Opening the doors of the Egyptian Museum for free on Tuesday to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone

egypt Sun, Sep. 25, 2022
The Egyptian Museum will open its doors to the public for free next Tuesday, September 27, in celebration of the 200th anniversary of deciphering the Rosetta Stone and the emergence of Egyptology, for Egyptians, Arabs, African countries and foreign residents.

The Rosetta Stone is a royal stone from the reign of King (Ptolemy V) and dates back to 196 BC. AD, and the Rosetta Stone was discovered by chance by Napoleon's army, as they were digging to build a foundation for a fort near the town of Rashid in the Nile Delta in July 1799, and after Napoleon's defeat, the stone was handed over to Britain under the terms of the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801 and other monuments that Found by the French, it was shipped to England and arrived at Portsmouth in February 1802, and soon it was displayed in the British Museum.

The Rosetta Stone is made of basalt, its height is 113 cm, its width is 75 cm and its thickness is 27.5.

As for the inscriptions inscribed on the stone, they are a letter of thanks and gratitude addressed by a group of priests from the city of Memphis to King Ptolemy V for exempting the temples from paying some fees. It was written in 196 BC, and the inscriptions at the time were unknown, as they were a linguistic puzzle that has not been explained hundreds of years ago. Because the three languages ​​were dead languages ​​at the time, until the French Francois Champollion came and interpreted them on September 27, 1822.

The hieroglyphic language was used because the priests at that time still used it, and the common people were using the Demotic language, so the writing was done on the stone in three languages ​​so that the king and the common people could read it.