Customer Reviews

Egyptian Diaries

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The story of the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics is one of the most exciting and stimulating of all. And my admiration of the Frenchman - Champollion - who achieved this attracted me to these diaries of his travels through Egypt to collect more transcriptions to refine his understanding of this ancient civilisation. As diary writer myself, I enjoy reading the diaries of others. Sadly I found these diaries less engaging than I hoped. It's not that they are dull but it is rather like looking at the monuments through a fog. No matter how well Champollion describes his endeavours I still craved a visual record, not just description. The written language - especially the Egyptian hieroglyphics - is such a visual medium. Champollion's lack of interest in the architecture is also a problem because it is the monuments that carry the script that are most immediately distinctive - for me anyway. Also there are the monuments, artwork and scripts that Champollion describes as substandard - after the peak of Egyptian achievement. But I cannot see these - I cannot agree or disagree with Champollion.

There is a lot of interest in these diaries but they also disappointed me in other ways. Perhaps an illustrated version of the diaries would work better.