Why was the Rosetta Stone so important? - Franziska Naether

Translator: Diego Rodríguez Vila Reviewer: Mario Cal

Subtítulos: Diego Rodríguez Vila

For centuries, scholars puzzled over the hieroglyphs

Durante séculos, a academia abraiou cos xeróglifos

they found carved onto ancient Egyptian ruins, tablets, and papyri.

que atopaban tallados en ruínas, tabletas e papiros do antigo Exipto,

But a unique discovery would finally help unlock their meaning.

pero un achado singular revelou á fin o seu significado.

In 1799, as the French military invaded Egypt,

En 1799, na invasión da milicia francesa en Exipto,

an officer encountered a curious stone on the outskirts of Rashid, or Rosetta.

un oficial atopou unha pedra estraña ás aforas de Rashid, ou Rosetta.

It was inscribed with three different portions of text:

A pedra tiña inscricións de tres textos diferentes:

Egyptian hieroglyphs, which is the oldest Egyptian script,

xeróglifos exipcios, a escrita máis vella da lingua exipcia,

dating back some 5,000 years;

de hai máis de 5000 anos;

Demotic Egyptian, which is a later derivative of Egyptian;

demótico exipcio, que é unha evolución do exipcio;

and Ancient Greek.

e grego antigo.

It seemed that each section was a rough translation of the others,

Semellaba que cada sección era unha tradución aproximada das outras,

meaning the stone presented an unprecedented key

polo que a pedra ofrecía unha peza clave

to unlocking hieroglyphs.

para descifrar os xeróglifos.

English troops soon intercepted the stone

As tropas inglesas axiña interceptaron a pedra

and brought it to the British Museum in 1802,

e a levaron ao Museo Británico en 1802,

where it became one of the most popular displays.

onde se tornou nunha das pezas máis populares.

Various European scholars—

Varios estudosos europeos,

including Johan Åkerblad, Thomas Young, and Jean-François Champollion—

como Johan Åkerblad, Thomas Young, e Jean-François Champollion,

worked to decode the Egyptian scripts.

traballaron na descodificación destes escritos.

There were some crucial initial clues.

Contaban con algunhas pistas iniciais.

The Greek section included the names of royal figures,

A sección grega incluía nomes de figuras da realeza

while certain areas in the Demotic section had bracket-like forms

e algunhas áreas da sección en demótico tiñan forma de corchetes

and some hieroglyphic sections were encircled.

e algúns xeroglíficos estaban rodeados cun círculo.

Could these portions encode the same royal names?

Corresponderían estas partes aos mesmos nomes reais?

Åkerblad matched some characters up and, in 1802,

Åkerblad emparellou algúns dos caracteres e, en 1802,

successfully decoded the royal names and some simple words,

conseguiu descodificar os nomes reais e algunhas palabras simples,

like “much” and “temples” in the Demotic script.

como ”moito” e “templos” na escrita demótica.

This led Åkerblad to believe that all Demotic signs were alphabetic,

Isto levou a Åkerblad a pensar que os signos demóticos eran alfabéticos,

meaning each letter represented a discrete sound—

é dicir, con letras que representan sons concretos,

much like in English.

como en inglés ou galego.

Thomas Young, in contrast, suspected that some of the Demotic signs were logograms—

Thomas Young, porén, sospeitaba que algúns deses signos eran logogramas,

that is, symbols encoding entire words or phrases.

isto é, símbolos que denotan palabras ou frases enteiras.

For example, he believed a sun disk with a stroke indicated the sun or sun god.

Así, cría que un disco solar cun trazo simbolizaba o sol ou unha deidade solar.

Around 1814, he deciphered some recurring Demotic words like “pharaoh” and “Egypt.”

Arredor de 1814, descifrou palabras usuais en demótico, como “faraón” ou “Exipto”.

Young also had the critical insight

Young tamén intuía criticamente

that Demotic was a later iteration of hieroglyphs.

que o demótico proviña dos xeróglifos.

And, studying the hieroglyphic text,

Logo, estudando o texto xeroglífico,

Young successfully decoded the royal name “Ptolemy.”

Young revelou con éxito o nome do rei “Tolomeo”.

But he still believed the prevailing misconception

Mais aínda persistía na idea equivocaba

that most hieroglyphs were logograms representing ideas— not sounds.

de que os xeróglifos eran logogramas que representaban ideas, non sons.

Using his knowledge of other scripts and languages,

Cos seus coñecementos doutras linguas e escritas,

like the Egyptian Coptic he’d learned from a Coptic Christian priest,

como o copto exipcio que lle aprendera un crego cristián copto,

Champollion realized that most encircled hieroglyphs were phonetic.

Champollion decatouse de que moitos xeróglifos rodeados eran fonéticos.

They represented sounds: the Egyptian vulture, an “a”;

Representaban sons: o voitre, unha “a”;

the three fox skins, “m-s”, and so on.

tres peles de raposo, “m-s” etcétera.

This finally allowed him to read the Egyptian names “Ramses” and “Thutmose.”

Isto permitiulle ler os nomes exipcios de “Ramsés” e “Thutmose”.

Cross-referencing other hieroglyphic texts,

Cotexando con outros textos xeroglíficos,

Champollion confirmed that many hieroglyphs

Champollion constatou que moitos xeróglifos

beyond the encircled names were phonetic.

alén dos nomes rodeados eran fonéticos.

And on September 14th, 1822,

O 14 de setembro de 1822

he ran to his brother’s house and declared the breakthrough.

correu onda seu irmán para anunciarlle o descubrimento.

Later, Champollion determined that beyond alphabetic and logographic hieroglyphs,

Despois, Champollion inferiu que, alén de xeróglifos alfabéticos e logográficos,

some were classifiers that sorted words into categories,

algúns eran clasificadores que organizaban as palabras en categorías,

like occupations, plants, and abstract concepts.

como oficios, plantas e conceptos abstractos.

The first complete translation of the Rosetta Stone

A primeira tradución completa da pedra de Rosetta

was finally published in the early 1850s.

publicouse finalmente a comezos da década de 1850.

So, what did it actually say?

E entón, de que trataba?

The inscription was marked 196 BCE.

A inscrición tallouse no ano 196 AEC,

It honored the first anniversary

co gallo do primeiro aniversario

of 13-year-old Pharaoh Ptolemy V’s coronation

da coroación do faraón Tolomeo V, de 13 anos,

and outlined a series of benefits for the Egyptian priesthood.

e bosquexaba unha serie de beneficios para o sacerdocio exipcio.

The inscriptions described laws for maintaining temples

As inscricións referían leis para o mantemento dos templos

and performing rituals,

e a celebración de ritos,

like the burial of sacred animals.

como o soterramento de animais sagrados.

At the time, Egypt was a multicultural society.

Naquel tempo, Exipto era unha sociedade multicultural

Two main languages were spoken:

con dúas linguas principais:

Ancient Greek, brought by Egypt’s conquerors,

o grego antigo, traído polos conquistadores,

and Demotic Egyptian, the native language.

e o demótico exipcio, a lingua nativa.

Hieroglyphs represented Middle Egyptian,

Os xeróglifos representaban o exipcio medio,

a language that was already antiquated but may have been included

un idioma anacrónico mais que se puido incluír

to convey a sense of authority.

para conferir autoridade.

The decree was copied onto many stones and erected in temples.

O decreto copiouse en moitas pedras e erixiuse en templos.

However, as regimes shifted,

Con todo, co pasar de réximes,

edifices were deconstructed and reconstructed.

as edificacións demoléronse e reconstruíronse.

Some scholars think the Rosetta Stone was originally placed in a temple in Sais.

Hai quen cre que a pedra de Rosetta se achaba inicialmente nun templo en Sais.

It’s unclear how it ended up 80 kilometers away,

Descoñécese como acabou a 80 quilómetros de alí,

but it may have been transported up the Nile after the late 15th century.

mais puido ser transportada polo Nilo cara a finais do século XV.

Once deciphered, hieroglyphs helped overturn misconceptions.

Após seren descifrados, os xeróglifos axudaron a resolver confusións.

Subterranean chambers within Egyptian pyramids

Críase que as cámaras subterráneas das pirámides

were once thought to be secret sites of priestly initiation and study.

eran lugares secretos de estudo e de iniciación sacerdotal,

But it was finally confirmed that pyramids were tombs

pero despois confirmouse que as pirámides eran tumbas

housing sacred preparations for the afterlife.

que albergaban os preparativos da vida no alén.

Soon, entire texts could be translated that showcased

Axiña se puideron traducir textos enteiros que amosaban

the complexity of ancient Egyptian religious compositions.

a complexidade das composicións sacras do antigo Exipto.

Experts are still decoding new hieroglyphs as they arise

Os expertos seguen a bater con novos xeróglifos

and untangling instances of tricky grammar and wordplay.

e a desenmarañar problemas de gramática e de xogos de palabras.

The Rosetta Stone helped illuminate one of the world’s oldest written languages

A pedra de Rosetta axudou a esclarecer unha das escritas máis vellas do mundo

and the vibrant history it emerged from.

e a brillante historia da que xurdiu.

And yet, the pillaged artifact remains far from its provenance today.

E malia todo, o artefacto roubado fica aínda lonxe do seu lugar de orixe.