Rosetta's stele
Rosetta's stele
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The stone in black basalt in Rosetta, as big as a cart wheel, came to
light in July 19, 1799. It shows three sections of writing: on the top part
there are 14 lines in hyerogliphics; in the central part thereare 22 lines in
dematic and 54 in Greek capital letters in the lower part. Comparing a copy of
the three texts, a swedish diplomatic expert in oriental languages, Akerbald,
demonstrated that the name of the Kings, in the Greek part, appeared in the same
position as in the demotic text and made, quite sure, an hypothesis that the
three sections were the translations of the same text: a protocol of the
sacerdotal order in Menfi, dated 27 march 196 BC, which exalted Tolomeo V
Epifane for the subsidy given to a temple. It was a benediction that in Tolomaic
epoch, when the functions of the government were all entrusted to the Greek and
Greek was the official language, the pubblic deeds had bilingual publlications
in Egyptian and in Greek.
The stele of Rosetta by Joe Fatigati
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