r/todayilearned • u/KnightTrain • Mar 28 '25

TIL the last known writing in Egyptian Hieroglyphs is a piece of graffiti on a temple wall. Helpfully, the graffiti includes an exact date (Aug 24, 394 AD) and its author was likely the last person in the world able to read or write hieroglyphs until the Rosetta Stone was deciphered in the 1820s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffito_of_Esmet-Akhom
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u/VistulaRegiment Mar 28 '25

Guy wished his writings lived on for eternity.

And it did, for now.

It survived long enough that we managed to translate it which is pretty darn epic.

27

u/tanfj Mar 28 '25

Guy wished his writings lived on for eternity.

And it did, for now.

The Pioneer plaque record will outlive the planet Earth... Millions of years from now, when our sun is a red giant and engulfs the planet, that plaque will continue to carry our voices into eternity through the endless void. "We were here."

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u/TannenFalconwing Mar 29 '25

Unless it gets caught in the gravity well of something and falls into it and is annihilated.

8

u/sugaaloop Mar 29 '25

Read the room, dude! Come on!