15 July 1799: discovery of the Rosetta Stone

(Image credit: Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)

Hieroglyphics – "sacred writing" – was the ancient script used to adorn the tombs of Egypt's pharaohs.

The script's origin is a mystery. One possibility is that it evolved from Sumerian scripts 5,000 years ago. But what is certain is that, by the fourth century AD, the use of hieroglyphics had died out – along with anyone who could read it. For hundreds of years, all attempts to decipher it failed.

MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

It was quite damaged, and missing big chunks, but on the slab there could clearly be seen three sets of writing – one in Greek, one in the ancient Egyptian Demotic script, and one in hieroglyphics. Could this stone be the key to deciphering the pharaohs' script?

Copies of the text were taken and sent to scholars throughout Europe. The Greek text was translated first, but it was not until 1822 that the first translation of the Egyptian texts was published. The secret of hieroglyphics had finally been cracked.

The text on the stone tells of the magnificence of King Ptolemy V, "the manifest god whose excellence is fine", and requests that he be worshipped as other gods are.

When the British defeated the French in Egypt in 1801, the stone was taken back to London and put on display in the British Museum, where it remains.

In recent years there have been calls for it to be returned to Egypt.

The Ancient Rosetta Stone with Egyptian hieroglyphics