Arab scholars interpreted hieroglyphics 1,000 years earlier than thought

[Ahimsa]

Western scholars were not the first to decipher the ancient language of the pharaohs, according to a book that was published by a University College London researcher.

Dr Okasha El Daly of UCL’s Institute of Archaeology revealed that Arabic scholars not only took a keen interest in ancient Egypt but also correctly interpreted hieroglyphics in the ninth century AD Ð almost 1,000 years earlier than previously thought.

It has long been thought that Jean-Francois Champollion was the first person to crack hieroglyphics in 1822 using newly discovered Egyptian antiquities such as the Rosetta stone. But fresh analysis of manuscripts tucked away in long forgotten collections scattered across the globe prove that Arabic scholars got there first.