Rosetta Stone

ro-zet'ta ston, a slab of black basalt. It was discovered in 1799 near Rosetta, Egypt, by a French engineer of Napoleon's army, who was engaged in excavating the foundation of a fortification. Three years later it was secured by the British Museum, and became the subject of study. It is about three and one-half feet long and two and one-half feet wide and a foot thick. It bears parallel inscriptions in three languages--hieroglyphic, demotic characters, and Greek. For centuries, scholars had been striving to read the hieroglyphics of Egypt, but they were unable to get a start. The Greek text of the Rosetta Stone was read easily. It proved to be a lengthy inscription in honor of one of the Alexandrian Ptolemies, under date of March 27, 196 B. C. A French scholar surmised that the hieroglyphic inscription was a duplicate of the Greek. This shrewd guess proved true, and the Greek inscription served as a dictionary for the other, much to the delight of those versed in the antiquities of Egypt. The substance of the inscription is a resolution of thanks passed by a synod of Egyptian priests in session at Memphis for a remission of arrears of taxes due by them. See Hieroglyphics