Granodiorite
196 BCE
Egypt
The British Museum
Details
Culture/Civilisation
Ancient Egypt, Ptolemaic (Greek-ruled) Egypt
Theme
Writing
Subtheme
Deciphering Egyptian Hieroglyphs – The Rosetta Stone
Display Location
Coomaraswamy Hall
Findspot
El Rashid (Rosetta), Egypt
Measurements
114 x 80 x 32 cm
Accession Number
EA24
Description
The ‘Rosetta Stone’ carries a decree issued during the reign of Ptolemy V. It praises his deeds, and grants benefits to priests and temples. The same message is written in different languages and scripts to address different publics: (top) Hieroglyphic (14 lines), traditionally used for ceremonial religious texts; (centre) Demotic (32 lines) the everyday administrative script; and (below) ancient Greek (54 lines), the government language in Greek-ruled Egypt.
