Science history: Rosetta stone is deciphered, opening a window into ancient Egyptian civilization

Science history: Rosetta stone is deciphered, opening a window into ancient Egyptian civilization — Sept. 27, 1822

By Tia Ghose published 12 hours ago

On Sept. 27, 1822, French philologist Jean-François Champollion announced that he had deciphered ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, using the Rosetta stone. This ushered in a new craze for Egyptology and helped us understand one of the world's longest-running civilizations.



Ancient Egyptian Rosetta Stone. It is a giant stone with 3 types of writing carved onto it: Greek, Egyptian, and another form of Egyptian writing.
The Rosetta Stone is one of the most important objects in history. The stone, which contains the same decree in ancient Greek, demotic and hieroglyphics, was the key to deciphering the latter two languages. (Image credit: Photos.com via Getty Images)


On Sept. 27, 1822, French philologist Jean-François Champollion announced that he had deciphered the text on the Rosetta stone, opening a window into ancient Egyptian civilization.

The stone had been discovered by French forces in 1799, during Napoleon's first foray into Egypt. The soldiers were building fortifications in the town of Rashid, which had been ancient Rosetta, when officer Pierre François Bouchard noticed the granite-like stone built into an old wall.

The 44-inch-tall (112 centimeters), 1,680-pound (760 kilograms) slab of granodiorite was inscribed in Greek, hieroglyphics and demotic, a kind of cursive Egyptian script. Bouchard immediately realized its significance and surmised that the text was identical in all three languages. That meant the ancient Greek could potentially be used to decrypt the other two scripts, which had been indecipherable for centuries.

Ottoman and British forces defeated the French, and in 1801, the Rosetta stone was taken by the British as part of the Treaty of Alexandria and moved to the British Museum.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/science-history-rosetta-stone-is-deciphered-opening-a-window-into-ancient-egyptian-civilization-sept-27-1822