Rosetta Stone



The British Museum	The Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799 by French soldiers in the village of el-Rashid (Rosetta), in the Western Delta of the Nile River . By this time, all knowledge of ancient Egyptian language had been lost for over 1,000 years. The known Greek section (53 lines) at the bottom of the stone helped scholars decipher the two Egyptian scripts - the middle one written in cursive demotic script (32 lines) and the top version in ancient hieroglyphs (14 lines). The text contains a decree passed by a general council of priests in 196 BC on the first anniversary of the coronation of Ptolemy V Epiphanes, King of all Egypt, to honor his services to Egypt. The grey granitoid stone weighs 762kg (1679 lbs.). The stone was estimated to have been 50cm (20in) high in its original state, with a rounded top and carvings of the king. Today the Rosetta Stone stands in The British Museum as an enduring symbol of human understanding and communication through the ages.

The Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799 by French soldiers in the village of el-Rashid (Rosetta), in the Western Delta of the Nile River . By this time, all knowledge of ancient Egyptian language had been lost for over 1,000 years.

The known Greek section (53 lines) at the bottom of the stone helped scholars decipher the two Egyptian scripts - the middle one written in cursive demotic script (32 lines) and the top version in ancient hieroglyphs (14 lines). The text contains a decree passed by a general council of priests in 196 BC on the first anniversary of the coronation of Ptolemy V Epiphanes, King of all Egypt, to honor his services to Egypt.

The grey granitoid stone weighs 762kg (1679 lbs.). The stone was estimated to have been 50cm (20in) high in its original state, with a rounded top and carvings of the king.

Today the Rosetta Stone stands in The British Museum as an enduring symbol of human understanding and communication through the ages.