Champollion — Erosophia Encyclopedia

Entry

Champollion — Orientalist, decipherer of the hieroglyphs, 1790–1832

Son of a bookseller of the Lot, raised by his elder brother, he could read before starting school and spoke a dozen ancient languages at twenty. He held that Coptic was the language of the pharaohs, and used it to read the script the Greeks thought sacred. A chair of Egyptology was created for him; he died the following year, at forty-one. (Editorial synthesis)

Champollion was born on 23 December 1790. (source: Encyclopædia Universalis)

Champollion was born in Figeac. (source: Larousse)

Champollion died on 4 March 1832. (source: Encyclopædia Britannica)

Champollion died in Paris. (source: Larousse)

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