How did Jean Francois Champollian succesfully decipher the Rosetta Stone?

Answer 1

Jean-Francois Champollion used the "Rosetta Stone" which is a stone tablet discovered by Napoleonic soldiers in 1799. The stone records a decree of the pharaoh Ptolemy V in three languages - Egyptian hieroglyphs, Egyptian demotic script and Ancient Greek.

By comparing the three languages, Champollion could assign sounds and meanings to the hieroglyphs, thus identifying the hieroglyphic alphabet and grammar structure as well as laying the foundation for a hieroglyphic dictionary..
he knew Greek and he knew ancient Greek. so he matched the Greek to the ancient Greek and then he matched the ancient Greek to the hieroglyphics.

Answer 2

Jean Francois Champollian deciphered the Rosetta Stone by using the Greek and the hieroglyphs he recognized. His first step was recognizing the cartouche of Ptolemy. His name was followed by a second cartouche, and by using the context of the Greek and the individual hieroglyphs within the cartouche he realized it was the name Cleopatra. Once he had these two names translated he was able to decipher the other hieroglyphs.

Answer 3

When the Rosetta was found by a lieutenant in Napoleons army, it had a decree written in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek. With that, he could make out the meanings in the Egyptian language.