Wilkinson, John Gardner; Birch, Samuel [Contr.]: The Egyptians in the time of the pharaohs: being a companion to the Crystal Palace Egyptian collections (London, 1857)

HIS MODE OF DECIPHERMENT. 199

aided by the lithograph, of Bankes's obelisk of Philae, -which
contained the name of Cleopatra, instituted the following
comparison:—

First, he supposed that in the texts each hieroglyph had
the value of the initial syllable of the object -which it
represented. 'Now, 1 being Cleopatra, and 2 Ptolemy, he
thus proceeded—supposing both ,to be -written in phonetic

hieroglyphs:- (gJI5EE)l

1. The first sign in the name of Cleopatra, which is a knee,
in Coptic lene or Jceli, ought to be the K of Kleopatra, and
would not occur in Ptolemy, which was the fact.

2. The second hieroglyph, a lion coiichant, in Egyptian labu
(lahoi Coptic), occurs in the second place of the name of
Cleopatra—in the fourth place of that of Ptolemy; there-
fore L.

3. The third hieroglyph, a reed, aaJc in Egyptian, ake in
Coptic, occurred in the sixth and seventh place of Ptolemy—
when doubled representing the diphthong AI or AIO, and the
A or E of Cfeopatra.

4. The fourth hieroglyph, a kind of noose, which must repre-
sent the 0 in Kleopatra, occurred in the third place—that of
the 0 in the name of Ptolemy.

5. The fifth sign, a mat, which represented the P in Cleopa-
tra, occurred in the first place—that of P in Ptolemy.

6. The sixth sign, an eagle, the Coptic word for which is
Alchoom, occurring in the place of the A of Cleopatra, was not
found in the name of Ptolemy; but it occurred in the ninth
place of the name of Kleopatra, exactly where the A recurs in
Greek.

7. The band, in Coptic toot, was evidently the T of Cleopatra