an ancient stone found during an excavation in 1799 near Rosetta (a city in
northern Africa) by a
French officer in
Napoleon's
engineering corps. The irregularly shaped stone
stands 3 feet 9 inches high (114
cm) and 2 feet 4 1/2 inches (72
cm) wide. It was erected in 196 B.C. near Rosetta and bore a decree praising the
Egyptian king of that
time. The stone was engraved in three
different languages, the top
section in hieroglyphics (writing with
pictures and
symbols), the middle
section in the
language common to the people at that
time and the bottom
section in Greek. By using the Greek version, scholars were able to
translate the other two languages. From this, other
Egyptian hieroglyphic writings could be translated for the first
time. The Rosetta stone was placed in the British Museum in
London.