罗塞塔石碑——破解埃及象形文字之谜的秘匙

by Jangaplanet

关于罗塞塔石碑

石碑由上至下共刻有同一段诏书的三种语言版本，最上面是古埃及象形文（又称圣书体，代表献给神明的文字），中间是埃及草书（又称为世俗体，是当时埃及平民使用的文字），最下面的是古希腊文（代表统治者的语言，这是因为当时的埃及已臣服于希腊的亚历山大帝国之下，来自希腊的统治者要求统治领地内所有的此类文书都要添加希腊文的译版）。罗塞塔石碑独特的三语对照写法成为解码的关键，因为古希腊文是近代人类可以阅读的文字，利用这关键来比对分析碑上其他两种语言的内容，就可以了解这些失传语言的文字与文法结构。

On July 15th， 1799， a French soldier noticed a strange stone in the wall of an old fort[堡垒] near the town of Rashid， Egypt. The town， also called Rosetta， is in the delta[三角洲] of the Nile River and was part of the area occupied by the French Army at that time. France， under Napoleon Bonaparte注， had invaded[侵略] Egypt in 1799 as a means of establishing[建立] a French presence[存在] in the Middle East.

The stone was dark granite[花岗岩]， smoothly finished. It was 3 feet 9 inches long and 2 feet 4.5 inches wide， and what made it noticeable[值得注意的] was that it had some sort of inscription[碑铭] carved onto it. The soldiers commanding officer[指挥官] called in some archaeologists[考古学家]， who had accompanied[陪伴] the French Army to Egypt， to show them the find. They soon realized that the stones inscription was in three different languages： ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs[象形文字]， a script[书写体] called Demotic[古埃及通俗文字] （an alphabet writing also used by the Egyptians） and ancient Greek.

Greek， even in its ancient form， was well known to Europeans， but the secret to reading hieroglyphs and Demotic had died out nearly two thousand years before. Europeans were awed[充满敬畏的] by the artifacts[史前古器物]， temples and monuments[纪念碑] of Egypt， but they had no way to read or understand the inscriptions that would tell them who had built these marvels[奇妙之物] and what they meant. This stone， they saw， was the means[方法] to unlock the written record of the ancient civilization.

The British invaded Egypt and defeated[击败] the French in 1801， and took possession[占有] of the Rosetta Stone along with many other archaeological treasures unearthed by the French. Although they took the stone back to London， where it was given to the British Museum， they made copies of the inscriptions. These copies were widely distributed[分发] throughout Europe， where they were studied by experts in ancient languages. Ironically[讽刺地]， it was a French professor and linguist[语言学家] named Jean-Fran？ois Champollion， who broke the code. In 1822， he published a paper giving the translation of the inscription and provided an early dictionary of Egyptian hieroglyphics. According to the translation， the stone pillar[柱子] bore a decree[法令] from King Ptolemy V from the year 196 B.C.

Being able to read the ancient Egyptian languages from this stone gave archaeologists a way to learn a great deal about the history and culture of ancient Egypt. Finally， they could read the numerous[无数的] inscriptions found on walls， stele[石碑] and in tombs， and could then interpret[解释] the meaning of the objects they excavated[挖掘]. Two hundred years after its discovery， the Rosetta Stone is still considered to be the key to the beginning of modern Egyptology[埃及学].

The Rosetta Stone has become a monument to the value of communication between languages， across distance and through time. It is so important that its name has become synonymous[同义的] with the breakthrough to any discovery.

Today， the Rosetta Stone can still be seen in the British Museum. It is the most-visited object in their collection.

1799年7月15日，一名法国士兵在埃及拉希德镇附近一处旧壁垒的墙中发现了一块奇怪的石头。位于尼罗河三角洲的拉希德也叫罗塞塔，是当时法军占领区的一部分。1799年，拿破仑·波拿巴统治下的法国入侵埃及，借此在中东地区确立自己的势力。

这块石头是一块深色的花岗岩，打磨得很平整，长3英尺9英寸（114厘米），宽2英尺4.5英寸（72厘米）。这块石头最引人注目的是上面刻着碑文。这名士兵的指挥官随即召来几位随军来到埃及的考古学家，向他们展示这个发现。考古学家们很快意识到，石头上的碑文是以三种不同的语言写成的——古埃及象形文字、古埃及世俗体（埃及人使用的另一种文字）以及古希腊文。

欧洲人对希腊文——即便是其古文形式——并不陌生，但埃及象形文字和通俗文字的解读方法却早在近两千年前便已失传。欧洲人对埃及的文物、寺庙和纪念碑怀抱敬仰之心，但他们却无法读懂和理解这些记录着奇迹的建造者及其意思的铭文。他们意识到，这块石头就是解读古埃及文明记录的方法。

后来，英国入侵埃及，并于1801年击败法国，把法国人发现的罗塞塔石碑和其他许多古物据为己有。英国人虽然把罗塞塔石碑带回伦敦并赠与大英博物馆，不过他们也复制了碑文的副本。这些副本在整个欧洲广为流传，因此欧洲各地的古代语言学家得以对其进行研究。讽刺的是，是一位名叫尚-佛罕索瓦·商博良的法国教授和语言学家破解了文字密码。1822年，他发表了一篇论文，给出了罗塞塔石碑的译文，并提供了一本早期的埃及象形文字的字典。根据这篇译文，这块石柱上写的是埃及国王托勒密五世在公元前196年颁布的一道法令。

由于能够从这块石头上解读古埃及语言，考古学家们就找到了深入了解古埃及历史和文化的一个途径。他们终于可以解读在墙壁、碑柱和墓穴中发现的大量铭文，从而解读他们挖掘出来的文物的意思。在出土两百年后的今天，罗塞塔石碑仍被视为现代埃及学发端的关键。

罗塞塔石碑已经成为一个里程碑，铭刻着跨时空语言沟通的价值。它是如此重要，以至于“罗塞塔”这个名字已经成为一切突破性发现的代名词。

今天，我们仍然可以在大英博物馆看到罗塞塔石碑，它是馆内最多人观看的藏品。

趣闻轶事

在第一次世界大战期间，罗塞塔石碑及其他重要展品曾被转移到一个地铁站里，以免在伦敦受到轰炸时受损。

罗塞塔石碑上的碑文记述了年仅13岁的希腊裔法老托勒密五世的善行，为的是使埃及人信服其至高无上的地位。

古埃及人认为死后的肉身应当妥善保存，因此他们对君王的尸体进行细致的防腐处理，这个过程称为“木乃伊化”（mummification）。在19世纪之前，欧洲的江湖医生常常将木乃伊研磨成粉并出售其粉末，称其具有药用价值。