Egypt: The Rosetta Stone is an Ancient Egyptian artifact which provided the key to modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Created at the behest of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes (204-180 BCE). The Rosetta Stone is a fragment of a larger granodiorite stele, with an inscription recording a decree that was issued at Memphis in 196 BCE. No additional fragments were found in later searches of the Rosetta site. Owing to its damaged state, none of the three texts is absolutely complete. The Greek text contains 54 lines, of which the first 27 survive in full; the rest are increasingly fragmentary.

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The Rosetta Stone is a fragment of a larger stele. No additional fragments were found in later searches of the Rosetta site. Owing to its damaged state, none of the three texts is absolutely complete. The Greek text contains 54 lines, of which the first 27 survive in full; the rest are increasingly fragmentary due to a diagonal break at the bottom right of the stone. The demotic text has survived best: it has 32 lines, of which the first 14 are slightly damaged on the right side. The hieroglyphic inscription has suffered the most damage. Only the last 14 lines of the hieroglyphic text can be seen.

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Size: 3696px × 4737px
Photo credit: © Pictures From History / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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