Champollion the Egyptian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This book about Jean-Fran­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­çois Champollion (1790-1832) is a novel, based on a true story. It is written by the French Egyptologist Christian Jacq, who has written several historical novels, including the five-volume work about Ramses II, the Ramses Series. 

 

This book does not focus on Champollion’s great discovery in 1822. It covers his expedition to Egypt (1828-1829). We follow him from France to Egypt. In Egypt we follow him from Alexandria to Cairo and further south to Luxor, to Abu Simbel and beyond.

This is an interesting account, but there are some flaws. Let me explain:

Most of the book is written in the first person, as a personal memoir written by Champollion himself. But some sections are written in the third person. This is, in my opinion, an unfortunate decision. If you want to write a book as a personal memoir, you should be consistent and follow this line from the beginning to the end.

What about illustrations? There are two maps. The first map (on page 149) shows Luxor on the east bank and the Valley of the Kings on the west bank. The second map (on page 208) shows the river Nile from Aswan to Wadi Halfa. There is no map of Alexandria, and there is no map of Cairo, Giza and Sakkara. Why not?

One thing is strange: people around Champollion are dying like flies, but he himself is never harmed – even when someone tries to kill him, he escapes every time.

An episode described in chapter 9 seems very strange: the members of the expedition are camped near the great pyramids and the sphinx on the Giza plateau. An Italian explorer Caviglia invites Champollion to a secret meeting in Sakkara, further south. Champollion goes alone to the meeting. In Sakkara they enter the step pyramid, and Champollion is blindfolded. He is led outside and taken somewhere. When the blindfold is removed, he finds himself in front of the sphinx, so he is back where he started. 

 

My question is this: why does Caviglia ask Champollion to go all the way from Giza to Sakkara, if he wants to bring him back to Giza again? Why is Champollion blindfolded all the way from Sakkara to Giza? As soon as the blindfold is removed, he knows where he is. What is the point? This episode does not seem very credible.

This book is an English translation of the French original (which I have not seen). The translator is Geraldine Le Hoy. Unfortunately, there are several mistakes in the English translation, often small and silly mistakes:

* On page 91: “Just I was beginning to run out of air...” The text should read: Just as I was beginning to run out of air…

* On page 224: “… the man whose others could no longer be heard.” Not others, but orders, or maybe words.

* On page 242: “Then L’Hote let our such a loud cry…” Not our, but out.

* On page 245: “Why should we spoilt it by lying to each other?” Not spoilt, but spoil.

* On page 250: “… letters form Paris…” Not form, but from.

In addition, there are some factual mistakes in the text:

(1) On page 201 the members of the expedition are in Aswan. During a visit to the temple of Philae one of them notes an inscription written by some of the soldiers who came to Egypt with Napoleon. According to the book, the inscription begins like this:

“In the Vth year of the French Republic, on 13 Messidor, a French army led by Bonaparte came to Alexandria…”

 

The republican calendar used here was introduced in 1792. So the fifth year is 1797. But Napoleon did not come to Egypt until 1798. In other words: it is not the Vth year, but the VIth year.

For the record: I saw this inscription during a visit to Egypt in 2010, and I can confirm that the first figure is not five but six. In French it reads: “L’an VI …”

(2) On page 294 Champollion is asked if he knows Egypt well, and he replies:

 

“As well as a few months here and a forty year passion enable me to know it.”

At the time (1829) he was not yet 40 years old. He could not have a forty year passion for anything. If we assume his passion for Egypt began at the age of nine (1799), he could talk about a thirty year passion.

The fact that I can find so many mistakes in the text shows that the translator and the publisher of this book are rather careless.

I have to mention one more thing which bothers me: On page 297 when Champollion mentions the temperature in Egypt, he uses the Fahrenheit scale, which is only used in the United States. Why not use the Celsius scale, which is used all over the world?

When we read this book, we get to know Champollion quite well. He is, in many ways, a sympathetic person. He cares for the monuments of ancient Egypt, and he has a strong sense of justice. But not everything about him is positive:

 

He is not only a scholar, he is also a collector. He and the members of his expedition collected many small items which they took with them to Europe.

 

He even convinced the Pascha of Egypt to donate one of the two obelisks which were standing in front of the Luxor temple to France. And during a visit to the tomb of Sethi I in the Valley of the Kings he personally removed a part of the wall decoration. Today this would be considered an act of vandalism.

Champollion the Egyptian is an interesting book. Read it before, during or after a visit to Egypt in order to get a different perspective and to learn how much conditions in Egypt have changed since Champollion was there.

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Christian Jacq,

Champollion the Egyptian,

translated by Geraldine Le Roy,

French original 1987, English translation 2003, 322 pages

 

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