A display of the Rosetta Stone in its protective case in the British Museum in London. On one side of the stone, some of the three types of writing are visible. The case and name plate are also visible, as are a falcon statue and other artifacts in the background. The Rosetta Stone was one of the most important discoveries in Egyptology. Originally a decree passed by priests to commemorate the first year of the coronation of Ptolemy V, the Rosetta Stone is inscribed with the proclamation in Greek, the language of administration; demotic, the everyday written form of the Egyptian language; and hieroglyphics, the pictographic writing of ancient Egypt. Before the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799, knowledge of how to interpret hieroglyphics had been lost. The stone allowed archeologists to compare hieroglyphics with Greek, giving them a basis to decipher the structure of the language, (1935).

Identifier
NYSA_A3045-78_16969

Date Original
1935

Source
New York State Archives, New York (State). Education Dept. Division of Visual Instruction. Instructional lantern slides, ca. 1856-1939. A3045-78, 16969.

Rights
This image is provided for education and research purposes. Rights may be reserved. Responsibility for securing permissions to distribute, publish, reproduce or other use rest with the user. For additional information see our Copyright and Use Statement