Today in History July 19, 1799 Key to the Kingdom French troops
stationed in the Nile Valley during Napoleon Bonaparte's
occupation of Egypt find the Rosetta Stone on July 19, 1799. The
black stone slab, from the 2nd century, BC, is inscribed in
three scripts: hieroglyphics; demotic, an Egyptian script; and
Greek, introduced after Alexander the Great's conquest of the
area. Because scholars could read Greek, the stone becomes a key
to deciphering ancient Egyptian scripts. Following Bonaparte's
surrender to Britain in 1801, the Rosetta Stone becomes the
property of Britain, where remains on exhibit in the British
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