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Untitled Article
scriptions , the former discovery was doubly proved , not only by translation , but by corresponding readings in the same character . These inquiries were actively prosecuted , and Mr . Salt , who was at first a little incredulous , established in the result the now undoubted validity of the system . The phonetic characters mixed with the hieroglyphics gave a clue to the whole system , and to the rationale of the enchorial or running hand .
The proper names , and often more , are read with ease ; and translations have been made which subsequent discoveries ( as in a mummy case in one instance ) of Greek versions have shewn to be undoubtedly correct . It is obvious that it is not of much consequence ( though interesting and corroborative of the truth of the system ) how the alphabetic or phonetic characters representing words , mixed up with the hieroglyphics , first came by their form . The grand discoveries were , first , that they were alphabetic ; and next , bv comparison and translation , what was their power .
This phonetic al p habet was found to record the names of the Roman emperors , with their titles , on the edifices and monuments of their aera ; which have been read with ease , in instances where , from other circumstances , there can be no doubt of the accuracy ; and they are accompanied by proper hieroglyphics or ideographic writings which , in many instances , were previously known and understood ; but in other instances are and probably will remain unknown .
In an aera above this , the names of the Lagides or Ptolemies and Cleopatras are found on many temples , and , at an earlier period , those of Philip and Alexander , described as Mai-Amun , the beloved of Amun . But the application of the discovery goes higher , and on the more ancient edifices are deciphered the names of Sabaco , Amenoph , Tiraka , ( 2 Kings xix . 9 , ) and Psammeticus . The Egyptian deities are also found inscribed in
a similar manner . Traces are in the same way found of the Persian dynasty and proceeding still higher into the dynasties of ancient kings , given by Manetho and vouched by the genealogical tables discovered by Mr . Bankes , are found the ancient names of Osorthus , the Pharaoh Sesak or Shishak , ( 1 Kings xiv . 25 ) the Sesonchisof Manetho , Rameses , Amenoph , Thoutmosis , &c .
Thus , by a series of readings , among the most remarkable in the history of scholarship , M . Champollion traced the use of hieroglyphico-phonetic signs , first " , from the age of Antoninus upwards to Alexander ; secondly , from Alexander to the Persian conquest ; and , lastly , through the different dynasties up to the commencement of the eighteenth , about the year 1874 , before the Christian aera , exemplifying at every stage of the progress the accuracy of the chronological canon of Manetho .
The result of these discoveries is , that the graphic system of the Egyptians was composed of three sorts of writing ; 1 , the hieroglyphic or sacred , which combined at once three distinct sorts of signs , viz . figurative charac- * ters representing the object itself , symbolic or ^ enigmatic characters having an analogy to the object , and phonetic characters which , by the images of objects , represented sounds or letters only , and combined to form words ;
2 , the Hieratic or sacerdotal writing , which is only a form of writing abridged or derived from the hieroglyphic ; 3 , the demotic , enchorial , or popular writing , distinct from the two former , but derived from them , consisting of simpler characters , borrowed or cut down from them , and employing a much larger proportion of the phonetic or alphabetic characters . Of this character a complete alphabet has been formed , and manuscripts
Untitled Article
4 JG Egyptian Hieroglyphics .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1827, page 476, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1798/page/4/
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