Chasing Hieroglyphs: My Journey to Egypt

Joyce Tyldesley is Professor of Egyptology at the University of Manchester, a prominent broadcaster, and the acclaimed author of many popular books on Egypt. Jean-François Champollion (1790–1832) was a brilliant French philologist and the legendary founding father of Egyptology who deciphered the Rosetta Stone.

‘His essays, literary correspondence and poems may earn him a minor place within French literature. In the manner of the time, he kept journals. Here, for the first time in English, is the account of his sole visit to the country whose history he recreated…. [I]t well conveys the seemingly inexhaustible energy of the man…. Here are his impressions of a country largely untouched by the influence of the West. The main exception was the rapid growth of the trade in antiquities to Europe, many of whose exponents were suspicious of someone who was out to pollute the pure waters of profit with the murky stream of scholarship…. On almost every page, he records his amazement at what he saw.’Prof. John Ray, The Times‘Neither Champollion’s journal nor the letters from that journey have been translated into English, which makes the selection published… all the more valuable… One of the great pleasures… is the way the 38-year-old scholar emerges as an obsessive man in a hurry, as though he knew his time was limited (he died two years after his return to France). His enthusiasm is infectious: here is someone whose lifelong wish is coming true and it happens with enormous pomp and ceremony. There are discoveries and reappraisals… something perhaps even more interesting, the opportunity of watching a man realise the extent and effect of his genius.Anthony Sattin, Sunday Times‘Burn with the passion that he dedicated his life to cracking the hieroglyphic code.’ Guardian‘A vigorous translation of the journal and letters… At long last, English readers can form a reliable impression of an intellect that was always known to have been remarkable in any age… Champollion was seduced by ancient Egypt… The immediacy and pungency of the letters and journal reveal the depth of the seduction…. There are vivid, penetrating and often entertaining descriptions of contemporary Islamic Egypt and Egyptians – mosques and palaces, pashas, priests and peasants; of the machinations of French officialdom whose trade in antiquities Champollion’s excavations threatened; and of the difficulties and dangers of travel on the Nile, including a New Year dinner in Nubia with two rare bottles of Saint-George…. It is Champollion’s observations on the hieroglyphs that have a special fascination.’Andrew Robinson, Times Higher Education Supplement‘We travel with the exuberant Champollion making his first journey to Egypt, we share the wonder of it all fresh before his eyes, and also the incredible way in which he organises his researches… here in these letters we can once more relive the magic.’Minerva‘A wealth of observation of many familiar (and some less familiar) sites and monuments and their current condition, and innumerable historical musings… A welcome addition.’Egyptian Archaeology‘Wonderfully ebullient…. entertaining letters to his brother, he chronicled his increasing sense of excitement about his discoveries. This is the first UK publication of the diaries.’History Today‘In 1828 Jean-Francois Champollion sailed for Egypt, fulfilling a lifelong dream and permitting him to make use of his hieroglyphic discoveries on the standing monuments themselves. During the year and a half he was away, he travelled as far south as the Second Cataract and filled many volumes with copies of texts and tableaux. In addition, he kept his own diary, and wrote letters to family and friends that allow one to journey with in Egypt and share his enthusiasm and joy at being able to confirm many of his ideas in the field…. The availability of this material for the first time to English readers is thus to be applauded…. Strongly recommended.’KMT, a Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt‘It’s the enthusiastic words of Champollion himself that make the best reading, describing his travels and discoveries and the dangers he met on the way. He writes about sleeping in an empty tomb and being less than impressed by the “pitiful Egyptian sculpture from the time of the Ptolemies”. He also records snippets of modern life at the time of his visit, including a religious feast where three hundred men chanted until they dropped with exhaustion and “white foam spouted on their beards”.’ Ancient Egypt Magazine

• Translator's NotePreface by Professor Joyce TyldesleyMap of EgyptIntroductionChapter 1. Lucky EscapeChapter 2. Treacherous AlexandriaChapter 3. Cairo: Egypt, at lastChapter 4. Rapture and Decadence: DenderaChapter 5. Caesar's Son in NubiaChapter 6. Turning Point: Abu SimbelChapter 7. The Mysteries of Thebes: FarewellChapter 8. Plotting the FutureChapter 9. Back in the Land of the BellsAfterword by Peter ClaytonEndnotes