Rosetta Stone
Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics
and the Rosetta Stone
What is the Rosetta
Stone?
What is the Rosetta Stone? Definition: The Rosetta Stone is a large
black stone, made of *basalt, which is nearly 4 feet long, over 2 feet
wide and 11 inches thick. The stone contains a decree of the Egyptian
Pharaoh Ptolemy V who ruled Egypt 204 BC-180 BC. The stone is dated as
196 BC and contains a royal decree of the Pharaoh which had the same
messages written in three different languages: Ancient Greek,
hieroglyphics, and demotic (the language of the ancient Egyptians). The
Ancient Greek language was known by linguists and the text inscriptions
on the stone gave the first clues to the decipherment of Egyptian
hieroglyphics. The stone was found in 1799 at Rosetta (Rashid) in the
Nile Delta, hence its name - the Rosetta Stone.
*Basalt is a dark colored, fine-grained volcanic rock the most abundant
volcanic rock in the Earth's crust
Description of the
Rosetta Stone
The description of the Rosetta Stone is as follows:
-
The Rosetta
Stone is made of black basalt stone
-
It is believed
to date back to 196 BC
-
Size: The
Rosetta Stone measures:
-
3 feet 9 inches
long
-
2 feet 4½
inches across
-
11 inches thick
-
The Rosetta
Stone contains three separate bands of writing which are
inscribed with text from three different languages:
-
The names of the
men who played major roles in the translation of the Rosetta
Stone:
What was the
original purpose of the inscription on the Rosetta Stone?
The original purpose of the
inscription on the Rosetta
Stone was to affirm the royal status and cult of Ptolemy V as a deity throughout
Egypt by a series of royal decrees. The text on the Rosetta Stone was
duplicated on many similar stones and was made known throughout Egypt,
literally set in stone, just like the Rosetta Stone, in three languages.
What is the text
inscribed on the Rosetta Stone?
The inscription on the Rosetta Stone
is a decree establishing the status and cult of Ptolemy V as a deity.
The text begins
with an inscription praising the Pharaoh Ptolemy V. The stone then
details his victory at the siege of the city of Lycopolis, where rebel
priests of the Temple of Lycopolis had refused to pay taxes to the
Pharaoh in the 9th year of his reign (196BC) which had prompted the
decree. The inscription on the Rosetta Stone then goes
on to extol the good deeds done by the Ptolemy V for the temples. The
final part of the text gives instructions detailing how Ptolemy should
be worshipped - how his shrine was to be set up, when prayers should be
offered, the burning of incense and days when festivals, such as the
birthday of the god-king,
should be celebrated.
The Rosetta Stone - How did Egyptian
hieroglyphics become a 'dead language'?
The Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics
were a total mystery for many hundreds of years - people were completely
unable to decipher the symbols and pictures. How did Egyptian
hieroglyphics become a 'dead language'? The decline in the use of
hieroglyphics began during the Ptolemaic dynasty. During this period of
Egyptian history the Egyptian and Greek languages were used
simultaneously. Following the decline of the Ptolemaic period Egypt was
ruled by the Romans when only the Latin language was used (and
occasionally some Greek). Within a period of just hundred years of the Roman
Governorship, the Egyptian hieroglyphics were no longer used or
understood by anyone. The Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics had become
a 'dead language' - until the discovery of the Rosetta Stone.
History of the Rosetta Stone
- Why were the French involved?
What was the history of the Rosetta Stone and who found the Rosetta
Stone? In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte
led a military campaign into Egypt. Napoleon Bonaparte believed that the
French could defeat the British by invading Egypt and gaining control of
the rich food supply. Lord Horratio Nelson, the commander of the British
Navy, defeated the French navy and stranded the French army in Egypt for
3 years. During this time the French studied Egyptian monuments and
history and Napoleon Bonaparte gave orders that valuable Ancient
Egyptian antiquities should be transferred to Paris.
Who found the
Rosetta Stone? Pierre-Francois Bouchard
The French soldiers built forts in Egypt using existing stones from old
ruins. In 1799 a young French officer called Pierre-Francois
Bouchard (1772 - 1832) was involved with the building of fortifications near Rosetta
(Rashid) in the Nile Delta, a small Egyptian city near Alexandria. It
was near Rosetta that Pierre-Francois Bouchard stumbled across a block
of black basalt stone which would become world famous as the 'Rosetta
Stone'.
Pierre-Francois Bouchard discovered the Rosetta Stone
on July 15, 1799.
The condition of the
Rosetta Stone
When
Pierre-Francois Bouchard found the Rosetta Stone he realised that it
might be important and contacted the French scholars who had accompanied
the forces of Napoleon on his expedition to Egypt. The Rosetta Stone had
been damaged over the years and the most incomplete part of the stone was the
top band of writing containing hieroglyphics. The middle band was the Egyptian script called Demotic script,
a forerunner of the Hieratic script, and the bottom was ancient Greek.
Pierre-Francois Bouchard recognised the Greek language and the
hieroglyphics but had never seen an example of the Demotic script. When
Pierre-Francois Bouchard took the stone
to the French scholars they realized that it was a decree written in the languages used in
Egypt at the time.
Deciphering the
Demotic script contained on the Rosetta Stone - Silvestre de Sacy
The French scholars including a
linguist called Silvestre de Sacy began to focus on deciphering the Demotic script, the
middle band of text, because it was more complete and it looked more like
letters than the picture writing of the hieroglyphics. The Demotic
script was compared to the Ancient Greek writing in an effort to
decipher and understand the language. Silvestre de Sacy and the French scholars were able to read and understand
some of the Greek
script and the process of deciphering and translating
the Demotic script and the Ancient Egyptian
hieroglyphics began by comparing the Greek and the
Egyptian words. The Demotic script was the first to be
deciphered and much of this pioneering work is credited
to Silvestre de Sacy, the French linguist. Silvestre de
Sacy identified the symbols which comprised the word ‘Ptolemy’ and
‘Alexander’ thus, establishing a relationship between the symbols and
sounds.
Deciphering the
Demotic script contained on the Rosetta Stone - Johann Akerblad
Johann Akerblad was a Swedish
diplomat and linguist. Johann Akerblad looked at the Rosetta Stone with
an additional knowledge of the Coptic language. Coptic was the old
Egyptian language used by the Coptic church of Egypt. Coptic was written
with the Greek alphabet but also contained seven additional symbols from
the Demotic script. His knowledge of Coptic allowed Johann Akerblad to
identify the words for love, temple and Greek confirming that the
Demotic script was a phonetic script.
Deciphering the
Greek script contained on the Rosetta Stone -
Rev. Stephen Weston
The earliest translation of the Greek text on the Rosetta Stone into
English was done by Reverend Stephen Weston in London in April 1802
before the Society of Antiquaries .
Deciphering the Rosetta Stone
- Thomas Young
In 1814, the British linguist, Thomas Young
finished the work started by Johann Akerblad and Stephen
Weston. Thomas Young translated the Demotic text and began work on
translating the hieroglyphic alphabet. Thomas Young was
successful in determining that names could not be represented by symbols
because symbols are based upon the words used in a given language.
Therefore foreign names had to be spelled phonetically. In hieroglyphics
there are groups of encircled symbols that are separated from other
symbols. This type of encircled symbol became known as a cartouche.
Thomas Young realised that a cartouche contained proper names of
important people
- like the names of Ptolemy and Alexander. Thomas
Young successfully deciphered five cartouches.
Translating the Rosetta Stone
- Jean-Francois Champollion
Jean-Francois Champollion was a
young French historian and linguist who had knowledge of many Eastern
languages. In 1807 Jean-Francois Champollion went to study with
Silvestre de Sacy. Jean-Francois
Champollion followed in the footsteps of his tutor,
Silvestre de Sacy and started work on the translation of
the text on the Rosetta Stone. Jean-Fracois Champollion greatly expanded on the work of
Thomas Young on the translation of the Rosetta Stone.
Champollion compiled a Coptic dictionary and then studied the
conclusions drawn by Thomas Young on hieroglyphics. Jean-Francois
Champollion realized that what Thomas Young had proved was that all
hieroglyphics were phonetic, not just those hieroglyphics that were
contained within the cartouches. Jean-Francois Champollion studied the
hieroglyphics from an obelisk found at Philae by Belzoni and he
correctly identified the names of Cleopatra and Alexander and verified
the name of Ptolemy which had previously been identified by Thomas
Young. In 1822 new inscriptions from a temple at Abu Simbel were shown
to Jean-Francois Champollion who correctly identified the name of the
pharaoh who had built the temple as ‘Ramses.’ Utilizing his knowledge of
Coptic he continued to successfully translate the hieroglyphics opening
up an understanding of the Ancient Egyptians. Jean-Francois Champollion
became known as the
translator of the Rosetta Stone.
Rosetta Stone
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