The Washington bee., 1899-07-01
KEY TO PYRAMIDS.
STONE IN BRITISH MUSEUM WHICH
MADE PLAIN EGYPTIAN RECORDS.

MADE PLAIN EGHP TAN RECORDo.
Manners. Customs and Religious Rites OF
the Ancient Egyptian Brought to Light
Throug' she Rosetta stOne-Three Lam
guasss Cut in 1t. -
Tkare are many historic and famous
stones in the world, but few of them
possess the value and interest of the
piece of black basalt called the "Ro-
setta Stone, mounted in the west gall
lery of the British Museum How
many pass idly by this strangely Shap-
ed object each day and scarce give it
the most casual attention. As a mat
ter of fact, had it not been for the
Rosetta Stone, our inguists would have
been absolutely at a loss to deeipher
the Egyptian records; the hieroglyphic
characters would have been meaning
less tracings.
This stone, however. proved the key
to IAe language OF Egypt. and the i'm
portance Of the work which has been
accomplished through this knowledge is
very great indeed. For instance, many
points Of dispute in relation to ancient
history have been cleared up, and. in
some instances, important passages Of
the Bible-especially relating to the
period of time when the Hebrews dwelt
lin the land OF Egypt"-have been
elucidated.
The manners, customs and religious
rites Of the Egyptians have been
brought to light, and, through this
stone, we are enabled to obtain an in
sight into the early history of this won
derful people. With far-seeing sagacity
the mind which directed the cutting OF
the inscriptions upon the Rosetta Stone
had it done in three different languages
mo doubt with view to making the
hieroglyphic characters understood by
the clever Greeks, the most intellectual
people in the world at the time.
The Rosetta Stone is written in three
languages-the Hieroglyphic, or Ian
suage known only to the priest caste;
the Demotic, or Enchurial, the common
speech of the people, and the Greek.
Had it not been for the use of the
Greek. it is doubtful if the Rosetta
Stone would ever have been deciphered.
OF course, every classical scholar has
knowledge of Greek; by this knowledge
the inscriptions in Egyptian language
on the other parts of the stone were
easily made out, and. by use of the key
thus afforded, the whole Of the eharaC-
ters of Egypt-which are picture words
became very easy to read just as one
may decipher the most difficult of crpy-
tOgrams if he be possessed Of key.
The stone IN question is of black ba-
salt, as has been said. 1t is 8 feet z
inches long, feet 6 inches wide. con-
tanning one-third Of the HierOglyphic
and nearly all OF the Greek portions,
the upper part and some of the sides
having been broken away. The in
scriptionS on the stone pertain to a de-
cree in honor Of Ptolemy Epiphanes by
the priests of Egypt, assembled at a
synod at Memphis The synod was
convened on account of his remission
of the arrears of taxes, and dues owed
by the SaCerdotal body. So it seems,
even in those early days, the "Sacer-
dOtal body" were ready TO convOke syn
ods on the slightest provOcatiOn, espec-
tally in regard to their dues and
taxes"
This in itself is an instructive lesson
which shows us that the world is about
the same today as it was in b. c. 1856,
when the stone was set up. The ROset-
ia Stone in the British Museum is the
only discovered specimen of the nu-
merous inscriptions of a similar nature
set up at the same time.
The stone was found in 1899 by NJ.
Boussard, French officer Of engineers,
during the French occupation of Egypt.
1t was unearthed in an excavation
made at Fort st. Julian, near Rosetta,
a city of Egypt. on the west bank of
the old Bolbitic Nile. The name "Ro-
setta" is derived from an old Egyptian
word ROusat,' meaning the mouth OF
the Nile" Recent excavations show
that this stone was found on the site
OF a temple dedicated to Necho III. OF
tie twenty-sixth dynasty The wor-
shippers in this temple paid homage to
the Solar GCi, Alum or Tum.