EGYPTIAN MUSEUM OF SAN JOSE

MY FAMILY TRAVELED TO THE BEST MUSEUM FOR EGYPTIAN PREHISTORY ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO. THE GUIDE WAS A COMEDIAN OF SORTS. THIS MUSEUM HAS OVER 4000 ARTIFACTS FROM EGYPT AS WELL AS A MUMMY. THEY ALSO MADE BRONZE AND WOODEN SCULPTURES OF CATS. CATS WERE FIRST DOMESTICATED IN EGYPT OVER 6000 YEARS AGO. EGYPTIANS CONSIDERED THEIR CATS TO BE PROTECTORS OF THEIR HOMES. ALL OF OUR CATS ARE DESCENDED FROM EGYPTIAN CATS. SOME CATS EVEN WORE JEWELRY. MOST EGYPTIANS DID NOT HAVE NAMES. THEY MUMMIFIED THEIR . SOME OF THE PRINCES HAD THEIR CATS MUMMIFIED AND BURIED IN A STONE COFFIN. THIS IS THE ONLY EGYPTIAN MUSEUM IN THE WORLD THAT HOUSES AUTHENTIC EGYPTIAN ARTIFACTS.

CATS ARE TREATED BETTER HERE THAN IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY. THE EGYPTIANS HAVE SO MANY GODS THAT THEY BELIEVE IN. THE NILE HAS SUPPORTED LUSH GREEN VEGETATION AND HAS SUPPORTED LIFE IN A REGION OF SCANT RAINFALL FOR OVER 5000 YEARS. (SIMILAR TO THE GILA RIVER IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA).

THERE WERE SO MANY KINGDOMS AND DYNASTIES WHO LIVED AND VANISHED HERE. VERY FEW PEOPLE COULD READ OR WRITE . THE PEOPLE WHO COULD WERE CALLED SCRIBES. SCRIBES LEARNED THE SKILL OF WRITING IN THE SCHOOLS OF EGYPT OR HOUSES OF LIFE. ONLY BOYS ATTENDED THESE SCHOOLS, HOWEVER SEVERAL WOMEN WERE SCRIBES. IT WAS A DIFFICULT SCHOOL AS THEY HAD TO LEARN 500 DIFFERENT SIGNS.

THEIR FIRST LEARNINGS WERE HIEROGLYPHICS AND WERE MORE LIKE SYMBOLS. THEY MADE PAPYRUS AND THEIR SCRIBES USED HIEROGLYPHS IN THEIR TEMPLES AND PALACES FOR SACRED AND ROYAL WORK. THEY WROTE ON THE WALLS AND STONES.. AFTER 332B.S. THE EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE WAS WRITTEN WITH GREEK LETTERS. BY 1600 YEARS AGO ALL PEOPLE COULD DO WAS TO MAKE UP STORIES BASED UPON THE ANIMALS THE HIEROGLYPHS REPRESENTED. EGYPT BECAME A MYSTERY.

THE ROSETTA WAS A NAME OF THE VILLAGE OF THE ANCIENTS. A STONE WAS DISCOVERED THERE THAT ALLOWED RESEARCHERS TO UNDERSTAND ANCIENT EGYPTIAN WRITING. IN 1798 A SOLDIER FOUND PART OF THE STONE BY AN ACCIDENT. THIS ROCK BECAME KNOWN AS THE ROSETTA STONE. IT WAS ERECTED IN 196 BC TO COMMEMORATE THE 9TH YEAR OF PTOLOMY'S REIGN. IT LISTED THE BENEFITS THAT PTOLEMY BROUGHT TO HIS PEOPLE.

THE STONE BECAME FAMOUS BECAUSE IT HELPED TO DECIPHER THE EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE. IT BECAME FAMOUS BECAUSE IT HELPED TO DECIPHER THE EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE THAT HAD LONG BEEN OUT OF USE. THE ROSETTA STONE HAD AN INSCRIPTION WRITTEN IN HIEROGLYPHS, DEMONIC (NATIVE SCRIPT), AND IN GREEK. PEOPLE COULD READ GREEK. THEY HAD A KIND OF CONTEST TO SEE WHO COULD DECIPHER THE EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE FIRST. A 17 YEAR OLD BOY, JEAN CHAMPELLION, WON THE CONTEST! AT 32 YEARS OF AGE HE FINALLY UNDERSTOOD THE ANCIENT HIEROGLYPHS. HE REVEALED THE HIEROGLYPHS WERE THE WRITTEN FORM OF THE COPTIC LANGUAGE. HIS WORK WAS AN OPENING FOR THE OTHER EGYPTOLOGISTS TO BEGIN DECIPHERING ANY EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE.

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