De l’oubli à la redécouverte des hiéroglyphes égyptiens : L’aventure du déchiffrement des hiéroglyphes

Most of the time, the adventure of the hieroglyphs deciphering is presented either as a battle between two protagonists, Young and Champollion, or as the quest of an isolated genius, all alone in the face of hieroglyphs and the detractors. Studies in recent years, carried out using different archival funds, show that the reality is very different. The study results of the Champollion brothers archives that the author has carried out since 2010, compared with those of my colleagues, allow us today to have a very precise idea of the progress of the research carried out by Jean-François Champollion and the context in which the decipherment of 1822 was made. Jean-François Champollion, guided by his older brother, was continually in contact with the scientists of his time. The research of his predecessors laid the first stones of the building and the emulations of his time probably encouraged the decipherer to surpass himself in unlocking the secret of the hieroglyphs.