(jazzy piano music)
- [Steven] The British Museum has just opened,
but already there's an enormous crowd
circling the glass case that holds the Rosetta Stone.
So we're not looking at this object in a museum
because it's a work of art.
- [Beth] And it's certainly not beautiful.
- [Steven] We value this ancient object
largely for its modern history,
as the key to deciphering the writing system
that the Greeks called sacred writing, hieroglyphics.
- [Beth] The Rosetta Stone is located
in the middle of the gallery
that contains Ancient Egyptian art.
And as we look around, it's so clear
how important writing was to ancient Egyptian art.
There's almost no Ancient Egyptian work of art
that doesn't also include writing.
- [Steven] Writing that we couldn't read.
- [Beth] Although we look back more than 5,000 years,
the beginnings of Ancient Egyptian culture.
- [Steven] This was made during the reign
of Ptolemy V, in a period that we call the Ptolemaic Period,
a period that follows Alexander the Great's
conquest of Ancient Egypt.
Egypt at this point was ruled by a dynasty
known as the Ptolemies.
- [Beth] So we have Egypt being ruled
by the Ptolemaic dynasty, and that essentially means
that Egypt is controlled by Greek rulers.
- [Steven] The Greek city of Alexandria
had been founded in Egypt.
Greek law had been imposed.
- [Beth] And the Ptolemies rule Egypt
for almost three centuries,
until ancient Rome takes over in 30 BCE.
- [Steven] But in order to understand the Rosetta Stone,
it's important to understand the political situation
in Egypt at this moment.
Ptolemy V, the reigning king,
came to power when he was six years old.
- [Beth] And as you can imagine,
there was a fight for power.
- [Steven] All of which is to say
that this young king needed as many allies as he could get.
And he was looking to the ancient priestly class
to help him assert his power and to stabilize the kingdom.
- [Beth] During the reign of the Ptolemies,
there's a separation between the Greek-controlled government
and the priestly class, the only ones
who could read and write in hieroglyphics.
Greek had become the official language of Ancient Egypt.
- [Steven] But by this late date, those Egyptians
other than the priests, who were illiterate,
would have written the Egyptian language
in a different script, one known as Demotic.
And this stone reflects this historical moment in Egypt.
- [Beth] At the very top, we've got hieroglyphics,
the sacred writing of the priests.
In the center, the Demotic script,
and at the bottom, we have Ancient Greek.
And it was the recognition that we had
the same text in three different scripts
that allowed scholars to recognize
that the Rosetta Stone held the key
to translating Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
- [Steven] But the stone is also a reflection
of this historical moment.
When the language of government was Greek,
it's this fracturing that allows us access
to Ancient Egyptian text,
because the same decree is repeated in all three.
And in the 18th century, Europeans could read Ancient Greek.
- [Beth] This is a decree that speaks about
the victory of Ptolemy V over some Egyptians
who were rebelling against Greek rule.
And because there is this tension
within Egyptian culture at this moment,
between the priests and the Greek government,
what we're seeing in this decree
is also a kind of compromise.
- [Steven] On the one hand,
it's the assertion of Ptolemy V's power,
but it also gives concessions to the priests.
- [Beth] Before this, once a year,
the priests had to travel to the capital of Alexandria,
which was Greek in essence,
even though it was in Ancient Egypt.
This decree allowed them not to do that,
and to remain in Memphis,
which was a historically great Ancient Egyptian city.
- [Steven] And it also gives the priests a tax cut.
So the Third Memphis Decree, written on this stone
in two different languages and three different scripts,
is first and foremost, a political compromise.
But what we're seeing in the British Museum
is only a fragment of what was originally
a large stele, and one of numerous steles
that were set up around Egypt with this same message.
- [Beth] Let's jump about 2,000 years to 1798,
to the time of Napoleon and the British Empire.
At this point, Egypt is in a strategic location
for both the British and the French,
who begin to vie for control of Egypt.
Critically, Napoleon travels, not only with his army,
but also with scholars.
And when the stone is discovered,
they quickly realize its historic importance.
- [Steven] Word of this discovery makes its way
to Lord Elgin, a high-ranking British diplomat.
Now, the British quickly defeat the French Navy,
but it'll take the British a couple of years
to oust the French land forces.
When they do, the British look for the Rosetta Stone.
- [Beth] But the French have hidden it.
It is ultimately found,
but in the terms of a treaty ending these hostilities,
the Rosetta Stone is mentioned as now being
the property of the British.
- [Steven] It lands in the British Museum in 1802.
Scholars almost immediately began to study the stone
in an effort to read its hieroglyphs.
Thomas Young made some headway,
but it was really the French scholar Champollion
that cracked the code.
- [Beth] So, for the last almost 200 years,
thanks to a remarkable series of events through history,
we've been able to read Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics,
and understand so much more about Ancient Egyptian culture.
(jazzy piano music)