The Rosetta Stone

Excavated by: Pierre Francois Xavier Bouchard

196 BC

granodiorite

British Museum

A large, dark gray stone slab with text inscribed across its surface. The stone is irregularly shaped with a rough, broken edge along the top and right side. Part of grey and pink granodiorite stela bearing priestly decree concerning Ptolemy V in three blocks of text: Hieroglyphic (14 lines), Demotic (32 lines) and Greek (54 lines). Compass text:The Rosetta Stone From Fort St Julien, el-Rashid (Rosetta), Egypt Ptolemaic Period, 196 BCThe inscription on the Rosetta Stone is a decree passed by a council of priests, one of a series that affirm the royal cult of the 13-year-old Ptolemy V on the first anniversary of his coronation.In previous years the family of the… Ptolemies had lost control of certain parts of the country. It had taken their armies some time to put down opposition in the D