Rosetta Stone Rediscovered – July 15-16, 1799

Rosetta Stone at the British Museum. Image 360onhistory.com

Discovered on this day, July 15 or 16, 1799 the Rosetta Stone, by one of Napoleons soldiers. It is a stele inscribed with three versions of a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty, on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic and demotic scripts, while the bottom is in Ancient Greek. The decree has only minor differences among the three versions, so the Rosetta Stone became key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, thereby opening a window into ancient Egyptian history. It is now housed at the British Museum in London, UK.

Rosetta Stone Hieroglyphs showing the name of Ptolemy in the cartouche. British Museum

Demotic Script Section of the Rosetta Stone. British Museum

Ancient Greek Section of the Rosetta Stone. British Museum

Saima Baig

I am a Chartered Environmentalist from the Royal Society for the Environment, UK and co-owner of DoLocal Digital Marketing Agency Ltd, with a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University, an MBA in Finance, and a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics. I am passionate about science, history and environment and love to create content on these topics.