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What Were Their Names??

           There were two people mainly responsible for the decipherment of the Rosetta Stone. One person was Thomas Young. Thomas Young was actually responsible for the initial part of the decipherment. He was the one who figured out that it was written in 3 scripts and figured out the Demotic and Greek. But the final breakthrough is credited to Jean-Francois Champollion. He was the one who decided to use Coptic and figure out the language of the Ancient Egyptians  To this day, those two people are the ones given the most credit for the decipherment. Today the Rosetta Stone sits peacefully in the Museum of Britain where it has sat for over one hundred years.

They Used what to Decipher it?

           Between the years of 1806 and 1822 linguists spent restless hours trying to decipher the the mystery of  hieroglyphics. Well the answer finally came, the tool of Coptic. The tool of Coptic is the last stage in the Egyptian language, its used by Christians and written in Greek Characters. They assigned phonetic values to signs and compared them to others. You know, to me this sounds like WAY to much work just to decipher some language that hardly exists now! I mean whats the point of trying to find out what something means if no one will ever use it again? That's just my thought. But the people who deciphered must of had longer patience. There were two people in particular who helped decipher they spent way to many hours of their lives staring at a rock!

Thats Older Than Dirt!

               So your probably wondering since this thing is from Ancient Egypt its probably pretty old. Well your right, this stone is older than dirt! It dates back all the way to 196 B.C!  But in the August of 1799, Napoleon's Army discovered it buried under years of mud and dirt in the small delta town of Rashid. But in 1802, when Alexandria was surrendered to Great Britain the Rosetta Stone was handed over as well. Then immediately after they had possession of the stone research began on it and the more they researched the more questions arose. They figured out it was written in 3 scripts(as you already know) but they didn't understand the first script or the second but they figured out the second soon enough. But the way they deciphered the hieroglyphics... Coptic!

It Says What in Hieroglyphics?

            By now you know the Rosetta Stone is written in three languages but what does it say? Well the Rosetta Stone is actually a decree of the priests and pharaos laws, rules and honors. It just goes on and on talking about the same thing pretty much. If you ask me that sounds a litte more boring than the average rock. So your probably asking yourself, as i was, why is this rock so much more special than the next rock? Well.... it was only the rock that helped us figure out hieroglyphics!

Why the Heck is it Written in 3 Languages?

Do you ever wonder why the Rosetta Stone is written in 3 languages? Well the answer is quite simple and very sensible. It is written in 3 languages (Hieroglyphics, Demotic, and Greek) so that everyone in Lower Egypt was able to read the priests decree and his honors. The pharaoh and the priest needed to have it in 3 languages because people were coming into Egypt from EVERYWHERE! People were coming into Egypt like cats and dogs! So the priest and pharaoh needed to make sure everyone could read the laws, rules, decrees and honors. Why did they never think to write it in English? That would have made it much easier on us!