The Writing of the Gods Quotes

“One provincial ruler, who held office around 2100 BC, recorded his good deeds on the walls of his tomb. A long recitation worked up to a rousing finale. “I was the beginning and the end of mankind, since nobody like myself existed before nor will he exist. Nobody like myself was ever born nor will he be born. I surpassed the feats of the ancestors, and coming generations will not be able to equal me in any of my feats for millions of years.” The inscription concluded, “I am the hero without equal.”
― Edward Dolnick, The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone

“The cliché has it that an unknown subject is a closed book, but Egypt was different. Egypt was an open book, with illustrations on every page, that no one knew how to read.”
― Edward Dolnick, The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone

“archaeological riddles”
― Edward Dolnick, The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone

“Vivant Denon, an artist and writer whose drawings”
― Edward Dolnick, The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone