The Rosetta Stone is a stone with writing carved into it. There are 3 types of writing on the Rosetta stone; Greek, Egyptian, and another form of Egyptian writing. French soldiers found it in Egypt in 1799. It helped people get a better understanding of the Ancient Egyptian writing system called hieroglyphics. Its discovery led to the translation of Ancient Egyptian writing. The stone is named after the city where it was found, Rosetta (also called Rashid). The stone is now in the British Museum in London.
It had three pieces of writing on it that said the same thing in two different languages. Two pieces of writing were written in Ancient Egyptian, but in two different scripts: Demotic and hieroglyphics. The third writing was written in Ancient Greek.
The historians could already read the Greek. Using this knowledge they were able to work out how to read the Egyptian scripts.
The complete Greek text, in English,[1] is about 1600–1700 words in length. The text is a royal decree from the Hellenistic period about the taxes of temple priests. It gives them back the tax privileges they had earlier. Some scholars believe that several copies of the Rosetta Stone might exist, as this proclamation must have been made at many temples.
The discovery of the stone
The soldiers who discovered the stone were part of Napoleon Bonaparte's 1798 campaign in Egypt. It was given to the British as part of the surrender arrangements when French forces were caught in Alexandria by the Battle of the Nile and a larger force of British and Ottoman troops. The surrender and treaty is called the Capitulation of Alexandria. Under the treaty, the French had to hand over their archaeological discoveries to the British, and that included the Rosetta Stone.[2]
The discovered part of the stone is 114.4 centimeters (45 in) high at its tallest point, 72.3 centimeters (28.5 in) wide, and 27.9 centimeters (11 in) thick.
Part of the text
These are some of the translated words on the stone:
References
- ↑ "Translation of the Greek section of the Rosetta Stone". www.reshafim.org.il. Archived from the original on 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
- ↑ Wilson, Robert Thomas (1803). History of the British Expedition to Egypt (2nd ed.). London: T. Egerton. pp. 346–353. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
- ↑ "Text of the Rosetta Stone". Archived from the original on 2009-07-12. Retrieved 2006-11-26.
Other websites
- A Rosetta Stone website
- Rosetta Stone -Citizendium