The topic

Two hundred years ago, 31-year-old linguistic whiz Jean-François Champollion announced his initial attempts at cracking the hieroglyphic code—he was at last able to decipher texts of the ancient Egyptians and unlock the secrets that they had guarded for so long.

He and other scholars had been laboring to solve this puzzle since the first European explorers visited Egypt and found soaring monuments covered in intriguing signs that surely had something important to say—but what?

Now the modern world could begin to read the long-lost names of pharaohs, the tales of courtiers and commoners, and the texts that the ancient Egyptians hoped would guide them safely to the next world after death.

This talk will explore the life, and the ground-breaking scholarship, of Champollion, showcasing some of the almost 350 manuscripts, prints, photographs, papyri, coins, and sculptures currently on exhibit at the National Library of France to mark the bicentennial.

Note: Registration will close an hour before the start of the event.

The speaker

Dr. Hélène Virenque is head of the classics collections at the National Library of France.

She specializes in ancient Egypt’s Late Period, the history of Egyptology, the accounts and exploits of 19^th-century travelers, and the perception of antiquity in popular culture.