Deciphering the decipherers: Young Versus Champollion

In September 1822, in Paris, Egyptologist Jean-François Champollion made his initial announcement of the decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphs. In the audience was physician, physicist, and linguist Thomas Young, visiting Paris from London, who had published a partial decipherment of the hieroglyphs in the Encyclopaedia Britannica three years prior to Champollion, in 1819. It was the first personal meeting between the two scholars, having only corresponded since their relationship began in 1814. The disparate personalities of the two scholars are reflected in these contrasting, posthumously created portraits. Champollion is shown ‘in Egyptian Costume’ (above) on his expedition to