3100BC
![EGYPT-TOURISM-FEATURE Representative pictograms? © Getty Images](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/41/2020/07/GettyImages-490408434-0d2c013.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
The ancient Egyptians invent hieroglyphic writing and use it for more than three millennia: the last inscription known is dated AD 394.
Knowledge of how to read the hieroglyphic language was then completely lost until 1822.
Read more about hieroglyphs:
- How we deciphered Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs
- What is the Rosetta Stone?
- Who deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs?
1799
![The Rosetta Stone is Displayed at The British Museum The Rosetta Stone in close up © Getty Images](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/41/2020/07/GettyImages-1071176620-084a189.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
The Rosetta Stone is discovered in Egypt at Rosetta (modern Rashid) by soldiers from Napoleon Bonaparte’s army.
Dating from 196 BC, it carries three inscriptions: two in Egyptian scripts and one in Greek.
1819
![Thomas_Young_by_Briggs Thomas Young © Public domain](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/41/2020/06/Thomas_Young_by_Briggs-cbb4ebd.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
Thomas Young publishes a long article, ‘Egypt’, as a supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
In it, he proposes a hieroglyphic ‘alphabet’ and reads many hieroglyphic names and words, some correctly.
1822
![Jean-François Champollion, by Léon Cogniet Jean-François Champollion © Wikimedia Commons](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/41/2020/07/Jean-Franc%25CC%25A7ois_Champollion-8adde95.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
Jean-François Champollion, at a celebrated lecture in Paris, shows how to read dozens of hieroglyphic names from the Greco-Roman period of Egypt, such as Caesar, Cleopatra and Ptolemy.
1824
![Rosetta Stone Stones on tour... Tourists inspecting the Rosetta Stone detail at the British Museum © Getty Images](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/41/2020/07/GettyImages-3431852-189ac9c.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
Champollion’s Précis Du Système Hiéroglyphique Des Anciens Égyptiens extends his system back to the early pharaohs. Though brilliant, parts are erroneous, leading to bitter controversy.
- This article first appeared in issue 257 of BBC Science Focus–find out how to subscribe here