REVIEWS
R IC H A R D P A R K IN SO N , Cracking Codes: The Rosetta Stone and
Decipherment (Berkeley: U niversity o f C alifornia P ress, 1999) 224, 32
colour and 200 b/w illustrations; hardback: ISBN 0520 223063, $US
50.00; paper: ISBN 0520 222482, $U S 27.70.
T he author o f this interesting study is a highly respected E gyptologist
known for his work upon A ncient E gyptian literature. H ence, he is ideally
qualified to discuss questions o f deciphering codes and scripts, with
em phasis upon the key to E gyptian hieroglyphs, the fam ous decree of
Ptolem y V now called the R osetta Stone. T his book was w ritten for the
British M useum ’s bicentennial celebration o f the discovery o f that
inscription in 1799.
T he first chapter— certainly the easiest for the educated layperson— is
the foundation o f the book.
There, Parkinson chronicles the myriad
attem pts by scholars over decades (even centuries) to solve the enigm a of
Egyptian w riting. O ut o f this lengthy story com es an appreciation for
C ham pollion’s breakthrough. T his review er found much new inform ation.
For exam ple, the question o f w hat stone was em ployed for the stela is now
resolved (23): not basalt but a quartziferous rock containing other minerals.
T he general reader will be intrigued at the recent cleaning o f the
object. V arious before-and-after photographs highlight its renewed beauty
follow ing the rem oval o f modern accretions. In figure 3 the entire object
is presented, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the curators left a
small area in the bottom left corner unconserved ‘to show the darkened wax
and w hite infill’.
All readers will enjoy the author’s historical survey o f the
developm ent o f C ham pollion’s thought. Parkinson reveals a secret: the
dedication to the ‘Lettre a M. D acier’. C ham pollion w rote in hieroglyphs
‘a mon ami (D ubois)’, with the nam e o f his friend enclosed in a cartouche.
W ho am ong the coterie o f specialists has ever seen this? N or had I
recognized C ham pollion’s ow n nam e printed in D em otic at the bottom of
his fam ous ‘Tableau des Signes Phonetiques’.
Parkinson neatly sum m arizes the textual traditions o f P tolem aic royal
decrees. T he R osetta decree w as published in a tem ple located, it is
thought, in Sais. M oreover, Parkinson believes, correctly I feel, that the
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R osetta Stone was installed adjacent to the outside wall rather than next to
the tem p le’s statue o f Ptolem y V.
The second chapter explains how we read ancient Egyptian. As such,
it is the m ost com plicated one and quite demanding for the casual reader.
Ju n g e’s convoluted description o f the evolution o f ancient E g y p t’s written
language may not have been essential material for this audience. F or the
E gyptologist, how ever, the author’s analysis is as edifying as it is
com plete.
Parkinson has accessed the im m ense collection in the British M useum
to add a pictorial dim ension to his w ork, and as a result the som ew hat
com plex nature o f his description is partly alleviated. T hroughout this
volum e the beautifully photographed plates and illustrations are
remarkable. M ost are new, w hile others are unusual or have rarely or
never been show n before. For exam ple, E gyptologists will find it useful
to have a medium sized photograph o f the Late M iddle K ingdom stela of
Intef (figure 25). The w ooden ear (!) in figure 32 may be a curiosity; but
for m e the hitherto unpublished ‘graffiti’ from a tem ple at D eir el-Bahri
(page 92), the ostracon EA 50716 with ‘funny sig n s’ (page 96), the
im portant fragm ent o f the stela o f H oriraa (page 99), not to m ention many
others, were all m ost welcom e.
W e are also lucky to have a brief
com m entary plus photograph o f the now fam ous P. Baldwin (EA 10061),
which was first recognized as the bottom half o f P. A m iens by Prof. J. J.
Janssen (page 165). Finally, a series o f color plates including a very nice
reproduction o f part o f P. Sallier II and O stracon EA 5629 (containing the
Story o f Sinuhe) round off this portion o f the work.
Each o f the
illustrations m erit careful exam ination.
M any specific traits o f Egyptian w riting are given expert analysis; for
instance, the question o f m utilated hieroglyphs and the so-called practice of
damnatio memoriae (140-2). In a valuable section on the actual practice of
w riting one will find palettes, paintings, plaques, pigm ents, as well as
bricks, boards, and the full range o f scribal accoutrem ents set in word and
picture.
Cracking Codes is an up-to-date com pendium for the scholar and a
basic introduction for the novice E gyptologist. It perform s its intended
task o f educating the public w ithout condescension. T he com parisons
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with other scripts do not divert the reader’s attention but instead illustrate
Parkinson’s them e o f the arduous task o f decipherment. Perhaps the short
section on ‘D ecipherm ent versus C ryptanalysis’ (by W. D iffie and M .
Fischer) might have been excised as tangential.
I w holeheartedly recom m end this book and hope that it is read not ju st
by professional E gyptologists or students o f ancient languages.
A nthony Spalinger
University o f A uckland
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