Champollion, Jean François

Champollion, Jean François

(zhäN fräNswä` shäNpôlyôN`), 1790–1832, French linguist and Egyptologist. He is considered the founder of the science of Egyptology. His first important accomplishment was his two-volume work on the geography of ancient Egypt, which appeared when he was 24. In 1821 by use of the Rosetta Stone (see under RosettaRosetta
, former name of Rashid
, city (1986 pop. 51,789), N Egypt, in the Nile River delta. The city once dominated the region's rice market; rice milling and fish processing are the main industries of modern Rashid. Founded in the 9th cent.
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) he established the principles for deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphics. Champollion became director of the Egyptian museum at the Louvre and professor of Egyptian Antiquities at the Collège de France. He is sometimes called Champollion le Jeune to distinguish him from his elder brother, Jean Jacques, who gave him his early training.

Bibliography

See biography by A. Robinson (2012).

Jean Jacques Champollion-Figeac (–fēzhäk`), 1778–1867, was an archaeologist and paleographer, a professor of Greek at Grenoble, and a curator of manuscripts at the Bibliothèque nationale. He also served as a professor of paleography at the École des Chartes and librarian at the Palace of Fontainebleau.