Brian Marquis

The Rosetta Stone is one of the most important archaeological-historical discoveries in the world. Dating back to 196 BC, the stele (table stone) describes a decree of Ptolemy V, King of Ptolemaic Egypt, a successor kingdom to Alexander the Great's Macedonian empire. What makes it unique is that it bears the decree in three languages. These are Greek, demotic and Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Rosetta Stone allowed linguists to translate hieroglyphs for the first time. While translations are available, it is far more fun to learn for yourself. While a knowledge of Greek will help immensely, you can translate without it. Furthermore, you can use the Rosetta Stone to translate other hieroglyphs, too.