The History of the Rosetta Stone
The key to unlocking a dead language inadvertently lay in the quest for glory of a megalomaniac.
The irrational need for Napoleon to capture every Egyptian antiquity and take it back to France led to The Rosetta Stone being discovered.
The 1798 invasion of Egypt by the French emperor, with nearly 200 archaeologists, botanists and artists, clearly outlined his intentions.
By 1799 Pierre Francoise Bouchard, a French-army captain, discovered the artefact in a small village called Rosetta.
The stone measures 114.
4 cm high, 72.
3 cm wide and 27.
9 cm thick.
The same piece of text is repeated on it in 3 different languages.
In 196 BC Ptolemy 5th was the ruler of Egypt.
Classical Greek was widely read at the time since Egypt's relatively recent invasion.
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs were still understood by some.
Demotic was the modern, written Egyptian script at the time.
All three were used in order to account for a greater understanding for most of his citizenry.
Ptolemy 5th decreed some policies and repealed others.
There were certain laws that he wanted the majority of his subjects to understand.
The carved-stone manifesto was undoubtedly placed in a prominent position where it was viewed by everybody.
It had done its job and was lost to history until its relatively recent discovery.
The French lost out to the English, and they also lost The Rosetta Stone.
The precious relic was carried to Alexandria in 1801 then transported to England.
Over 20 years and several linguists later a translation of Egyptian hieroglyphs was finally reached.
Jean-Francoise Champollion, a French linguist, over a period of 2 years deduced the hieroglyph's hidden meaning.
Champollion knew how to read classical Greek and Coptic.
Coptic is very similar to Demotic, the second dead language on the tablet.
Right away Champollion identified 7 Demotic letters and it was just a matter of time before the puzzle was complete.
An alphabet for the Demotic script and Egyptian hieroglyphs were slowly constructed and process was complete.
Despite many arguments over the years regarding ownership, The Rosetta Stone still resides in The British Museum in London.
Despite going on periodic tours and loans to trusted parties, The Stone has remained there since 1801.
Interested linguists only ever worked from tracings of the original in the race to be the first to crack the code.
Undoubtedly, a greater understanding of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and their meaning have advanced considerably due to the work of Champollion and the other linguists who worked on the translation of The Rosetta Stone.
The irrational need for Napoleon to capture every Egyptian antiquity and take it back to France led to The Rosetta Stone being discovered.
The 1798 invasion of Egypt by the French emperor, with nearly 200 archaeologists, botanists and artists, clearly outlined his intentions.
By 1799 Pierre Francoise Bouchard, a French-army captain, discovered the artefact in a small village called Rosetta.
The stone measures 114.
4 cm high, 72.
3 cm wide and 27.
9 cm thick.
The same piece of text is repeated on it in 3 different languages.
In 196 BC Ptolemy 5th was the ruler of Egypt.
Classical Greek was widely read at the time since Egypt's relatively recent invasion.
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs were still understood by some.
Demotic was the modern, written Egyptian script at the time.
All three were used in order to account for a greater understanding for most of his citizenry.
Ptolemy 5th decreed some policies and repealed others.
There were certain laws that he wanted the majority of his subjects to understand.
The carved-stone manifesto was undoubtedly placed in a prominent position where it was viewed by everybody.
It had done its job and was lost to history until its relatively recent discovery.
The French lost out to the English, and they also lost The Rosetta Stone.
The precious relic was carried to Alexandria in 1801 then transported to England.
Over 20 years and several linguists later a translation of Egyptian hieroglyphs was finally reached.
Jean-Francoise Champollion, a French linguist, over a period of 2 years deduced the hieroglyph's hidden meaning.
Champollion knew how to read classical Greek and Coptic.
Coptic is very similar to Demotic, the second dead language on the tablet.
Right away Champollion identified 7 Demotic letters and it was just a matter of time before the puzzle was complete.
An alphabet for the Demotic script and Egyptian hieroglyphs were slowly constructed and process was complete.
Despite many arguments over the years regarding ownership, The Rosetta Stone still resides in The British Museum in London.
Despite going on periodic tours and loans to trusted parties, The Stone has remained there since 1801.
Interested linguists only ever worked from tracings of the original in the race to be the first to crack the code.
Undoubtedly, a greater understanding of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and their meaning have advanced considerably due to the work of Champollion and the other linguists who worked on the translation of The Rosetta Stone.
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