Champollion vs Young: who truly cracked the hieroglyphs?

CHAMPOLLION vs THOMAS YOUNG go head to head — and every jab is rooted in real history.

CHAMPOLLION

I did not merely count symbols, Doctor—I read them, because I learned Coptic and let ancient Egypt speak in its own living tongue.

THOMAS YOUNG

Yet I proved the cartouches were royal names spelled with sound, and I handed you the door before you claimed the whole house.

CHAMPOLLION

You unlocked a name, sir; I unlocked a grammar—the script is not a code of pictures but a language written in fire.

THOMAS YOUNG

Say what you will, Monsieur—I found the crack, and you, gifted man, simply had the patience to walk through it.

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