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By William Van Zyl (April 2022).
- Listen to the podcast while reading this article (Podbean- ‘The Extravagant Podcast’: https://williamvzyl.podbean.com/e/champollion-sjfc-sdeath-%e2%80%93french-decipherer-oftherosetta-stone-%e2%80%93underlines-oneof-the-age-oldkillerssexmoneypower-and-fame-whichone-c/
In 1822 – in a moment of joy and ecstasy – JFC ran breathlessly into his brother’s office and shouted: “Je tiens l’affaire!”, “I found it!” he dropped to the floor and collapsed.
He was unconscious for three days.
JFC was entirely unconscious during those couple of days. It took him some time to return to his senses. For years he’d been feverishly researching and investigating the hieroglyphs of Egypt. Jeanne-Francoise Champollion (1790–1832) spent over a decade – almost two decades – deciphering and understanding the meaning behind the Hieroglyphs. The Frenchman had prints from the Rosetta Stone, while the English had the real thing (The British Museum, n.d).
In the early 1800s, there was a race between the English and the French to break the code. Champollion was determined to win. As a lecturer at a French University – a great linguist – and master of several languages, he was motivated to decode the ancient writings of the Egyptians.
You are probably thinking: ‘Where is the writer going with this?’ Allow me to convey the crux of the matter.
I am considering the question: Did the obsession to be famous, to be the first person to decipher the hieroglyphs, and consequently be in the history books of the world as the famous person who solved one of the most intriguing secrets of all times, kill Champollion in the process?
Of the many books on Money, Sex, and Power, it is clear that these three things – in an obsessive way – will destroy any person. Marriages were destroyed, families ruined, suicides left families heartbroken, loved ones incarcerated, and all the tragedies associated with these three destroyers of human lives are evident throughout the ages. It is shocking, devastating, and sad.
Back to Champollion. His first breakthrough came when he visited the Coptic Church in France. The sounds – the chanting in the church – confirmed what he believed. He was convinced that the hieroglyphs were a language. He visualised that the Coptic chant in church represented the way the Egyptians spoke. According to JFC, he believed that though Egyptians recorded their language in the hieroglyphic form, it sounded like the Coptic language.
On the contrary, the English scientist Tomas Young believed that it was only symbols. Thomas Young (1773–1829), the well-known English physicist, was the first to show that some of the hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone wrote the sounds of a royal name, that of Ptolemy. The race was on!
‘We suppose, with enough confidence, that a vascular disorder was the etiology behind JFC – [not JFK] – early death, basically, cerebral arteries’ dilatations, that finally had dissected and torn. Keywords: Champollion; Collapse; Tinnitus; Stroke; Berry aneurysm; Strabismus; Ancient Egypt Published: December 21, 2015.’ (Nasser, 2015)
Champollion died at a very young age, as mentioned. People were intrigued by his early death at age 41. What could have been the causes? Nadim Nasser from the Bar Ilan University – Tel Aviv, Israel – has asked this same question. He offers an explanation. In this article, I will comment on the destructive power of Money, Sex, and Power in an obsessive context. See the video of John Piper and the book he has written on this subject. I know there are many books written on Money, Sex, and Power – this book is different. This article is also different.
What Caused Jeanne-Francoise Champollion, Decipherer of the Ancient Egyptian Scripts, Premature Death?’ Nasser H Nadim (2015) and Savitzki David’s abstract.
‘A possible relationship between such a recurrent collapse/syncope events that hit Jeanne-Francoise Champollion and him being forty-one years old when he got the premature killing stroke, is engaging and worth investigating. Champollion was too young and the first scholar committed to the unbearable mission of disclosing the language system behind the ancient Egyptian scripts from 4000-5000 B.C., despite Diabetes Mellitus, Gout disease, recurrent Syncope, chronic Tinnitus, Headaches, and later unilateral Gaze deviation, from which he suffered. The etiology behind Champollion’s premature death was unestablished, possibly because his family refused to allow a post-mortem dissection. Along with those facts and the absence of lab tests, we will try analysing the exact cause of death by discussing the differential diagnosis in its classical method: the main complaint, family medical history and hints of somatic signs in reliable literature.
Champollion’s medical history was marked by frequent faints, part of them were neutrally mediated or vagal responsiveness. One of these collapses happened to him at eighteen years old, shortly after he was shocked by the news that Lenoire had published the first decipherment of Hieroglyphs. Other collapses recorded in literature were not vagal, by definition. Most striking was the collapse that attacked him in 1822, in a moment of elation when he got the idea of the language system behind the Hieroglyphs and ran breathlessly into his brother’s office and shouted: “Je tiens l’affaire!”, “I found it”, and immediately fell unconscious for a few days. Two years after his return to Paris from Egypt, with the unequivocal proof of the Hieroglyphic language system in his hands, ‘death was waiting for him as he drifted into and out of unconsciousness. We suppose, with enough confidence, that a vascular disorder was the etiology behind JFC’s early death, basically, cerebral arteries’ dilatations, that finally had dissected and torn’ (Nasser, 2015).
I am not sure what caused Champollion’s death. However, we do know that he was obsessed to win the race and wanted to become a very important person in history. Is that wrong? No, I don’t think so. Excellent work Jeanne-Francoise! However, if a goal becomes an obsession – an all-time consuming unhealthy drive – it will prematurely kill us and destroy our families! In fact, fulfilment really lies in living for others. Helping others. If we – ourselves – become the ultimate unhealthy focus, we run the risk of losing it all. Yeshua came to earth to serve, not to be served. We should be motivated, have dreams, and follow them. But, we have to strike a balance between Money, Sex, Power and our Saviour. God first! He – Our Father – should be right at the top, dominating the 3 forces I have mentioned here.
21 “Submit to God and be at peace with him;
in this way prosperity will come to you.
22 Accept instruction from his mouth
and lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:
If you remove wickedness far from your tent
24 and assign your nuggets to the dust,
your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,
25 then the Almighty will be your gold,
the choicest silver for you.
26 Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty
and will lift up your face to God.
27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will fulfill your vows.
28 What you decide on will be done,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 When people are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’
then he will save the downcast.
30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent,
who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
Job 22: 21 – 30.
Also:
“Carry each other’s burdens and so you will fulfil the law of Christ.”
Galatians 6:2
Making the most of these dangerous opportunities – Money, Sex, and Power:
In John Piper’s book on these dangerous aspects, he radically re-thinks money, sex, and power. He explains why our culture is enslaved to them—but he also shows that God had good purposes in mind when creating these gifts, and they become more satisfying in themselves when we realise that He is more desirable than all of them.
We have to focus on God’s Kingdom first.
We all need food, clothes, vehicles, housing, and some nice things. Correct? However, do not allow money, sex, and power to become an obsession! It will destroy us and our precious families.
Here are the wise words of the Master:
…32For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.…
Matthew 6: 32 – 34 (Berean Study Bible, 2016)
References
Nasser, H.M. (January 2015). Champollion cause of death -IPMCRS.PDF – 2015. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317498175_Champollion_cause_of_death_-IPMCRSPDF_-_2015
The Berean Study Bible (2016). Publisher: Infinity Concepts. The Berean Study Bible seeks to connect readers with the Greek and Hebrew root words and meanings in an easy-to-read format. The study Bible merges two previous translations, the Berean Literal Bible and the Berean Interlinear Bible. The Berean Study Bible was created to offer an accurate translation of the Greek and Hebrew texts in a reader-friendly format.
The British Museum (n. d.). Everything you ever wanted to know about the Rosetta Stone. Blog post. https://blog.britishmuseum.org/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-the-rosetta-stone/
Copyright © 2022 by William Van Zyl
Champollion’s (JFC’s) death – French Decipherer of the Rosetta Stone – underlines one of the age-old killers: Sex, Money, Power, and Fame. Which one could it be?
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Published by Five House Publishing (New Zealand)
First Publishing, 2022
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