The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-02-12

alton used in the hieroglypht. Sill
ne got little beyond the indentjfcs,
tion OF the names "Ptolemy."
"Oleopatra. "Berenice," and in hi.
Work en- Egyptain antiquities, pub.
ilsnea IN London in 1928, he stated
bis deliberate opinion "thst the
ancient Egyptians did not make uss
OF an alphabet TO represent the
sounds and articulation OF certain
words" 'u
But on the 18th OF September, 1899
Champoilion le Jeune, the most
extraordinary genius OF the age
man who could comprehend, az WITH
the glance of intuition, what other
subsequently arrived at by long and
arduous study read to the Rove
Academy of Bellies Lettres at Paris a
Memoir on Phonetic Hieroelypb-
ice" wherein he demonstrated that
the ancient Egyptians had made u,e
OF characters representing material
objects to stand for the sounds of the
names of Greek and Roman sovere
eigns inscribed on the monuments nf
Dendera, Thebes. Esne, Edfoo
Ombor and Phile. He had. M
doubt, entertained the hope that the
principals would apply to the most
ancient hierogly phics, for az far back
as 1914 be had expressed the hone
that "there would be at least reds.
covered those tabl:s upon which
Egypt had painted material objects
the sounds of language and the ex.
preston of thought" This hope he
lived to realize. From this hour
September. the II 1922. "the annals
of Egypt. her time honored chroni.
cles, her pspyrie, crumbliHg in the
dust of ages. ceased to be mysteries.
The vail OF Isis, ''the vail Dy dark
oblivion spread" which for 1000
years had baff1sd the attempts o,
Greeks and Romans, and the still
more vigorous efiorts of the modern
Egyptologists, was lifted by Cham.
polllon le Jeune, and the glories Of
the epochs of the old Pharsohs the
deeds of the noblest, most Learned.
plous, WsrlIke and civilized race Of
ancient days, whose monarchy e..
ceeded by 1000 years the duration
of any modern nations; whose works
surpsss In magnitude, boldness Of
conception, accuracy OF execution
and splendor OF achievement the
mighhest labors of any other people.
and whose lordly dominion over the
nations of the earth, at one period.
perhaps. equaled the extent of the
Russian Empire at the present day.
have, through the lsDers of Cham.
pollion and his disciples, become as
accessible to us as the stories OF
Greece and Rome.
As illustrative Of the acumen OF
Chsmpollion, l mention the follow
ing fact: In one of the plates of the
great French work on Egypt there
was hieIo.lyph from Ksruak which
Champollion oeciphered as contain.
ing the name "5heshouk, beloved of
Anon" He suspected that this
Sheshouk was Identical with the Shis-
bar mentioned in II. Chron., xii, /.
But four years elapsed before be
could visit the temple itself at Ksr-
max, so as to verify his snpposition By
reading the rest of the inscription
which had not been copied in the
French plate. On bis passage to
Nubia be landed for an hour or two,
near the sunset at Karnak, to catch
hasty view OF the vast balls OF the
temple, and heRat once pointed out
in the third line of the row of sixty
three prisoners presented by Shes
houk, to his god Anon, a hierogly.
PHO oval with the likeness of q man,
beneath which we're the words, Judah
Melek KGh !. e., Country OF Judah
King" The coincidence which
Ohsmpollion saw at a glance between
this inscription and the Scripture &C
count of the spelling of Judes by
Shishak, King of Egypt, in the reign
Of Rehoboam, had escaped the notice
of all the other Egyptologists, not
withstanding his previous suggestion.
For four years they had been copy.
ing and publishing Sheshouk's
sixty-three captives, and it never
or ce occurred to them that any refer
ence was made to the s. 8. Reno
boam. Nor did they see the signi6-
canoe of the hieroglyph, Rah, which
means Country" For the chreni-
Giles Il Ohron. XIII distinctly say
that they did not carry Rehobosm
but that he took the ''ienced
cities" and despoiled the temple
Of its treasures. and subdued the
country.
What is striking in this inscrip
lion is that Melek Judah is Heb
rev name, proving thst the writer
was calling the conquered country By
me name it called Itself. But the
perfect demonstration that the
inscription has reference to the Shis-
1ak OF the Bible is the fact that on
he same shields in the same scene
occur the names Bethhoron, Neg
DIDO, Mahsnaim, which we're among
he "fenced cities" taken by Shishak
p bis INVASION of Judah, according
% the Scriptures.
This is one among many testi.
monies of Egyptian records to the
accuracy of the 9. 8. Chronicles.
The stupendous results of Cham.
)OlliOD s IebOrs in deciDberinp the