罗塞塔石碑――破解埃及象形文字之谜的秘匙

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1、罗塞塔石碑――破解埃及象形文字之谜的秘匙　　关于罗塞塔石碑　　石碑由上至下共刻有同一段诏书的三种语言版本，最上面是古埃及象形文（又称圣书体，代表献给神明的文字），中间是埃及草书（又称为世俗体，是当时埃及平民使用的文字），最下面的是古希腊文（代表统治者的语言，这是因为当时的埃及已臣服于希腊的亚历山大帝国之下，来自希腊的统治者要求统治领地内所有的此类文书都要添加希腊文的译版）。罗塞塔石碑独特的三语对照写法成为解码的关键，因为古希腊文是近代人类可以阅读的文字，利用这关键来比对分析碑上其他两种语言的内容，就可以了解这些失传语言的

2、文字与文法结构。　　OnJuly15th，1799，aFrenchsoldiernoticedastrangestoneinthewallofanoldfort[堡垒]nearthetownofRashid，Egypt.Thetown，alsocalledRosetta，isinthedelta[三角洲]oftheNileRiverandwaspartoftheareaoccupiedbytheFrenchArmyatthattime.France，underNapoleonBonaparte注，hadinvaded[侵

3、略]Egyptin1799asameansofestablishing[建立]aFrenchpresence[存在]intheMiddleEast.　　Thestonewasdarkgranite[花岗岩]，smoothlyfinished.Itwas3feet9incheslongand2feet4.5incheswide，andwhatmadeitnoticeable[值得注意的]wasthatithadsomesortof5inscription[碑铭]carvedontoit.Thesoldier’scomman

4、dingofficer[指挥官]calledinsomearchaeologists[考古学家]，whohadaccompanied[陪伴]theFrenchArmytoEgypt，toshowthemthefind.Theysoonrealizedthatthestone’sinscriptionwasinthreedifferentlanguages：ancientEgyptianhieroglyphs[象形文字]，ascript[书写体]calledDemotic[古埃及通俗文字]（analphabetwritin

5、galsousedbytheEgyptians）andancientGreek.　　Greek，eveninitsancientform，waswellknowntoEuropeans，butthesecrettoreadinghieroglyphsandDemotichaddiedoutnearlytwothousandyearsbefore.Europeanswereawed[充满敬畏的]bytheartifacts[史前古器物]，templesandmonuments[纪念碑]ofEgypt，buttheyhadn

6、owaytoreadorunderstandtheinscriptionsthatwouldtellthemwhohadbuiltthesemarvels[奇妙之物]andwhattheymeant.Thisstone，theysaw，wasthemeans[方法]tounlockthewrittenrecordoftheancientcivilization.　　TheBritishinvadedEgyptanddefeated[击败]theFrenchin1801，andtookpossession[占有]ofthe

7、RosettaStonealongwithmanyotherarchaeologicaltreasuresunearthedbytheFrench.AlthoughtheytookthestonebacktoLondon，whereitwasgiventotheBritishMuseum，theymadecopiesoftheinscriptions.Thesecopieswerewidelydistributed[分发]throughoutEurope，wheretheywerestudiedbyexpertsinan

8、cientlanguages.Ironically[讽刺地]，5itwasaFrenchprofessorandlinguist[语言学家]namedJean-Fran？oisChampollion，whobrokethecode.In1822，hepublishedapapergivingthetranslatio