The last hieroglyphic inscription was carved in 394 AD at the Temple of Philae, and with it, the art of the hieroglyph died — the ancient Egyptian language and culture had finally been forgotten.
The narrator notes that the final known hieroglyphic inscription was a mournful wish by a scribe named Nesmeterakhem at the Temple of Philae, and that after this, the knowledge of how to read hieroglyphs was lost for over a thousand years. ✦ AI generated
Paul Cooper · Fall of Civilizations · 2024-04-30 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 219:40
The last known hieroglyphic inscription was written in the year 394 AD, at the Temple of Philae, built on an island near the cataract of the Nile at Aswan. ... The last hieroglyphic inscription records the mournful wish of one scribe named Nesmeterakhem, wishing that his inscription would endure forever, just like the carvings of his long-dead ancestors. ... As far as we know, the art of the hieroglyph died with him.
verbatim transcript · starts at 219:40
219:53Memphis, and in 663 BC, returned again to crush another round of rebellions. This time, he marched south up the Nile River, and bore down on the ancient capital of Thebes. By that time, the Nubian king Taharqa had died, and his nephew Tantamani sat on the precarious throne of Egypt. Tantamani met the Assyrians in battle, but he was defeated, and with him, the last of Egypt's hope would die. The Assyrian army now rounded on the
220:29defenseless city of Thebes. Ashurbanipal records what happened next on one carved cylinder. This city, the whole of it, I conquered it with the help of Ashur and Ishtar. Silver, gold, precious stones, all the wealth of the palace, rich cloth, precious linen, great horses, supervising men and women, two obelisks of splendid electrum weighing 2,500 talents. The doors of the temples I tore from their bases, and carried them off to Assyria. With this weighty booty,
221:15I left Thebes. Against Egypt and Kush, I have lifted my spear and shown my power. The Assyrian sack of Thebes was the symbolic end of Egyptian power. Though Assyria would not hold Egypt for long and would itself collapse within only about fifty years, Egyptian esteem would never truly recover. A century later, Egypt was conquered by the Persian Achaemenid Empire, and in 343 BC, it was conquered again by the Macedonian forces of Alexander the Great.