1-155-965 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

The Rosetta Stone, 196 BC. A basalt slab inscribed with a decree of the Pharaoh Ptolemy Epiphanes (Ptolemy V) (205-180 BC) in three languages; Greek, Hieroglyphic and Demotic script. Discovered near Rosetta in Egypt in 1799, the stone became the key to deciphering Egyptian inscriptions. It was translated by Jean-Francois Champollion between 1822 and 1824. From the British Museum.