What Is the Rosetta Stone?: The Rosetta Stone, which is housed in the British Museum, is a black, possibly basalt slab with three languages on it (Greek, demotic and hieroglyphs) each saying the same thing. Because the words are translated into the other languages, the Rosetta Stone provided a key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Discovery of the Rosetta Stone: Discovered at Rosette (Raschid) in 1799, by Napoleon's army, the Rosetta Stone, which was made of black basalt, proved the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Rosetta Stone Content: The text of the Rosetta Stone concerns honors bestowed on Pharaoh Ptolemy V Epiphanes in March 196 B.C. After praising Ptolemy V Epiphanes, the Rosetta Stone describes the siege of Lycopolis and the king's good deeds for the temple. The text continues with its main purpose, establishing a cult for the king.
Related Meaning: The name Rosetta Stone is now applied to just about anything that is used to unlock a mystery.
Languages of the Rosetta Stone: The Rosetta Stone is inscribed in three languages: Demotic, Greek, and Hieroglyphs.
Deciphering the Rosetta Stone: No one could read hieroglyphs at the time of the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, but scholars soon pieced out a few phonetic characters in the demotic section, which, by comparison with the Greek, were identified as proper names. Soon proper names in the hieroglyphic section were identified because they were circled. These circled names are called cartouches.
Jean-Francois Champollion (1790 - 1832) was said to have learned enough Greek and Latin by the time he was nine to read Homer and Vergil. He studied Persian, Ethiopic, Sanskrit, Zend, Pahlevi and Arabic, and worked on a Coptic dictionary by the time he was 19. Champollion finally found the key to translating the Rosetta Stone in 1822, published in 'Lettre à M. Dacier.'
Jean-Francois Champollion (1790 - 1832) was said to have learned enough Greek and Latin by the time he was nine to read Homer and Vergil. He studied Persian, Ethiopic, Sanskrit, Zend, Pahlevi and Arabic, and worked on a Coptic dictionary by the time he was 19. Champollion finally found the key to translating the Rosetta Stone in 1822, published in 'Lettre à M. Dacier.'
