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Where this idea comes from· 196 BC · 1799 · 1822
One decree, three scripts
On 27 March 196 BC a gathering of priests at Memphis in Egypt issued a decree for the new king, Ptolemy V, about twelve years old. One copy, cut in stone, carries it three times: in hieroglyphs, in Demotic (the everyday Egyptian script) and in ancient Greek. A French army officer, Pierre-François Bouchard, found it near the town of Rashid (Rosetta) in July 1799. When Britain defeated France in Egypt, the stone was handed over under the Capitulation of Alexandria in 1801.
One thing to hold: The same words in three scripts, one of them readable: that is how Jean-François Champollion worked out the hieroglyphs, announced in Paris in 1822.
Why it matters: Since 1802 the stone has been on display at the British Museum in London almost without a break. Zahi Hawass, then head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, asked for it to be returned in July 2003 and again in August 2022. Where an object lives, and who decides, is part of its record.
What we don’t know: Whether it should stay in London or go back to Egypt is argued over and not settled. The card gives the dates and leaves the question to you.
Dates:
- 196 BC the decree is issued
- 1799 found near Rashid (Rosetta)
- 1802 on display at the British Museum
- 1822 Champollion reads the hieroglyphs
- 2003 Zahi Hawass asks for it back (again in 2022)