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how did rosetta stone help decode hieroglyphics

by Dr. Arielle Marquardt Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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The Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone is a granodiorite stele discovered in 1799 which is inscribed with three versions of a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic a…

was a large stone tablet that acted as a cipher or a way of decoding information. It showed Greek words next to their Egyptian hieroglyphic counterparts. People could read Greek so cryptologists used the Rosetta Stone to decipher the meaning of each hieroglyph.

The importance of this to Egyptology is immense. When it was discovered, nobody knew how to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Because the inscriptions say the same thing in three different scripts, and scholars could still read Ancient Greek, the Rosetta Stone became a valuable key to deciphering the hieroglyphs.Jul 14, 2017

Full Answer

What is the Rosetta Stone and why was it important?

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What 3 languages were on the Rosetta Stone?

What You Should Know About the Rosetta Stone

  • Discovery of the Rosetta Stone. ...
  • Rosetta Stone Content. ...
  • Related Meaning for the Term Rosetta Stone. ...
  • Physical Description of the Rosetta Stone. ...
  • Location of the Rosetta Stone. ...
  • Languages of the Rosetta Stone. ...
  • Deciphering the Rosetta Stone. ...

What was the original Rosetta Stone?

The Rosetta Stone is a granodiorite stele inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes.The top and middle texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic and Demotic scripts respectively, while the bottom is in Ancient Greek.The decree has only minor differences between the three versions ...

What is the story of the Rosetta Stone?

The Rosetta Stone

  • Three translations of the same decree. The inscriptions are three translations of the same decree, passed by a council of priests, that affirms the royal cult of the thirteen-year-old Ptolemy ...
  • Opposition to the Ptolemies. ...
  • The end of hieroglyphics. ...
  • The discovery. ...
  • Translation of the demotic text. ...

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What helped to decode the Egyptian language?

the Rosetta stoneThe answer is multifaceted, but one famous example embodies some of the best practices: the decoding of the Rosetta stone, discovered by a French military expedition in Egypt in July 1799, which helped pave the way to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Who can translate hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone?

While Akerblad made important discoveries about the Rosetta Stone as early as 1802, the credit for the decipherment of the Demotic and Egyptian hieroglyphic texts goes to two scholars: Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion.

How did the Rosetta Stone help scholars and historians in their study of hieroglyphics?

It was used to write on. How did the Rosetta Stone help scholars and historians in their studies of Hieroglyphics? The Rosetta Stone translated the hierglyphs into other languages. The Rosetta Stone it into Greek, so thats how we know what it means.

How did the Rosetta Stone work?

The Rosetta Stone is a stone with writing on it in two languages (Egyptian and Greek), using three scripts (hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek). Why is it in three different scripts? The Rosetta Stone is written in three scripts because when it was written, there were three scripts being used in Egypt.

What was the Rosetta Stone used for in ancient Egypt?

The key to translating hieroglyphics The Rosetta Stone is one of the most important objects in the British Museum as it holds the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs—a script made up of small pictures that was used originally in ancient Egypt for religious texts.

How did decipher hieroglyphics?

The ancient Egyptians' language had archaeologists baffled until the hieroglyphs were carefully deciphered using the Rosetta Stone. The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb wouldn't happen for another century but in 1821 in Piccadilly, London, an exhibition about ancient Egypt opened.

What impact did the Rosetta Stone have?

Although it's just a fragment of a larger rock slab, the letters and symbols chiseled into the face of the Rosetta Stone helped scholars crack the code of an ancient Egyptian writing system—and ultimately reveal the civilization's many mysteries.

How did the discovery of Rosetta Stone change historical conclusions about ancient Egypt?

Since Greek was well understood, the stone provided a key to deciphering the others. With all the inscriptions that still existed in stone, the ability to understand hieroglyphs vastly increased our knowledge of the civilization of ancient Egypt.

Who translated hieroglyphics?

Egyptologist Jean-Francois ChampollionIt is a royal decree issued in the city of Memphis by priests to Ptolemy V. Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion was able to decipher the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs through the oval shapes found in the hieroglyphic text, which are known as Kharratis and include the names of kings and queens.

Who can read hieroglyphics?

5. Few Egyptians could read hieroglyphic writing. In the later stages of ancient Egyptian civilization, only priests were able to read hieroglyphic writing, according to James P.

Who interpreted hieroglyphics?

Jean-François ChampollionIn 1822, Champollion published his first breakthrough in the decipherment of the Rosetta hieroglyphs, showing that the Egyptian writing system was a combination of phonetic and ideographic signs – the first such script discovered....Jean-François ChampollionFieldsEgyptian hieroglyphs10 more rows

How did archaeologists decipher hieroglyphics?

When it was discovered, nobody knew how to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Because the inscriptions say the same thing in three different scripts, and scholars could still read Ancient Greek, the Rosetta Stone became a valuable key to deciphering the hieroglyphs.

What is the Rosetta Stone?

The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian stone bearing inscriptions in several languages and scripts. Their decipherment led to the understanding o...

What is the shape of the Rosetta Stone?

The Rosetta Stone is an irregularly shaped stone of black granite 3 feet 9 inches (114 cm) long and 2 feet 4.5 inches (72 cm) wide. It was broken i...

Where is the Rosetta Stone currently located?

The Rosetta Stone is on display in the British Museum, London, having passed into British hands after the French surrender of Egypt in 1801.

Who decoded the Rosetta Stone?

The decoding of the Rosetta Stone was largely the work of Thomas Young of England and Jean-François Champollion of France. Champollion was the firs...

What languages are inscribed on the Rosetta Stone?

The inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone are in two languages, Egyptian and Greek, and three writing systems, hieroglyphics, demotic script (a cursive...

What is the Rosetta Stone?

T he Rosetta Stone is our key to understanding the meaning of hieroglyphs. The Rosetta Stone was a black basalt slab with the same piece of writing carved in three different languages: Hieroglyphics (top), Demotic (middle) and Greek (bottom). Scholars were able to make sense of the hieroglyphic version by comparing it with ...

When was the Rosetta Stone discovered?

Scholars were able to make sense of the hieroglyphic version by comparing it with the Greek which they already understood. The Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799, during the French Revolutionary Wars, by one of Napoleon's officers near the town of Rosetta (now called Rashid) .

Who was the first person to translate the hieroglyphs?

In 1801, it was captured by the British and, since 1802, has been on show in the British Museum. In 1822, a French Egyptologist called Jean Francois Champollion (1790-1832) was the first person to translate all the hieroglyphs on the stone.

Why did Champollion think Cleopatra was spelled in hieroglyphics?

This breakthrough in demotic allowed Champollion to hypothesize how Cleopatra would be spelled in hieroglyphs because he had already recognized the equivalencies between many demotic and hieroglyphic signs. Between this and the hieroglyphs that he already knew from the name of Ptolemy on the Rosetta Stone – those for “L,” “E,” “O,” ...

How long has it been since anyone has written or understood Egyptian hieroglyphics?

Decoding Egyptian Hieroglyphs: the Rosetta Stone, Champollion, and Young. It had been over a thousand years since anyone had written or understood Egyptian hieroglyphs. Many had tried to decipher this hieroglyphic script and failed.

What did Champollion use to compare the names of Ptolemy and Cleopatra?

Champollion had also gained access to a papyrus with texts in Greek and demotic, which allowed him to figure out the demotic spelling of the name Cleopatra.

What type of script did the Egyptians use?

The year is 1822, and scholars have been making some headway into understanding two types of scripts that the ancient Egyptians used, the more famous hieroglyphic script and the demotic script, which was used from the Late Period to the end of Pharaonic history as a kind of cursive script.

Who was the queen on the Bankes Obelisk?

To test whether he was correct in interpreting the second name on the Bankes Obelisk as that of a queen named Cleopatra, Champollion started applying his interpretation of these hieroglyphs to other names that he found in cartouches from other monuments.

Is the Rosetta Stone alphabetic?

The other Egyptian script on the Rosetta Stone, demotic, was assumed to be alphabetic, unlike Egyptian hieroglyphs. However, Young figured out that the demotic script actually had developed from hieroglyphs and, thus, could not be a pure alphabet.

Did Champollion find the key?

Now Champollion had finally found the key! He was able to keep going to the next name and the next name. When he made this breakthrough, Champollion reportedly ran to his older brother’s office, burst in and said, “I’ve done it!”. He then passed out before he could explain to his brother what he had figured out.

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1.Rosetta Stone | Definition, Discovery, History, Languages, …

Url:https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rosetta-Stone

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