What Is the Rosetta Stone & Why Is it Important?

In 1799, French soldiers from Napoleon Bonaparte's army were digging a foundation for a fort near the Egyptian town of el-Rashid, or Rosetta, when they found a stone covered with inscriptions. This artifact, known as the Rosetta Stone, became a key to unlocking the mysteries of ancient Egypt.

Identification

The inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone are in hieroglyphics, demotic (an ancient Egyptian script) and Greek. The inscription is a decree by a council of priests on the anniversary of the crowning of Ptolemy V as the pharaoh.

Time Frame

The Rosetta Stone was carved around 196 B.C.E. It became the property of the English in 1801 under the terms of a treaty. The British Museum has housed the Rosetta Stone since 1802.

Significance

Hieroglyphics had gone out of use in the fourth century C.E., and the knowledge of how to decipher them disappeared as well. The discovery of the Rosetta Stone some 1,400 years later made it possible for scholars to use the Greek inscription to decipher the hieroglyphics.

Deciphering

French scholar Jean-Francois Champollion deciphered the hieroglyphics in 1822 after years of studying the Rosetta Stone.

Benefits

The deciphering of the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone laid the foundations for the field of Egyptology, and advanced the knowledge of ancient Egyptian language and culture.

Fun Fact

In 1917, to protect it from bombing during World War I, British Museum officials moved the Rosetta Stone 50 feet underground and stored it in a railway station.

References

• The Rosetta Stone

Resources

• The British Museum: Rosetta Stone