The Rosetta Stone was discovered #onthisday in 1799 – key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs! The same inscription is written in three different scripts: Greek, hieroglyphs and demotic Egyptian. 1,400 years after hieroglyphs had gone out of use, scholars were able to use the Greek inscription on this stone as the key to decipher them. The inscription is a decree that affirms the royal cult of the 13-year-old Ptolemy V on the first anniversary of his coronation in 196 BC. Learn more about this o

The stone was discovered in July 1799, though sources differ on the exact date of the 15th or 19th. It was already embedded in the old wall of Fort Julien, meaning the French soldiers were actively recycling it from one structure into another. After recognition, its importance was first announced in the French newspaper 'Courier de l’Égypte.' The artifact's journey didn't end in Egypt; following France's surrender in 1801, the Rosetta Stone was seized by the British under the Treaty of Alexandri