The Rosetta Stone, 3rd of a 3-stone series, is a multilingual stele that allowed linguists to begin the process of hieroglyph decipherment. A stele (from Greek:, stēlē, ˈstiːli plural stelae,, stēlai, ˈstiːlaɪ also found Latinised singular stela

The Rosetta Stone is an Ancient Egyptian artifact (حجر رشيد in Arabic) which was instrumental in advancing modern understanding of hieroglyphic writing. Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now In Archaeology, an artifact or artefact is any object made or modified by a human culture, and often one later recovered by some archaeological Egyptian hieroglyphs (ˈhaɪərəʊɡlɪf from Greek grc-Grek ἱερογλύφος " sacred carving " also hieroglyphic = grc-Grek The stone is a Ptolemaic era stele with carved text. Ptolemaic Egypt began when Ptolemy I Soter declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt in 305 BC and ended with the death of queen Cleopatra A stele (from Greek:, stēlē, ˈstiːli plural stelae,, stēlai, ˈstiːlaɪ also found Latinised singular stela The text is made up of three translations of a single passage, written in two Egyptian language scripts (hieroglyphic and Demotic), and in classical Greek. Egyptian is an Afro-Asiatic language most closely related to the Berber, Semitic, Somali and Beja languages Demotic (from δημοτικός dēmotikós, "popular" refers to either the Ancient Egyptian script derived from northern forms of Hieratic The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c It was created in 196 BC, discovered by the French in 1799 at Rashid (a harbour on the Mediterranean coast in Egypt renamed Rosetta by the French during the Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt) and contributed greatly to the decipherment of the principles of hieroglyphic writing in 1822 by the British polymath Thomas Young and the French scholar Jean-François Champollion. Events By place Roman Republic The Insubres, Gauls of the Po Valley, believed by the Romans to have been Rosetta (رشيد Rashid) is a Port city on the Mediterranean coast in Egypt. A polymath ( Greek polymathēs, πολυμαθής "having learned much" is a person whose knowledge is not restricted to one subject area Thomas Young (13 June 1773 &ndash 10 May 1829 was an English Polymath who contributed to the scientific understanding of vision, Light Jean-François Champollion ( 23 December 1790 – 4 March 1832) was a French classical scholar, philologist Comparative translation of the stone assisted in understanding many previously undecipherable examples of hieroglyphic writing. Egyptian hieroglyphs (ˈhaɪərəʊɡlɪf from Greek grc-Grek ἱερογλύφος " sacred carving " also hieroglyphic = grc-Grek The text of the Rosetta Stone is a decree from Ptolemy V, describing the repealing of various taxes and instructions to erect statues in temples. Ptolemy V Epiphanes ( Greek:, Ptolemaĩos Epiphanḗs, reigned 204 – 181 BCE) son of Ptolemy IV Philopator and Arsinoe

The Stone is 114. 4 centimeters (45 in) high at its tallest point, 72. 3 centimeters (28. 5 in) wide, and 27. 9 centimeters (11 in) thick. Weighing approximately 760 kilograms (1,676 lb), it was originally thought to be granite or basalt but is currently described as granodiorite and is dark blue-pinkish-grey in color. Granite (ˈɡrænɪt is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, Felsic, igneous rock. Basalt (bəˈsɔːlt ˈbeisɔːlt ˈbæsɔːlt is a common Extrusive Volcanic rock. Granodiorite (ˌgrænəˈdaɪəraɪt/ /ˌgreɪn- is an intrusive Igneous rock similar to Granite, but contains more Plagioclase than Potassium feldspar The stone has been on public display at The British Museum since 1802. The British Museum is a Museum of human history and culture in London. Year 1802 ( MDCCCII) was a Common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar or a Common year starting on Wednesday of the ^[1]

History

Creation

The Rosetta Stone is a well-known example from a series of decrees, the Ptolemaic Decrees, issued by the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled Egypt from 305 BC to 30 BC. A decree is an order made by a Head of state or government and having the force of Law. The Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled Egypt from 305 BC to 30 BC issued these series of decrees over the course of their reign This article focuses on the cultural aspects of the Hellenistic age for the historical aspects see Hellenistic period. The Ptolemaic dynasty (sometimes also known as the Lagids, from the name of Ptolemy I's father Lagus) was a Hellenistic Macedonian royal family This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. The series consists of the Decree of Canopus by Ptolemy III, Decree of Memphis, (as represented by the Memphis Stele) by Ptolemy IV, and the Rosetta Stone decree by Ptolemy V. The Decree of Canopus is the bilingual inscription written in three scripts ndash Egyptian hieroglyphs Egyptian Demotic, and Greek, on an ancient Ptolemy III Euergetes, ( Greek: Πτολεμαῖος Εὐεργέτης, Ptolemaĩos Euergétēs, reigned 246 BC&ndash222 BC was the third ruler The Decree of Memphis is an ancient inscribed stone Stela which comprises the second of the Ptolemaic Decrees issued by Ptolemy IV of the Ptolemy IV Philopator ( Greek:, Ptolemaĩos Philopátōr, reigned 221-205 BC son of Ptolemy III and Berenice II of Egypt was Ptolemy V Epiphanes ( Greek:, Ptolemaĩos Epiphanḗs, reigned 204 – 181 BCE) son of Ptolemy IV Philopator and Arsinoe Copies of the Ptolemaic Decrees were erected in several temple courtyards, as the decrees specified. For alternative meanings of the word "court" see Court (disambiguation.

Modern-era Discovery

The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum. The British Museum is a Museum of human history and culture in London.

After Napoleon's 1798 conquest of Egypt, the French founded Institut de l'Égypte in Cairo, bringing 167 scientists and archaeologists to the region. Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe. The French Invasion of Egypt (1798-1801 was Napoleon Bonaparte 's unsuccessful campaign in Egypt and Syria to protect French trade Cairo () which means "the Vanquisher" or "the Triumphant" is the capital and largest city of Egypt. French Army engineer Captain Pierre-François Bouchard discovered the stone sometime in mid-July 1799 (the sources are unfortunately not more specific), while guiding construction work at Fort Julien near the Egyptian port city of Rosetta (now Rashid). The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre (Land Army is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces and its largest Pierre-François Bouchard ( 1772 - April 29 1832) was a French captain best known for discovering the Rosetta Stone in the Rosetta (رشيد Rashid) is a Port city on the Mediterranean coast in Egypt. The Napoleonic army was so awestruck by this unheralded spectacle that, according to a witness, "it halted of itself and, by one spontaneous impulse, grounded its arms. " (As quoted by Robert Claiborne, The Birth of Writing [1974], p. 24. ) He understood that it was important and showed it to General Jacques de Menou. Jacques-François de Menou baron de Boussay was a French general under Napoleon I of France. They sent it to the Institut de l'Égypte, where it arrived in August. The French language newspaper Courrier de l'Egypte announced the find in September. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people

After Napoleon returned to France in 1799, 167 scholars remained behind with French troops which held off British and Ottoman attacks. In March 1801, the British landed on Aboukir Bay and scholars carried the Stone from Cairo to Alexandria alongside the troops of de Menou. The Abū Qīr Bay (sometimes Transliterated Abukir Bay or Aboukir Bay) ( Arabic: خليج أبو قير transliterated: Khalīj Abū French troops in Cairo capitulated on June 22, and in Alexandria on August 30. Capitulation (Lat capitulum, a little head or division capitulare, to treat upon terms an agreement in time of war for the surrender to a hostile armed

After the surrender, a dispute arose over the fate of French archaeological and scientific discoveries in Egypt. De Menou refused to hand them over, claiming that they belonged to the Institute. British General John Hely-Hutchinson, 2nd Earl of Donoughmore, refused to relieve the city until de Menou gave in. John Hely-Hutchinson 2nd Earl of Donoughmore KCB ( 15 May 1757 – 29 June 1832) was a Anglo-Irish politician Hereditary Newly arrived scholars Edward Daniel Clarke and William Richard Hamilton agreed to check the collections in Alexandria and found many artifacts that the French had not revealed. Edward Daniel Clarke ( June 5, 1769 - March 9, 1822) English Mineralogist and traveller was born at Willingdon William Richard Hamilton (1777-1859 was a British Antiquarian and traveller

When Hutchinson claimed all materials as a property of the British Crown, a French scholar Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, said to Clarke and Hamilton that they would rather burn all their discoveries, ominously referring to the burned Library of Alexandria. Throughout the Commonwealth realms The Crown is an abstract metonymic concept which represents the legal authority for the existence of any government Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hillaire ( April 15, 1772 - June 19, 1844) was a French naturalist who established the principle The Royal Library of Alexandria or Ancient Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was once the largest library in the ancient world Hutchinson finally agreed that items such as the biology specimens would be the scholars' private property. De Menou regarded the stone as his private property and hid it.

How exactly the Stone came to British hands is disputed. Colonel Tomkyns Hilgrove Turner, who escorted the stone to Britain, claimed later that he had personally seized it from de Menou and carried it away on a gun carriage. A limber is a two-wheeled Cart designed to support the trail of an Artillery piece, allowing it to be towed Clarke stated in his memoirs that a French scholar and an officer had quietly given up the stone to him and his companions in a Cairo back street. French scholars departed later with only imprints and plaster casts of the stone.

Experts inspecting the Rosetta Stone during the International Congress of Orientalists of 1874

Turner brought the stone to Britain aboard the captured French frigate L'Egyptienne in February 1802. For the bird see Frigatebird. A frigate /ˈfrɪgɪt/ is a warship On March 11, it was presented to the Society of Antiquaries of London. The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL is the world’s premier Learned Society for heritage Later it was taken to the British Museum, where it remains. The British Museum is a Museum of human history and culture in London. White painted inscriptions on the artifact state "Captured in Egypt by the British Army in 1801" on the left side and "Presented by King George III" on the right. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. George III (George William Frederick 4 June 1738 George III's long reign was marked by a series of military conflicts involving his kingdom much of the rest of Europe and places

Translation

In 1814, the Briton Thomas Young finished translating the enchorial (demotic) text, and began work on the hieroglyphic script. Thomas Young (13 June 1773 &ndash 10 May 1829 was an English Polymath who contributed to the scientific understanding of vision, Light Demotic (from δημοτικός dēmotikós, "popular" refers to either the Ancient Egyptian script derived from northern forms of Hieratic Egyptian hieroglyphs (ˈhaɪərəʊɡlɪf from Greek grc-Grek ἱερογλύφος " sacred carving " also hieroglyphic = grc-Grek From 1822 to 1824, Jean-François Champollion greatly expanded on this work, and he is known as the translator of the Rosetta Stone. Jean-François Champollion ( 23 December 1790 – 4 March 1832) was a French classical scholar, philologist Champollion could read both Greek and Coptic, and figured out what the seven Demotic signs in Coptic were. Coptic or Coptic Egyptian ( MetRemenkīmi) is the final stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt By looking at how these signs were used in Coptic, he worked out what they meant. Then he traced the Demotic signs back to hieroglyphic signs. By working out what some hieroglyphs stood for, he made educated guesses about what the other hieroglyphs meant.

In 1858, the Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania published the first complete English translation of the Rosetta Stone. The Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania is the oldest continuously-existing Literary society in the United States and Three undergraduate members, Charles R Hale, S Huntington Jones, and Henry Morton, made the translation. The translation quickly sold out two editions and was internationally hailed as a monumental work of scholarship. In 1988, the British Museum bestowed the honor of including the Philomathean Rosetta Stone Report in its select bibliography of the most important works ever published on the Rosetta Stone. The Philomathean Society maintains a full-scale mold of the stone in its meeting room at the University of Pennsylvania. The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn) is a private University located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Recent History

The Rosetta Stone has been exhibited almost continuously in the British Museum since 1802. Toward the end of World War I, in 1917, the Museum was concerned about heavy bombing in London and moved the Rosetta Stone to safety along with other portable objects of value. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The Stone spent the next two years in a station on the Postal Tube Railway 50 feet below the ground at Holborn. The Post Office Railway, also known as Mail Rail, was a narrow-gauge driverless private underground railway in London built by the Post

The Stone left the British Museum again in October 1972 to be exhibited for one month at the Louvre Museum on the 150th anniversary of the decipherment of hieroglyphic writings with the famous Lettre a M Dacier of Jean-François Champollion. The British Museum is a Museum of human history and culture in London. The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre located in Paris is the world's most visited art museum a historic monument and a national museum of France Hieroglyph ( Greek grc-Grek ἱερογλύφος " sacred carving " or hieroglyphics ( = grc-Grek τὰ ἱερογλυφικά Jean-François Champollion ( 23 December 1790 – 4 March 1832) was a French classical scholar, philologist

In July 2003, Egypt demanded the return of the Rosetta Stone. Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo, told the press: "If the British want to be remembered, if they want to restore their reputation, they should volunteer to return the Rosetta Stone because it is the icon of our Egyptian identity. Zahi Hawass ( Arabic: زاهي حواس (born 28 May 1947 in Damietta, Egypt) is an Egyptian archaeologist and The Supreme Council of Antiquities (commonly abbreviated SCA is part of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture and is responsible for the conservation protection and regulation " In 2005, Hawass was negotiating for a three-month loan, with the eventual goal of a permanent return. ^[2][3] In November 2005, the British Museum sent him a replica of the stone. ^[4]

Abbreviated-synopsis in English (eighth of text)

In the reign of the new king who was Lord of the diadems, great in glory, the stabilizer of Egypt, and also pious in matters relating to the gods, superior to his adversaries, rectifier of the life of men, Lord of the thirty-year periods like Hephaestus the Great, King like the Sun, the Great King of the Upper and Lower Lands, offspring of the Parent-loving gods, whom Hephaestus has approved, to whom the Sun has given victory, living image of Zeus, Son of the Sun, Ptolemy the ever-living, beloved by Ptah;

In the ninth year, when Aëtus, son of Aëtus, was priest of Alexander and of the Savior gods and the Brother gods and the Benefactor gods and the Parent-loving gods and the god Manifest and Gracious; Pyrrha, the daughter of Philinius, being athlophorus for Bernice Euergetis; Areia, the daughter of Diogenes, being canephorus for Arsinoë Philadelphus; Irene, the daughter of Ptolemy, being priestess of Arsinoë Philopator: on the fourth of the month Xanicus, or according to the Egyptians the eighteenth of Mecheir. The Kanephoros ( Greek: Κανηφόρος English translation: "Basket Bearer" also known as Canephorae) was an honorific office given

THE DECREE: The high priests and prophets, and those who enter the inner shrine in order to robe the gods, and those who wear the hawk's wing, and the sacred scribes, and all the other priests who have assembled at Memphis before the king, from the various temples throughout the country, for the feast of his receiving the kingdom, even that of Ptolemy the ever-living, beloved by Ptah, the god Manifest and Gracious, which he received from his Father, being assembled in the temple in Memphis this day, declared: Since King Ptolemy, the ever-living, beloved by Ptah, the god Manifest and Gracious, the son of King Ptolemy and Queen Arsinoë, the Parent-loving gods, has done many benefactions to the temples and to those who dwell in them, and also to all those subject to his rule, being from the beginning a god born of a god and a goddess—like Horus, the son of Isis and Osirus, who came to the help of his Father Osirus; being benevolently disposed toward the gods, has concentrated to the temples revenues both of silver and of grain, and has generously undergone many expenses in order to lead Egypt to prosperity and to establish the temples. . . the gods have rewarded him with health, victory, power, and all other good things, his sovereignty to continue to him and his children forever. ^[5]

The complete Greek text, in English, [1] is about 1600–1700 words in length, and is about 20 paragraphs long (average 80 words/paragraph).

Idiomatic use

The term Rosetta Stone has become idiomatic as something that is a critical key to a process of decryption or translation of a difficult problem. An idiom is a Phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal Definition, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only For example, "the Rosetta Stone of immunology"^[6] and "Arabidopsis, the Rosetta Stone of flowering time (fossils)". Arabidopsis ( A-ra-bi-dóp-sis, rockcress) is a genus in the family Brassicaceae. ^[7]

An algorithm for predicting protein structure from sequence is named Rosetta@home. Proteins are an important class of biological Macromolecules present in all biological organisms made up of such elements as Carbon, Hydrogen Rosetta@home is a Distributed computing project for Protein structure prediction on the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC It makes its predictions by looking at existing protein structure data.

"Rosetta" is also of a "lightweight dynamic translator" distributed for Mac OS X by Apple. Apple Inc, ( formerly Apple Computer Inc, is an American Multinational corporation with a focus on designing and manufacturing Consumer electronics Rosetta enables applications compiled for a RISC processor (PowerPC) to run on Apple systems using a CISC (x86) processor. PowerPC is a RISC Instruction set architecture created by the 1991 Apple – IBM – Motorola alliance known as AIM See also X86 assembly language The generic term x86 refers to the most commercially successful Instruction set architecture in the history of Personal

Rosetta Stone (software) is also a brand of language learning software. Rosetta Stone is proprietary language-learning Software produced by Rosetta Stone Ltd

In molecular biology, a series of "Rosetta" bacterial cell lines have been developed that contain a number of tRNA genes that are rare in E. Transfer RNA (abbreviated tRNA) is a small RNA (usually about 74-95 nucleotides that transfers a specific Amino acid to a growing polypeptide chain at coli but common in other organisms, enabling the efficient translation of DNA from those organisms in E. Deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) is a Nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known coli.

See also

• Behistun Inscription
• Rosetta Project

References

Further reading

• Allen, Don Cameron. "The Predecessors of Champollion", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol.  144, No.  5. (1960), pp.  527–547.
• Adkins, Lesley; Adkins, Roy. The Keys of Egypt: The Obsession to Decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphs. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000 (hardcover, ISBN 0-06-019439-1); 2001 (paperback, ISBN 0-00-653145-8).
• Downs, Jonathan. "Romancing the Stone", History Today, Vol.  56, Issue 5. (May, 2006), pp.  48–54.
• Parkinson, Richard. Cracking Codes: the Rosetta Stone, and Decipherment. Berkeley, CA; Los Angeles; London: University of California Press, 1999 (hardcover, ISBN 0-520-22306-3; paperback, ISBN 0-520-22248-2); London: British Museum Press, 1999 (paperback, ISBN 0-7141-1916-4).
• Parkinson, Richard. The Rosetta Stone. Objects in Focus; London: British Museum Press 2005 (paperback ISBN 978-0714150215).
• Ray, John. The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt (Wonders of the World). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007 (hardcover, ISBN 978-0674024939).
  • Reviewed by Jonathon Keats in the Washington Post, July 22, 2007.
• Solé, Robert; Valbelle, Dominique. The Rosetta Stone: The Story of the Decoding of Hieroglyphics. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2002 (hardcover, ISBN 1-56858-226-9).
• Wallis Budge, E.A.. Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge ( July 27, 1857 &ndash November 23, 1934) was an English Egyptologist, The Rosetta Stone. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1989 (paperback, ISBN 0-486-26163-8); Chicago Ridge, IL: Ares Publishers, 1995 (paperback, ISBN 0-89005-331-6). 6th grade history book

External links

• The Rosetta Stone in The British Museum
• The translated text in English
• The Finding of the Rosetta Stone
• The 1998 conservation and restoration of The Rosetta Stone at The British Museum
• Champollion's alphabet
• How the Rosetta Stone works - Howstuffworks.com