Cracking codes : the Rosetta stone and decipherment
R. B. Parkinson (Author), Whitfield Diffie (Contributor), M. Fischer (Contributor), R. S. Simpson (Contributor)
"The Rosetta Stone has become an instantly recognizable icon of script and decipherment and is one of the most famous Egyptian antiquities in the world. Discovered by Napoleon's troops at the village of Rosetta in the western Delta in 1799, the granitoid slab is a fragment of a stela inscribed with a priestly decree in honour of Ptolemy V. The main significance of the text lies not in its content, however, but in the fact that it is written in three scripts: hieroglyphic, demotic and ancient Greek." "Richard Parkinson here tells the story of the Stone's discovery and the so-called battle of the decipherers which it inspired."--BOOK JACKET
Print Book, English, 1999
University of California Press, Berkeley, 1999