Born in the small French town of Figeac in 1790, Jean-Francois Champollion was to become famous as the man who first discovered the meaning of hieroglyphs. This remarkable novel tells the story of his extraordinary trip to Egypt in 1828 on a quest to prove the truth of his groundbreaking theories and to save the treasures of the pharaohs from destruction.
Egypt in the early 19th century was a land of legends and miracles - and a land of danger. Heading a team of researchers as he travelled from site to site, from Alexandria to Abu Simbel, the man they called "the Egyptian" faced formidable enemies determined to prevent him for succeeding in his mission.
With an historian's eye for detail and a potent imagination, Christian Jacq has woven the incredible true story of this man of action and dedicated scholar, the father of modern Egyptology, into a griping action adventure.
