How has the Rosetta stone helped historians to understand Egypt 's past?

Answer 1

The Rosetta Stone is, quite simply, a carved stone that helped decode hieroglyphics. It is a dark grey-pinkish stone of granite, although it was originally thought to have been basalt. It was discovered on 19 July 1799 by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt. It is an irregularly shaped stone inscribed with ancient writing, and is so named because it was found near the town of Rosetta, about 60km north of Alexandria.

The stone contained fragments of passages written in three different scripts: Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Demotic Egyptian. The Greek passage stated that all three scripts were identical in meaning. Because Greek was well known, the stone was the key to deciphering the hieroglyphs, a language that had been considered dead for two thousand years. Twenty five years later, French Egyptologist Jean Francois Champollion successfully deciphered the hieroglyphics, using the Greek as a guide. This enabled further study of Egyptian hieroglyphics which had previously been indecipherable. The Rosetta Stone became an important bridge to understanding the history and culture of ancient Egypt.

Answer 2

The writing on the Rosetta stone had the same exact message written in three separate scripts (hieroglyphic, Egyptian Demotic, and Greek), and because Greek was a fully known language, it provided the key to deciphering the ancient hieroglyphic writing of Egypt.

Furthermore, all the proper names were circled in a format called a "cartouche" which made them easy to identify and decode.

Answer 3

The stone (a stele bearing a pharaoh's decree) contained the same text written in Hieroglyphics, Demotic, and ancient Greek.

Answer 4

By identifying it, it actually teached people to understand Egyptian symbols; it was the translation key.