Egyptian expedition of Napoleon 1798 - 1801 led to an increase in interest in the ancient history of Egypt. Together with the army, many famous scientists of that time went on the expedition - geographers, geologists, botanists and linguists, since very little was known about Egypt then in Europe.
As a result of the expedition, extremely rich information about this country was obtained and a huge collection of Egyptian antiquities was collected, a huge number of historical monuments were exported to Europe. In 1798, the Institute of Egypt (Institut d'Égypte) was created, which marked the beginning of a large-scale rescue and study of the heritage of ancient Egypt.
On July 15, 1799, sappers dug trenches at Fort Saint-Julien near Rosetta on the western arm of the Nile Delta. An attack by Turkish and British troops was expected, and the French urgently strengthened the defense of the coast. In the process, a weighty block of dense black stone was removed from the ground. The captain of the French troops in Egypt Pierre-Francois Bouchard realized the importance of the find and sent the stone to Cairo to the Institute of Egypt.
Subsequently, the found artifact became known as the Rosetta Stone. The area where the artifact was discovered was called Rakhit by the ancient Egyptians, later the name was transformed into Rashid, in the West, thanks to the French, the village became known as Rosetta.
The Rosetta stone is part of a granodiorite slab with dimensions: 114.4 cm high, 72.3 cm wide and 27.9 cm thick. Its weight is approximately 760 kg. There are three inscriptions on the stone: in the upper part there are ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, in the second a demotic text (which is an abbreviated shorthand of the era of late Egypt), and the third in ancient Greek. The front surface is polished with carved inscriptions on it. The reverse side is roughly processed.
The importance of the Rosetta Stone lies in the fact that the texts imprinted on it provided the key to deciphering the Egyptian script.
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Ancient Greek was well known to linguists. Demotic, like the hieratic script that preceded it, were forms of italic writing in the ancient Egyptian language. Demotics and hieratic were more often used for practical purposes, while hieroglyphic writing was used only for solemn occasions. Comparison of the three texts served as a starting point for deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs.
In 1801, the French were defeated by the British in Africa and were forced to give them the stone along with a number of other monuments.
During the siege, in order to avoid capture by enemy troops, the Rosetta Stone was transported from Cairo to Alexandria. Nevertheless, until the signing of the surrender agreement in Alexandria, in which France admitted defeat to England, the British forced the French to give them all the antiques and all the valuables collected over the years of their stay in Egypt. By that time, the Rosetta Stone had already become widely known throughout Europe.
However, the French refused to voluntarily give up the values, but after a while they had to do it. General J. F. Menu, who kept the stone in his house, wrote to the English Colonel Christopher Geli-Hutchinson: “Do you want to get it, General? You can do this because you are the stronger of the two of us … Take him when you want."
In September 1801, English Colonel Tomkins Hillgrove Turner, who took part in the battles in Abukir Bay and in Alexandria, came to Maine and took the stone. At the same time, Turner referred to the sixteenth clause of the surrender agreement, and General Menou reluctantly gave him the precious relic. A detachment of artillerymen took possession of the stone, almost without encountering any resistance from the French. When the magnificent treasure was being carried through the streets of Alexandria, French soldiers and city dwellers shouted curses and insults after the British.
During the journey from Egypt to England, many artifacts received various damage. However, due to the special value of the Rosetta Stone, Colonel Turner personally accompanied the precious cargo during his voyage aboard the frigate. The unique artifact left Egypt and sailed from Alexandria to England in February 1802.
At Deptford, the stone was lifted aboard a small ship and transported through customs posts. It was housed in one of the halls of the Antique Society, so that scientists could easily inspect and study it; after a while, the stone was sent to the place of his permanent residence in the museum for public viewing.
Since 1802, the Rosetta Stone has been kept in the British Museum (inventory number EA 24, where "EA" is an abbreviation for "Egyptian Antiquities"). The new inscriptions, painted white on the left and right edges of the slab, read: “Captured in Egypt by the British Army in 1801” and “Donated by King George III”.
During 1802, four plaster casts were made from the stone, which were transferred to the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh and to Trinity College (Dublin). Shortly thereafter, prints of the inscription were made and distributed to European scholars.
Some time after the arrival of the stone in London, the inscriptions on the stone were painted with white chalk to make them more distinguishable, and the rest of the surface was covered with a layer of carnauba wax to protect it from visitors' fingers. This darkened the stone, which led to the misidentification as black basalt. When the stone was cleaned in 1999, it revealed a dark gray hue, the luster of its crystalline structure, as well as pink veins in the upper left corner.
Proposed reconstruction of the original stele.
Reconstruction of the lost Greek text by Richard Porson (1803).
The stone is a fragment of a large stele. Subsequent searches did not find any additional fragments. Due to damage, none of the three texts is completely complete. The Greek text contains 54 lines, of which the first 27 have survived in full, and the rest are partially lost due to a diagonal spall in the lower right corner of the stone. The demotic text has survived better than the rest: these are 32 lines, of which the first 14 have a slightly damaged right side. The hieroglyphic text suffered the most. Only the last 14 lines of the hieroglyphic text have survived; they are all chipped off on the right side, 12 on the left. The total length of the hieroglyphic text and the total size of the original stele, of which the Rosetta stone is a fragment, can be estimated based on comparison with the steles that have survived. From comparisons, it can be assumed that the additional 14 or 15 lines of hieroglyphic inscriptions, missing in the upper part of the Rosetta stone, amounted to another 30 centimeters. In addition to the inscription, there was probably a scene depicting a king presented to the gods, surmounted by a winged disc. The original height of the stele was probably about 149 centimeters.
Before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and its subsequent deciphering, linguists had no understanding of the ancient Egyptian language and writing. In the later period of the reign of the pharaohs, the use of hieroglyphic writing became more and more specialized; in the 4th century AD, few Egyptians were able to read hieroglyphs. The use of hieroglyphs for monumental inscriptions ceased after the closure of all non-Christian churches in 391 by order of the Roman emperor Theodosius I; the last known inscription found at Philae dates from August 24, 396.
In parallel, the French orientalist Sylvester de Sacy, the Swedish diplomat David Ackerblad, the English scientist Thomas Jung and the French researcher Jean-Francois Champollion were involved in deciphering Egyptian texts on stone.
At the age of nine, from a magazine that happened to be in his parents' house, the boy learned about the Rosetta Stone. The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs intrigued him so much that his whole future life turned into preparation for deciphering the text on the famous basalt block.
Eleven-year-old Francois masters Latin, quickly learns Hebrew. At the age of 13, his linguistic list includes Arabic, Syrian, Chaldean. Ancient Chinese Champollion studies only in order to find out the relationship of this language with ancient Egyptian. Finally, he gets to the Coptic language, which serves as a kind of bridge to the language of Ancient Egypt. Already at the age of 17, Champollion was unanimously elected a member of the French Academy.
The secrets of the demotic text were discovered quickly enough; the French orientalist S. de Sacy, comparing the numerous titles of Ptolemy in the Greek text with their Egyptian counterparts, published his version of the translation in 1802. In the same year, a complete decryption appeared, made by the Swedish diplomat D. Okerblad.
The hieroglyphics were more difficult. The first steps towards deciphering the hieroglyphic inscription on the Rosetta stone were made by the English physicist T. Young, who was able to decipher some of the signs, again referring to the various titles of the pharaoh. But only the French scientist Champollion succeeded in completely unraveling the texts, who showed that the system of hieroglyphs largely consisted of alphabetic and other phonetic signs. By 1822, he was able to read and translate many other hieroglyphic texts and by the time of his untimely death he had managed to compile not only a fundamental dictionary, but also a grammar of the ancient Egyptian language. September 27, 1822 Zh-F. Champollion presented the decoding of the inscription to the French Academy.
A giant copy of the Rosetta Stone by Joseph Kossuth in Figeac, France, in the homeland of Jean-Francois Champollion.
The text of the stone is a gratitude inscription, which in 196 BC. e. Egyptian priests addressed Ptolemy V Epiphanes (October 9, 209 BC - 180 BC), king of Egypt (July / August 204 BC - 180 BC).), the next monarch from the Ptolemaic dynasty for the generosity he showed in relation to the temples and priesthood during his accession to the throne and coronation.
This stone was supposedly one of several, the inscription on which was made after the convention of the priests in Memphis. The decree was dedicated to the celebration of the ninth anniversary of the reign of Ptolemy V Epiphanes, who was enthroned after the assassination of his father. This decree, carved in stone, stated that Ptolemy, who was not yet thirteen years old and who ruled the country under the tutelage of senior advisers, was able to achieve the prosperity of Egypt; this message was "carved on steles of hard stone in the form of hieroglyphs, as well as in Egyptian and Greek, and exhibited in all the temples of the first, second and third classes in which the king was exalted." The main benefits of Ptolemy V are: the decoration and restoration of temples, the release of prisoners, the end of forced recruitment into the navy,creating a fair system of justice in the country, preventing floods by building dams, and issuing a decree on the execution of notorious criminals who have committed serious crimes.
The beginning of the text: "To the new king who received the kingdom from his father" … The text contains excerpts from the appeals with which the king addressed the people, trying to change the obviously unfavorable situation that had developed by that time in Egypt. The population was crushed by debt, suffered from robbery and internecine wars, the fields were abandoned, the irrigation system, so important to the country, fell into decay. The priests express gratitude not only on their own behalf, but, as they repeatedly repeat, and on behalf of "all people" for the measures taken by Ptolemy (unfortunately, unsuccessful) - such as amnesties, forgiveness of arrears and exemption from military service. The decree ends with the decision that its text should be engraved on "hard stone" and imprinted with "hieroglyphs, demotic and Greek writing."
In the Hellenistic period, many similar documents within the Greek oecumene were distributed in the form of bi- or trilingual texts, which later served linguists in good stead.
Experts examine the Rosetta Stone during the Second International Congress of Orientalists, 1874
Replica of the Rosetta Stone at Rashid (Rosetta), Egypt.
According to the museum, the Rosetta Stone is the most visited single object and has been the best-selling postcard for several decades.