Rosetta Stone

 

Rosetta stone on display in British Museum

• Decree by King Ptolemy (V) in three different scripts (top to bottom)
• Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs
• Ancient Egyptian Demotic script
• Greek
• This trilingual inscription was proved crucial in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyph (pioneered by the french)
• Found in Rosetta (stands for 'Rashid'), Egypt in 1799 while it was being used as building material in Egypt
• Essential clue to deciphering early Egyptian hieroglyphs.
• Moved to British Museum after British defeat French