use in art. Demotic, which was much easier
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Speaker 1: to produce, was used for everyday writing. When the Rosetta
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Speaker 1: Stone was created, the Egyptians had already been under Greek
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Speaker 1: rule for 100 years. The Ptolemies would continue to rule
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Speaker 1: until the reign of the infamous Cleopatra VII. when Egypt
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Speaker 1: would become part of the Roman Empire. With Greek and
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Speaker 1: Roman used on all official documents, the ancient Egyptian language
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Speaker 1: was slowly lost, only to be deciphered nearly 2,000 years later. Now,
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Speaker 1: not only can historians learn about the Egyptians, through their
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Speaker 1: own writing, but Egyptians themselves can view their history through
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Speaker 1: the words of Egyptian historians, scientists, and writers, rather than
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Speaker 1: those of outsiders. How miraculous that one stone, nearly lost
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Speaker 1: to time, and found by chance can tell three fascinating stories.
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Speaker 1: That of the ancient Egyptians, that of Napoleon's expedition, and
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Speaker 1: that of the scholars who worked tirelessly to understand the language,
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Speaker 1: opening a portal through history for people in the years
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Speaker 1: to come. Now, hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to
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Speaker 1: the British Museum every year to gaze at the Rosetta Stone,
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Speaker 1: this humble gateway to another world, another time, and the
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Speaker 1: vast expanse of history. you you you you you you
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Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. you