Rosetta Stone

discovered in 1799 by the French at Rosetta (during the French invasion of Egypt) and deposited in the British museum. It is a piece of black basalt about 3 feet long and contains a decree of Ptolemy Epiphanies of about 195 B.C  in (1) hieroglyphic (2) demotic and (3) Greek characters. It was by means of the three different inscriptions on the same stone that hieroglyphic writing was first able to be deciphered. 

Photo of Rosetta stone

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