Final answer:
Hieroglyphics were difficult to read and translate before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone due to incomplete knowledge of hieroglyphic symbols and limited understanding of ancient Egyptian culture. The Rosetta Stone was key in deciphering hieroglyphics by offering a comparison with Greek inscriptions. The efforts of Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion were crucial in unlocking the secrets of ancient Egyptian language.
Step-by-step explanation:
Hieroglyphics were difficult to read and translate before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone primarily due to the incomplete knowledge of hieroglyphic symbols and the limited understanding of ancient Egyptian culture. The Rosetta Stone, discovered in 1799, was the crucial breakthrough that allowed scholars to decipher hieroglyphic writing. The stone featured inscriptions in two forms of hieroglyphs and ancient Greek, providing the key to understanding these ancient symbols by comparing them with Greek, which was well-understood.
The end of hieroglyphic writing in the fourth century CE resulted in the loss of knowledge of how to read these symbols. It took years of training for scribes to become literate in hieroglyphics, which suggests the complexity and intricacy involved. It was not until the work of Thomas Young, who recognized the royal name Ptolemy in the inscriptions, and Jean-François Champollion, who understood that hieroglyphs recorded the sounds of the Egyptian language, that significant progress was made in deciphering hieroglyphics.