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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

ROSETTA STONE*

The fame of this stone rests upon the part it played in providing the clue for deciphering ancient Egyptian inscriptions. Rosetta is the European name for the town Rashid in the vicinity of which the stone was discovered. It is a place near the mouth of the arm of the Nile flowing through the western delta toward the sea. A slab of black basalt—measuring about three feet, nine inches (1.1 meters) in length; two feet, four and a half inches (.7 meter) in width; and eleven inches (27.9 centimeters) thick—makes up the famous stone. Unfortunately, when discovered, it was in a damaged state, with the two top corners missing. It has been computed that the original stone size was at least 12 inches (30.5 centimeters) longer than it is now.

The discovery of the stone goes back to Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1799. There are two versions of the legend: according to one account it was found lying on the ground; according to the other, it was part of a wall that was ordered to be demolished for material to construct a fortification, later known as Fort Julian. The French officer, an engineer named Bouchard, who found the stone, recognized that the writing on it in three different scripts might be of great archaeological value. The bottom of the stone was in Greek lettering. Bouchard and his colleagues therefore assumed it to be the translation of the mysterious script at the top. The stone was later shown to Napoleon, who ordered copies to be sent to Europe for scholarly investigation. Two Frenchmen, Jean-Joseph Marcel and Remi Raige, soon recognized that the middle script, wedged between the hieroglyphic and Greek texts, was a cursive form of Egyptian writing. Scholars call it demotic writing, i.e., a popular, conventional form allowing for abbreviation, as distinct from the elaborate hieratic, i.e., priestly, writing. The stone in its present mutilated state consists of 14 lines of hieroglyphic text; 32 lines of demotic text; and 54 lines in Greek, of which the last 26 lines are marred at the ends. Fortunately, scholars were able to supplement a large portion of the missing hieroglyphic lines from inscriptions of two related texts. The Rev. Stephen Weston was the first to translate the Greek text into English. The French translation was accomplished by a man called “citizen Du Theil.” The demotic script was studied by Sylvester de Sacy and a Swedish diplomat by the name of Akerblad. It was the latter who first identified the demotic of all the proper names as they occur in the Greek text, plus the words “temples,” “Greeks,” and the third person of the masculine pronoun. An important clue to the puzzle was the discovery by Thomas Young, otherwise known for his theory of light, that ancient Egyptian writing was made up of phonetic signs. The first clue appeared with the identification of the name Cleopatra rendered in hieroglyphics. This gradually led to the identification of the name Ptolemy, except for the last few signs in the cartouche. It was assumed that the royal titles in the Greek text corresponded to these last hieroglyphs. By a combination of letters, scholars were able to translate the title “ever-living, beloved of Ptah.” Thomas Young’s discovery of the phonetical structure of the hieroglyphic script, together with the work of Jean-François Champollion, laid the foundations for unravelling the mystery of the ancient Egyptian inscriptions. By 1822 Thomas Young produced a list of hieroglyphic characters that were expanded and corrected by Champollion. The latter even worked out the grammar upon which the language was based. They thus laid the foundation for the work of later Egyptologists.

We now know that the stone has engraved upon it a decree passed by the priests of Egypt assembled at Memphis, in celebration of the coronation anniversary of Ptolemy V, Epiphanes, king of all Egypt. The date is probably spring, 196 BC. Scholars think the original text was in Greek; the demotic and the hieroglyphic were renderings from this text. The opening lines were adulatory, listing the king’s titles and praising his piety and love of his people and country. This is followed by a list of benefactions conferred by the king for the good of the temples, the priesthood, and the general public, specifying amnesties to criminals, reduction of taxes, etc. In gratitude for the king’s bounty, the priestly council decided to “increase the ceremonial observances of honor which are paid to Ptolemy, the ever-living, in the temples.” To this end it was decided: (1) to make statues of Ptolemy, as savior of Egypt; (2) to place figures of Ptolemy in shrines next to the gods; (3) to place 10 double crowns of gold on his shrine; (4) to make the king’s birthday and coronation day public holidays; (5) to make the first five days of the month Thoth festive days when all people wore garlands; (6) to add to the priests the title “Priests of the beneficent god Ptolemy Epiphanus, who appears on earth”; (7) that citizens be allowed to borrow temple figures of Ptolemy for their house and for processions; and (8) that copies of the decree be cut upon slabs of basalt to be set up in temples “side by side with the statue of Ptolemy, the ever-living god.” The stone was brought to England as a result of the Capitulation Treaty of 1801 and is on view in the British Museum, London.