The Study of Ancient Egypt by Muslim Scholars in the Middle Ages and Its Influence on the Study of Egypt in Modern Europe

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the study of ancient Egypt conducted in the medieval Islamic world influenced the development of modern Egyptology in Europe after the 15th century. Medieval Muslim scholars such as Ibn Waḥshiyya made the most remarkable achievements in the study of Egyptian hieroglyphs. They found that the ancient Egyptian language was closely related to the Coptic language, and that some of the Egyptian hieroglyphs had phonetic values. And the writings of Muslim scholars were introduced to Europe by Athanasius Kircher in the 17th century and Joseph von Hammer in the 19th century. And it is believed that the ideas of Muslim scholars provided a very important clue to Champollion in the process of deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs in 1822.