For over two thousand years, the secrets of the ancient Egyptians were lost to history. All the tombs, trinkets, statues and cenotaphs were pretty but indecipherable, covered as they were in a pictographic script that had no meaning. It wasn’t decades of research, the intricate technologies of archaeology or the explanation of some ancient king risen from the dead that unlocked the lost language of the ancient Egyptians. In fact, it was the accidental discovery of some half buried rock that came to be known as the Rosetta stone, by a French soldier that would change the face of Egyptology and provide a much needed window into the language and belief systems of the most celebrated ancient culture.

It was 1799 and Napoleon’s troops were preparing to defend against the encroaching Ottoman Army as they grew closer and closer to the city of Rosetta on Egypt’s West bank just miles from the sea.  As they cleared away rocks to improve their fortifications, a small group of soldier engineers led by 28 year old Lieutenant Bouchard discovered a large polished rock with a dark surface and what seemed to be some engraved text.

On closer inspection, Bouchard noticed three separate texts on the rock: hieroglyphs at the top, an unknown text in the middle and Greek at the bottom.  It was not just the middle text that didn’t make sense; it was the stone’s location inside an Arab fort far from the ancient tombs in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings. Speculation as to possible ancient structures below the fort were quickly dismissed and the stone sent to Cairo for further research by Napoleon’s famed Commission of Arts and Sciences.

The stone was almost a meter high with missing pieces at the top and bottom right. After a thorough cleaning the group of French scholars was able to read the Greek inscription. It was nothing sensational, just an inscription of an anniversary. That was until they read the last sentence.

“This decree shall be inscribed on stelae of hard rock, in sacred characters, both native and Greek, and they shall be erected in each of the temples of the first, second and third category, next to the image of the king living eternally.”

The realization that what was written in Greek was also written in hieroglyphics was a revelation. Finally, here was the chance to understand what the ancients had been whispering for all these centuries.  A group of notable scholars and archeologists gathered in Cairo to work on the stone, including trying to figure out what the middle language on the Rosetta stone actually was.

Disappointedly the Egyptian elite had little interest in the stone, perhaps due to the constant influx of Greeks, French and British in their country with every new ‘discovery’ of the ancient Egyptian world. For Islamic Egyptians, pyramids were pagan relics of the past with little bearing on their advanced culture.

Copyists went to work, reproducing the text on the stone and disseminating it to colleagues around the world. Although other texts had been discovered, the connecting language, the middle language on the stone, remained a mystery. It wasn’t Aramaic and it wasn’t Coptic. And in 1801, the British stole the stone making its middle text even more elusive for its French discoverers.  

By 1802, the Rosetta stone would find its permanent, if not definitely legal, home in the British Museum. It would be another thirty years before hieroglyphics would be understood enough for full decipherment and the middle text would be designated as hieratic, a simple version of the hieroglyphs. Through the dedicated efforts of Jean Francois Champollion, a French scholar who was only nine years old when the stone was first discovered by Bouchard, the text and dictionary of ancient Egyptian

Ancient Egypt Store Rosetta Stone Bookends Ptolemaic Relief - Painted Bust of Queen Nefertiti Bust of King Akhenaton

languages was first published. His work showed that the ancient text didn’t contain vowels and used pictures to represent both sounds and statements.

To this day, the Rosetta stone sits in the British Museum, a highlight of the Egyptian collection and a testament to perseverance and scholarship.  The ability to read hieroglyphics helped archaeologists and Egyptologists to understand the succession of dynasties, the religion and cults of the dead, the ancient gods and their followers and of course, the secret world of one history’s most fascinating cultures - Ancient Egypt.

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The story of King Tut is filled with intrigue, lost tombs, forgotten bloodlines and ancient curses.  The historical facts are a little less dramatic but no less entertaining.  Because when the young Mr. Carter found the tomb, lost for three thousand years to the Egyptian sands, he sparked an interest in Egyptology and all things Egyptian which have not left us till this day.

“At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the candle flame to flicker, but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold - everywhere the glint of gold.”-Howard Carter

It was Theodore Davis, an American tourist and archeology enthusiast that first found clues to Tut-Ankh-Amun’s existence. Stolen goods from the lost tomb showed up among other funerary objects and were marked with Tut’s seal.  Tutankhamen’s name sparked the interest of Davis’s assistant Howard Carter. Carter, little more than a glorified copyist of Ancient Egyptian objects at the time, decided further investigation was necessary.

Many fruitless digging seasons would pass before Carter would find the prize of a lifetime. The sponsor of his investigations, the Earl of Carnarvon, was growing tired with the lack of progress in the search for Tut’s tomb. Carter had one more chance to find the lost royal.

It was late November in 1922, 13 years after Tut’s name first began showing up on the Egyptology circuit, that Carter broke through the plaster that hid the wonder of Tutankhamen’s final resting place. The find was one of the richest and most intact ancient Egyptian artifacts ever discovered, making headlines across the world. That day led to decades of study and speculation, inspired the art deco movement, improved archeological techniques and inspired a post war generation weary of strife and conflict.

Despite being robbed at least twice in ancient times, the cramped quarters were filled to the brim with funerary objects, canopic jars, treasure chests, golden furniture, pottery, jewelry; even a chariot or two. It would take a decade to fully catalog the items which still make onlookers gasp in awe.  The discovery would be Carter’s first and last as he spent the remainder of his days studying his findings and collecting more art and artifacts of that inspiring time of human history.

The name Tutankhamen means the living embodiment of Amun. Amun was known as the king of the Gods and King Tut adopted this name after he became ruler of Egypt in 1334 BCE. His given name was Tutankhaten. At nine years old, already married, Tut would begin his reign of approximately nine years with guardians and overseers interfering with the running of his kingdom.

Adding greatly to the architecture of the temples at both Karnak and Luxor, Tutankhamen was a lover of fine things, art and hunting. It was a peaceful reign. At the tender age of 18, Tut was dead. Whether from the hands of an enemy (or ally) or as the result of an accident, a broken leg and a piece of bone in his brain caused the demise of the king. Usurpers and jealous Egyptians erased much of Tut’s existence from the pages of history. Fortunately they left just enough to ensure his immortality.

Ancient Egypt Store King Tutankhamun Hunting Statue King Tutankhamun & Wife Ankhesenamun Large coffin of King Tutankhamun with small King Tut inside Set of Canopic Jars

Even today, the boy king lies ever in state, resting comfortably inside his original tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Visitors are ushered into the small compartment to view the casket and pay respects by the reverend locals, keepers of the tomb. His gold outer casket and the fineries of Carter’s find are on semi-permanent display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, many hundreds of mile to the North. But the mummified remains stay close to home paying homage to the rich past of ancient Egypt and providing Luxor, the modern Mecca of history its crowning attraction.

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