2022-12-02T09:35:00-08:00
I think that many people, especially among the residents of Iraq and Syria, believe in the idea that writing first began in Iraq or Syria. This idea is still a matter of dispute between Iraq and Syria. There are those who say Iraq and there are those who say Syria, but everyone agrees that cuneiform writing It is the oldest writing on earth.
This idea is believed by most researchers and thinkers in Iraq and Syria, such as Firas Al-Sawah and Khazal Al-Majidi, and it is behind many historical and intellectual works that deal with the lives of the ancients in Iraq and Syria, which these researchers found after reading the works of Western scholars, such as the book ( The Adventure of the First Mind) by Firas Al-Sawah from Syria, and the book (Sumerian History) by Khazaal Al-Majidi and many other books.
The truth is that this idea is embraced by most Western researchers and scholars who were credited with deciphering this writing, to the point that UNESCO went to an area in Iraq and erected a plaque on it with the words “This is where the first written letter appeared.”
Suppose we agree with this idea, but do we not have the right to ask a question that imposes itself: If the cuneiform writing is the oldest writing on Earth, then why do you not find someone to ask our thinkers a natural question: How was this writing deciphered and what is the scientific basis for deciphering?
Why do we not find articles and books by these thinkers and researchers that educate the masses to answer this question, while these thinkers were evading anyone who might ask this natural question?
The truth is that I did not find in most of the historical books and articles of our researchers, which I searched, any topic that answers our question. Indeed, I did not find a reader who would urgently ask such a question?
Wasn’t an intellectual and thinker like Firas Al-Sawah, before publishing his book (The Adventure of the First Mind), to venture with his mind and produce for us a book (The Adventure of the Second Mind) that contained an answer to our question, so that the second mind could read the writing of The Adventure of the First Mind in a scientific and logical manner? .
The adventure of the second mind
How was the cuneiform writing deciphered?
As everyone knows, almost 200 years ago, the occupying West began its operations to decipher the ancient writings in the region, and all the writings were deciphered by the West and produced for us translations of their texts in dictionaries and books, and we only read Western writings and composed our history based on the writings. Western.
But whoever contemplates the entire story will find many important observations when we compare the story of the decipherment of the cuneiform writing with the story of the decipherment of the hieroglyphics.
Although the cuneiform writing is the oldest writing according to the majority belief, the story of its decipherment has not received as much fame and attention as the story of the decipherment of hieroglyphics.
The story of deciphering hieroglyphics has received great attention and fame, and people are still circulating it. The scientist who deciphered it gained great fame, gained great scientific status, and was described as a genius. Many books have been published about the life of the one who deciphered it, and he created a statue for him and made films for him.
But the story of deciphering the cuneiform writing has not gained any fame or interest, and there is no one interested in it and it is not circulated, and the one who deciphered it was not described as a genius, and his name is not famous in the cultural scene.
So you wonder about the reasons… because it is assumed that what happened in deciphering the hieroglyphics would be the same as what would happen with the cuneiform writing.
The question is what is the reason?
Let us look at the story of the decoding of the cuneiform writing and compare it to the story of the decoding of the hieroglyphics.
Hieroglyphic writing
The main scientific developments that took place that led to the decoding of hieroglyphs:
● July 15, 1799…………. The stone was discovered in the town of Rosetta
● July 19, 1799 ……. The stone was officially recognized as three copies of one text by the Scientific Committee in Cairo ……. and was written in hieroglyphic and ancient Greek script.
● July 30, 1799 ………. The stone was transported to Cairo.
● August 1799…….. The official name known for the stone began to circulate in the West (the Rosetta Stone), and Napoleon, the leader of the French expedition, ordered the preparation of several copies of it to be accessible to those interested in Egyptian civilization in Europe in general and in France in particular. .
● September 1799……… News of the discovery was published in an official French newspaper, and the first words appeared in it saying [that the stone may one day be the key to deciphering hieroglyphics]
● 1800 …………It was officially recognized that the middle text in the stone was written in the Egyptian Demotic script (the people’s script), and the credit goes to the French scientist Marcel, who was in Misr as part of the French campaign.
● 1802 ………….The stone arrived in Britain in accordance with the Al-Arish Agreement concluded between England, led by Commander Nelson, and France, led by Commander Mennot, under which England received the stone and other antiquities.
Researchers began translating the Greek text, and researchers Silvestre de Sacy and Akerblad showed special interest in the Demotic script.
Western scholars arrived at the Demotic text that used phonetic letters to spell (foreign names).
● 1803 ………. The study of the texts was ongoing and the first complete translation of the Greek text appeared and it was discovered that it was a decree written by a Greek king named (Ptolemy).
● 1814….. This year is considered the first important step that contributed to deciphering hieroglyphs.
This step in the field of hieroglyphic script came at the hands of the English scientist Thomas Young, who obtained a printed copy of the Rosetta Stone in 1814 and who assumed that the circular frames present in the hieroglyphic text contained the names of kings.
● 1815…… The Philae Obelisk was discovered, which contains text in Greek and hieroglyphics.
The assumption was confirmed by the scientist (Thomas Young)… after he relied on other similar texts, such as the obelisk that was found in the Temple of Philae in 1815, which contains a text in Greek and another in hieroglyphics, and the Greek text after its translation spoke about a queen named ( Cleopatra).
This assumption… came from the idea that frames always appear when the Greek text talks about kings, and this means that the frame may contain the name of a king out of honor and glorification, as a message from a king to a Greek king.
But Young believed that Egyptian writing was symbolic, not phonetic.
● 1816 – 1821 (five years)… during which the first words of the stone were deciphered.
Important attempts were made during this period by scholars to decipher hieroglyphics, and among these scholars was a young Frenchman named Jean-François Champollion. (1790 – 1832).
Champollion was very inclined to know the ancient Egyptian language and the civilization of ancient Misr, and what he read from Greek and Roman books helped him in that. He learned the Gebeti language and was forced to meet some of the Coptic community in Paris until he mastered it so well that he became a professor in teaching Gebete.
Champollion’s mastery of the Jebetic language, in addition to Greek and other languages, and also his great knowledge of history…all of this made him try to decipher ancient Egyptian writing, and he wanted to take credit for deciphering this writing.
He was very involved in this scientific and historical mission, and he was forced to buy pieces, paintings, and drawings in order to gain the honor of this scientific conquest that would immortalize his name in history.
The young Frenchman, Jean-François Champollion, obtained a copy of the stone, as did other researchers, and he initially studied it with great interest in the hieroglyphic script, relying on his long experience in the ancient Greek language, and in ancient languages in general, including Coptic.
Champollion had to solve a set of assumptions:
The first is: Do the three scripts (hieroglyphic – demotic – Greek) represent three different texts in terms of content, or do they represent one topic, but it was written in the official script (hieroglyphic), the daily life script prevalent in this period (demotic), and then in the language of the Greeks who were ruling Misr? .
Second: It relates to the structure of the Egyptian language. Is it based on an alphabet of any group of letters, like living languages, for example? Or was it written with signs whose phonetic value ranged from one to two or three letters or perhaps more.
Third: Did this writing know the letters of the vowel? …Are the signs pictorial or audio? What tools did Al-Masry use to determine the meaning of vocabulary?
Did you use assignments and explanatory signs?!!…etc
These and other assumptions and questions must have been on Champollion’s mind as he was dealing with the stone, and it must have come to his attention that there is more than one script for the ancient Egyptian language, in addition to questions including: Is there a linear relationship between hieroglyphics, hieratic, and demotic?
Is there a linguistic relationship in the field of grammar, morphology, etc. Then, these cylindrical signs in the hieroglyphic text that surround some of the hieroglyphic signs – which we later knew as the frame – what do they mean?
Champollion read the Greek text in the Rosetta Stone, understood its content, and read the name of King Ptolemy in it.
Chanpollion took an approach based on the idea that proper names are unchangeable when written in any language. Then he moved to the hypothesis that this decree, which was issued during the reign of King Ptolemy V in 196 BC, must have been written alongside Greek in two of the national language scripts. For Misr….. Ptolemy’s name in Greek must appear repeatedly in the hieroglyphic and demotic scripts.
The difficulty for Champollion was to understand the vowel letters that determine the pronunciation of consonants with fatha, dhammah, or kasra…… Therefore, Champollion relied on the idea that the consonants of proper names do not change, no matter how many languages they wrote.
For example… in Arabic, we find a name like (Majdi) whose first three letters (M J D) cannot fall out when written in any language, and likewise (Hassan), even if the movement of the letters is slowed, inverted, or changed.
Inside the Rosetta Stone there is a single frame in which a name was repeated six times, and the name of Ptolemy was repeated several times in the Greek text, and it is the same name that was also mentioned on the Philae Obelisk in addition to the name (Cleopatra), which was discovered in 1815.
Champollion assumed that the name (Ptolemy) is present within this frame found in the Rosetta Stone, and that the name (Cleopatra) is also present within the frame of the Philae Obelisk.
Champollion recorded the name (Ptolemy) in the Greek language, which appeared in the Greek text, and he numbered the letters of the name…….. He also recorded the name (Cleopatra), which was mentioned in the Philae Obelisk in Greek, and the number of each letter in the word, and the reason is because The two names share the phonetic value of some signs, such as the b, the ta, and the lām.
ptolemys
Cleopatra
Then Champollion recorded the marks contained in the Ptolemy cartouche and their number, and he did the same for the Cleopatra cartouche found in the Philae Obelisk.
There, he found the sharing of similar symbols between the two frames, which confirms his hypothesis. The consonants (btl) are common in Greek writing, and there is also a commonality between the two frames, in several symbols.
Then he identified the first sign of the name “Ptolemy” in hieroglyphs and the corresponding sign in his name in Greek, and “Champollion” was able to recognize the phonetic value of some hieroglyphic signs based on their phonetic value in Greek.
The phonetic letters in hieroglyphic writing were known.
● 1822…… This year is considered the last step that contributed to deciphering hieroglyphics.
This year, an antique piece arrived to Champollion from a friend. It had been removed from one of Misr’s temples and contained a frame with four symbols written inside it.
As for the first symbol inside the frame …………. .its phonetic value was known to Champollion, because it was the same symbol found inside the frame in the Rosetta Stone and the phonetic value that he reached was: (S).
Champollion knew well that this frame must contain the name of a king, because the names of kings are written inside the frames… as we know.
One day, Champollion’s mind began to work and his eyes were fixed on the piece. The agitation and tension increased, and his hand began to shake. The name began with a symbol resembling the shape of the sun, and because Champollion had knowledge and familiarity with the Jebetic language, he knew that the word (sun) was pronounced. In the Jebeti language…. (Ra’).
So, the king’s name begins with (Ra’), followed by a symbol that is still unknown, then followed by a repeated symbol representing a folded piece of cloth.
Ra .( ¤ ) .S.S
That is, the king’s name… will begin with the word (Ra’).
And here a genius idea flashed into Champollion’s head: What if the king’s name was Rameses, the most famous king of ancient Misr, about whom he had read a lot in Greek history books?
Just a hypothesis… but not confirmed.
With trembling hands, Champollion began to flip through the other drawings, thoughts racing wildly…and then his gaze was once again fixed on another image that contained the same symbol (S) that was present in the Rosetta Stone and in the frame that reached it… The symbol V was present at the end of the name, and the name begins with a symbol of the sacred bird Ibis, which embodies the Allah Tut, and in the middle of the name is the same previously unknown symbol (¤).
If Champollion’s translation is correct regarding the name (Ra – m – s – s), and the unknown middle symbol only means the letter (m)… then the name in the picture is then Totmus (Thout – m – s)… …..And indeed Thutmose was the second most famous king of ancient Misr.
There was not the slightest doubt in Champollion… The veil had fallen from Champollion’s eyes, and here he was holding in his hand the key to the history of ancient Misr, which had been lost for 2000 years.
Champollion announced his discovery at the French Society of Sciences and Languages. The audience applauded him… so much so that the most famous linguist at that time, De Sacy, who is credited with developing the first theories of linguistics, rose from his chair and embraced him warmly. De Sasi finally admitted his genius to Champollion, who had always dreamed of sitting with him.
Champollion’s genius appeared… in that he discovered the phonetic values of the rest of the symbols himself by matching them in the Jebetic language, and this genius made the King of France give him a gold box engraved with the phrase: “This is a gift from the King of France, Louis XVIII, to Champollion.” For his discovery of the hieroglyphic alphabet.
Chateaubriand said about him: “The name of Champollion is still alive, as long as these monuments remain, the mysterious secrets of which were revealed to us.”
Then France honored him as one of the greats of history, and he was appointed director of the museum and professor of Egyptology at the university, and his name was entered into the pantheon of French immortals.
Champollion announced in Paris to the whole world that he had been able to decipher the symbols of the ancient Egyptian language, and informed the world of the structure of writing in the Egyptian language.
Chameleon concluded that hieroglyphs are not based on an alphabet only, but rather are based on signs that give the value of one letter, other signs that give the value of two letters, and other signs that give the value of three letters, and he emphasized the use of allocations at the end of vocabulary to determine the meaning of the word.
Champollion discovered that hieroglyphic writing (pictorial) is phonetic writing that contains multiple phonetic values, and is devoid of vowel letters.
Thus, Champollion laid the first building blocks in the edifice of the ancient Egyptian language.
After him came hundreds of researchers who contributed to completing the construction of this lofty edifice. With knowledge of the ancient Egyptian language, the mystery about Egyptian civilization began to be cleared, and Egyptology began to make its way strongly among other sciences.
Cuneiform writing
After the West was able to decipher the inscriptions of Misr, the journey of Western scholars to decipher the inscriptions of Iraq was still continuing.
In the year 1872, a British man who had shown signs of genius in his childhood, as his biography says, and who at one time became a worker in the British Museum, was able to decipher cuneiform inscriptions…….. His name was George Smith.
George Smith’s success in deciphering cuneiform inscriptions… came as a result of a coincidence and an astonishing incident… after he devoted himself to trying to decipher clay tablets that came to him… and devoted himself to studying them… and suddenly something appeared… pulling George’s eyes… he was not in front of an ordinary table with equipment… but in front of an epic from the East… the epic of Gilgamesh… the great hero… and George Smith continues reading the texts… and he cannot believe his eyes… it is talking About the great flood…that drowned the universe…it is the flood that the Old Testament book talks about.
George Smith rushed to the Old Testament Society and presented to them a report on his discovery… The members of the Old Testament Society did not believe this news. Unprecedented news. George Smith was very knowledgeable about the Old Testament, and he was certain that this discovery was evidence of the authenticity of the Flood in the Old Testament. The news of the Babylonian Flood spread throughout all scientific circles.
This is the whole story of deciphering cuneiform
Let’s compare the two stories
In the story of the hieroglyphic writing, regardless of whether we agree with the method, there is a clear approach that explains to you how it was deciphered, and after that the decision will be yours as to whether you are convinced of it or not, according to scientific and logical foundations.
But where is such an approach in deciphering cuneiform writing? How was the West able to find the phonetic values of these symbols?
If you ask me…which is more complex in the jaw, hieroglyphics or cuneiform?
I will answer you… cuneiform.
Because pictorial writing is distinguished from other writings in that it has two values, a phonetic value and a nominal value, and this makes it easy to decipher if its language is still alive today.
Because all you have to do is see the picture, and if the picture is of (a human eye), then there is a high probability that the symbol is pronounced (eye)… And this is how we know its phonetic value because it has a nominal value.
But how can we reach an understanding of the phonetic value of a symbol that has no nominal value, just lines, and the language in which this writing was written is extinct?
How was the West able to compose a linguistic dictionary for that writing, and how did it realize the phonetic value of all those symbols?
I mean, for example, this symbol (w)… What is its phonetic value?
You will say that (w) has a phonetic value (wu), but how did you know?
Because it can also have a phonetic value (f), as in French.
So, I have the freedom to make this symbol (w) have any phonetic value, and it is not a matter of restricting me to a phonetic value (wu).
So….. How did the West know ancient writing symbols that are very difficult, and there is no rule that forces you to believe that a symbol in them has a phonetic value (ba)?
In hieroglyphs, the West has a logical approach to its story, but in cuneiform there is no logical approach to its story. They just deciphered the inscriptions without explaining the method and deliberately ignored the method, because the West cannot compose a convincing scientific story that proves to people its success.
These are the reasons why the second mind refrains from going with the first mind on its illogical and unscientific adventure.
#Firas_Alsawah