The Rosetta Stone (Paperback)

~ E. A. Wallis Budge (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Great Egyptologist’s fascinating account of the discovery of the linguistic keystone that enabled scholars to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Work of Young, Champollion, other scholars; implications for biblical scholarship, history of ancient Near East, much more. Clear, concise, accessible to layman. 23 photographs. Bibliography.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (August 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486261638
• ISBN-13: 978-0486261638
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #937,692 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful, but not perfect, February 6, 2001

By	absent_minded_prof (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This is a fairly solid account of the Rosetta Stone, and its deciphering. There is ample background, and the actual inscriptions are presented, and analyzed in considerable detail. Its worth owning, if you're an archaeology buff.

Let me just warn people that real archaeologists, real Egyptologists don't have a whole lot of respect for the author of this book anymore. A lot of conventions in translation have sort of moved on since his time. In the movie "Stargate," they make fun of him a little. This is because people don't really use his writings anymore. This book itself is okay as far as it goes, but you need to be very careful of what Budge says.

Look for "Egyptian Grammar" by Sir Alan Gardiner. That's the standard textbook, used by real Egyptologists. The magazine KMT is good to know about, too. It's all about ancient Egypt, and is easy to find online.

If you enjoy this type of puzzle-solving, let me recommend a few titles. "The Decipherment of Linear B," by John Chadwick, "Breaking the Maya Code" by Michael Coe, and "The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries" by David Ulansey are all still in print. "Forgotten Scripts" by Cyrus Gordon, and "Voices in Stone" by Ernst Doblhofer are harder to find, but if you ask your local librarian to search for them using interlibrary loan services, he or she will probably find them. It's really worth it... Also, there are still a few ancient scripts out there that no one has deciphered yet. The Indus Valley Script, the Easter Island Script, and the Meroitic script are three of them. The Meroitic script could shed light someday on the issue of how much contact there was between Ancient Egypt and pre-historic Africa. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, at www.mfa.org, has the best collection around on Meroe, and Meroitic, if anyone's interested. A good book for that script is "Ancient African Civilizations," edited by Stanley Burstein, which contains several useful chapters.

Well, happy deciphering to you!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a much needed republication - excellent, January 25, 2001

By	Francesca Jourdan (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A republication of the first edition, published in 1929, this book provides the English translations of the hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek texts as well as the original Greek and hieroglyphic inscriptions, as they appear on the Rosetta Stone. It also describes its discovery and its arrival in London. The author briefly explains the coptic alphabet and tells the history of the decipherment by Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion. Finally, in the last section are the English translations of the decrees of Canopus and of Memphis. Interesting to all persons curious about the Rosetta Stone and particularly those needing its inscriptions.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ancient egypt, February 8, 2008

By	william callan (ireland) - See all my reviews

found the book somewhat out of date, and too technical for the ordinary reader. It could do with a detailed modern summary to set it in its proper time and context