What was the Rosetta Stone?
Quick Answer
The Rosetta Stone is a granodiorite slab inscribed with the same decree in three scripts: Greek, Demotic, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. It was discovered in 1799 and became the key to deciphering hieroglyphs.
The Full Story
The Rosetta Stone is a fragment of a larger stone stele created in 196 BCE during the reign of Ptolemy V. Its importance comes from the same official text appearing in three writing systems: Ancient Greek, Demotic Egyptian, and hieroglyphic Egyptian. Because scholars could read Greek, the stone helped Jean-François Champollion crack the system of hieroglyphs in the 1820s. The stone was found near the town of Rashid (Rosetta) in Egypt by French soldiers in 1799 and is now in the British Museum.
Key Facts
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