Quick answer
The Rosetta Stone is a broken granodiorite slab inscribed in 196 BC with a priestly decree honouring the young King Ptolemy V, written three times: in hieroglyphs, in demotic and in Greek. French soldiers found it at Rashid (Rosetta) in 1799, and by comparing the known Greek with the Egyptian, Jean-François Champollion cracked hieroglyphs in 1822. It has been in the British Museum since 1802.
What is the Rosetta Stone?
It is the lower part of a large stone stela that once stood in an Egyptian temple, carrying the same decree in two languages and three scripts. The top, which probably had a rounded crown with a carved scene, is lost, and the hieroglyphic section is the most damaged: only 14 lines survive, against 32 of demotic and 54 of Greek.
The stela was later broken up and reused as building stone, ending up in the walls of an old fort near the town of Rashid, known to Europeans as Rosetta, where the western branch of the Nile meets the Mediterranean. Its value lies not in what it says, which is fairly routine, but in the fact that the Greek could be read in 1799 and the Egyptian could not.
What does the Rosetta Stone say?
It is a decree issued by a council of priests at Memphis in March 196 BC, praising the teenage King Ptolemy V and setting out how he should be honoured. Ptolemy V was about 13, newly crowned and ruling a country shaken by revolts in the Delta and the south.
The decree lists the king’s good deeds: cancelling tax arrears, releasing prisoners, giving silver and grain to the temples, honouring the sacred bulls Apis and Mnevis, and crushing rebels at a town called Lycopolis. In return the priests agreed to set up a statue of the king in every temple, to celebrate his birthday and coronation each year, and to inscribe the decree on stelae of hard stone in “the writing of the words of the gods, the writing of documents, and the letters of the Greeks”: hieroglyphs, demotic and Greek. In other words, it is a political thank-you note, and copies stood in many temples, which is why fragments of other versions have since been found.
How was the Rosetta Stone found?
French soldiers uncovered it in July 1799 while strengthening Fort Julien near Rashid during Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt. The officer in charge, Pierre-François Bouchard, recognised that the three scripts might be the same text and had it sent to the scholars of the new Institut d’Égypte in Cairo, who made ink prints for colleagues in Europe.
When the French army surrendered in 1801, the Capitulation of Alexandria handed antiquities collected by the expedition to the British. The French general Menou argued that the stone was his private property, but it was shipped to England, reaching Portsmouth in February 1802, and went on display at the British Museum that year. Painted inscriptions on its sides still record that it was captured by the British Army in 1801 and presented by King George III. Our guide to Napoleon in Egypt covers the wider expedition.
How did the Rosetta Stone unlock hieroglyphs?
The Greek gave scholars a translation, and the royal names in cartouches gave them their first sound values; the rest took 20 years of work. The decipherment happened in stages:
- 1802: the Greek was translated, and Silvestre de Sacy and Johan Åkerblad identified some proper names in the demotic.
- 1814–1819: the English polymath Thomas Young showed that the cartouches contained the name Ptolemy, worked out several correct sound values and saw that demotic was related to hieroglyphs.
- 1822: Champollion compared Ptolemy’s cartouche with that of Cleopatra on an obelisk from Philae, matching shared signs for p, t, o and l. Then, studying copies of cartouches from Egyptian temples including Abu Simbel, he read the native names Ramesses and Thutmose, proving that Egyptians had used sound signs for their own language, mixed with word signs.
Champollion announced the breakthrough in his “Letter to Monsieur Dacier” in September 1822. According to a family story, he ran to his brother’s office shouting “I’ve got it!” and collapsed. His knowledge of Coptic, the last stage of Egyptian, let him go further than anyone before him. He finally visited Egypt in 1828–29 and died in 1832, aged 41. Our guide to hieroglyphs explains how the script works, and the one on cartouches shows how to spot royal names.
Why is the Rosetta Stone in London, and will it return to Egypt?
It has been in the British Museum since 1802 under the terms of the 1801 surrender, and at the time of writing the museum has no plans to return it. It is the most visited object in the museum, and for many Egyptians it has become a symbol of colonial-era removals.
Egyptian archaeologists, most prominently the former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass, have repeatedly called for its return, including a widely publicised petition in 2022, the bicentenary of the decipherment. The British Museum’s position has been that it was legally acquired. The debate is part of a wider discussion about objects such as the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin and the Dendera zodiac in Paris, and positions may change, so it is worth checking the latest news before you travel.
Can you visit Rashid, where the stone was found?
Yes: Rashid is a small Nile Delta town about 65 km east of Alexandria, worth a half-day visit for its Ottoman-era brick houses and the fort where the stone was found. It is roughly an hour to an hour and a half by road from Alexandria, so it pairs naturally with a stay there; see our Alexandria guide.
The town’s 18th- and 19th-century merchants’ houses, built of red and black brick with carved wooden window screens, are among the best of their kind in Egypt, and one of them houses a small museum. The fort, rebuilt by the French as Fort Julien, still stands near the river mouth. At the time of writing, replicas of the stone are displayed in the town, but opening hours for its museum and monuments vary, so check locally before you go.
Where to see related monuments in Egypt today
The original is in London, but Egypt has other bilingual decrees and the very cartouches Champollion used.
- The Egyptian Museum, Tahrir: has displayed a copy of the Canopus Decree of 238 BC, an earlier priestly decree in the same three scripts, found at Tanis in 1866. Collections are being moved between Cairo museums, so ask before you go. See our Egyptian Museum guide.
- Philae: the island temple of Isis, which supplied the obelisk with Cleopatra’s cartouche and carries late hieroglyphic and demotic texts, including versions of Ptolemaic priestly decrees. See our Philae Temple guide.
- Abu Simbel: where cartouches of Ramesses II helped Champollion prove that Egyptians wrote their own names with sound signs.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Rosetta Stone now?
In the British Museum in London, where it has been on display since 1802. Replicas can be seen in Egypt, including in Rashid, where it was found.
What language is on the Rosetta Stone?
Two languages in three scripts: Egyptian, written in hieroglyphs and in demotic, and ancient Greek, the language of the Ptolemaic court.
Who found the Rosetta Stone?
French soldiers of Napoleon's army, under the officer Pierre-François Bouchard, found it in July 1799 while rebuilding Fort Julien near Rashid in the Nile Delta.
Who deciphered the Rosetta Stone?
Jean-François Champollion announced the decipherment of hieroglyphs in 1822, building on earlier work by Thomas Young and others. The Greek text had been translated almost immediately after the stone was found.
Why is it called the Rosetta Stone?
Because it was found near Rashid, a town in the Nile Delta that Europeans called Rosetta. 'Rosetta Stone' has since become shorthand for any key that unlocks a mystery.
