The Rosetta Stone
The Key to Unlocking the Mystery of Egyptian Hieroglyphics
An ancient block of basalt, detailing the greatness of an Egyptian king, became the answer to the riddle of hieroglyphics.
The Rosetta Stone is a stela, an engraved block of stone that was commonly used to record history and events in Ancient Egypt and the Near East. It dates back to March 196 B.C., to the time of the Ptolemies. The Ptolemies were the rulers of Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great, who had conquered the region in 332 B.C. After Alexander’s arrival, Egypt was still Egypt, but with a heavy Greek influence on language and culture. It was this Greek influence that would eventually allow the riddle of hieroglyphics to be solved.
History of the Rosetta Stone
When the Rosetta Stone was produced, Ptolemy V was in his ninth year of rule. In order to prove to Egypt that the king, who had come into power at the age of 13, was worthy of his position, several steps were taken. Amid decrees and coronation ceremonies, the Rosetta Stone was carved. The stone, a dark gray granite or basalt, detailed Ptolemy’s great accomplishments and contributions, including striking down opposing armies in Upper Egypt and his religious dedication. The stone also included a decree establishing a state cult for the king. Because Egypt at the time was a mixture of Greek and Egyptian language and culture, the stone was carved in ancient Greek, Demotic (ceremonial) Egyptian, and Egyptian Hieroglyphics.
What are Hieroglyphics?
Hieroglyphics was a comprehensive set of characters, pictures, and symbols that represented words, sounds, and concepts in Ancient Egypt. It was in use from around 3000 B.C. until the end of the fourth century A.D., when the Greek alphabet really began to influence the written language of Egypt. At the end of its run, there were more than 6000 hieroglyphs in use.
The Egyptians used hieroglyphics on columns and steles, and in pyramids and tombs to celebrate and commemorate pharaohs, kings, and loved ones. Before the influence of Alexander and the Greeks, they would have also used them to keep records and record laws and decrees on papyrus scrolls.
For more than a millenium, hieroglyphics were a complete mystery. No one could decipher the puzzling script. That was, until a valuable key to hieroglyphics was uncovered.
Discovering the Rosetta Stone
Napoleon and his army moved into and took the Nile Delta region in 1798. They constructed forts along the banks of the river, including on the Rosetta branch. It was here that a French soldier discovered the stone, which measured 3 feet 9 inches long and 2 feet 4 ½ inches wide.
Unlocking the Code
Experts in the field of linguistics were sent copies of the inscriptions contained on the Rosetta Stone. In 1808, an 18 year old French linguist named Jean Francois Champollion began working on deciphering the script on the stone. In 1822, he announced to the world that he had cracked the code of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
- The presence of the Greek text on the stone no doubt aided Champollion’s work. But, as Champollion explained in a letter to the French Royal academy of Inscriptions, it was a few rather exceptional and inspired assumptions that led him to his translations: The Demotic Egyptian, he assumed, was an end phase of the Pharaoic language,
- Hieroglyphics were a system of both phonograms (phono – sound, gram – picture), or pictures that represented sounds and ideograms (ideo – idea, gram – picture), or pictures that represented ideas or concepts,
- and cartouches (the oval shaped figures encircling a line of hieroglyphics, represented a name (usually a pharaoh) that was a phonetic transcription (corresponding to pronunciation).
It was the hard work of one brilliant linguist who was able to decipher an entire ancient language, using a simple stele, and reveal the secrets of an ancient society. Deciphering the code that was hieroglyphics have enabled Egyptologists to learn and understand aspects of Ancient Egypt that would have never been known about otherwise. The Rosetta Stone remains today one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever.
Sources Consulted:
"Rosetta Stone". Retrieved 2 January 2008.
"The Finding of the Rosetta Stone". Retrieved 2 January 2008.
