Trinity Term Lecture: The End of a Script and the Beginning of Myth: Hieroglyphs and the Greeks
The Egyptian language coexisted with Greek from the time of the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great (332 BC). This cohabitation had a decisive impact on the use of Egyptian scripts (hieroglyphs and their cursive versions, hieratic and demotic) and led to their disappearance and replacement by Coptic, whose writing is almost purely Greek. At the same time as these scripts were declining, the Greeks developed conceptions about them which influenced the vision that modern Europe came to have of hieroglyphs until Champollion refuted it decisively. This lecture will outline the development of this myth.

Registration is required for both in person and online attendance.
Zoom links will be sent by email by 10:00 (UK time) on the day of the talk.
Date: 10 May 2023, 17:15 (Wednesday, 3rd week, Trinity 2023)
Venue: The Queen's College, High Street OX1 4AW
Venue Details: Memorial Room
Speakers: Jean-Luc Fournet (Collège de France, Paris), Chair: Amin Benaissa (Christ Church, Oxford)
Organising department: The Queen's College
Part of: Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures at The Queen’s College
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvbDOcuCgfj0Oo7kPJ4SpxFULVo3rPIzVspX9JDJj_AO1P0A/viewform
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Belinda Clark