The Rosetta Stone is famous as the key used to decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphics, as it contains an inscription in three languages - Ancient Greek, Egyptian Demotic and Egyptian Hieroglyphics.

It was discovered in 1799 by french forces in Egypt.

The key to the decipherment of hieroglyphics was the way that names were written - as cartouches, groups of hieroglyphs enclosed in a ring. By comparing these with the names in the Ancient Greek text, the phonetic meaning of the hieroglyphs could be identified.

See Also:

• http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/egyptian/ea/ccodes/index.html

-- Andy Pryke - 10 Apr 2001