Cracking The Egyptian Code

An updated edition of this acclaimed book, now with a new preface and published to tie in with the bicentenary of Champollion"'s breakthrough in 1822. Cracking the Egyptian Code is the first biography in English of Jean-Francois Champollion, the impoverished, arrogant and brilliant child of the French Revolution who made the vital breakthrough in deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphs. This account charts Champollion"'s dramatic life and achievements: by turns a teenage professor, a supporter of Napoleon, an exile, a fanatical decipherer and a curator at the Louvre, he lived life to the full but drove himself into an early grave. Andrew Robinson"'s full-blooded account brings the man, his setbacks and his ultimate triumphs vividly to life.