1. Liceo Publio Virgilio Marone
C1-FSE 2010-2246

3. When was the text of the Rosetta
Stone written and why?
The Rosetta Stone is an
ancient Egyptian stele
dating back to 196 BC
and it was issued at
Memphis on behalf of
King Ptolemy V, (then a
thirteen year old boy), in
occasion of his crowning.

4. What does the Rosetta Stone say?
The Rosetta Stone contains an
inscription with three different
spellings:
hieroglyphics, demotic and
Greek. The text gives all the
benefits returned to the country
by the king Ptolemy V: he
repealed the taxes, and
subsequently the clergy
decided to erect a statue in his
honour in all the temples, to
place gold statues alongside
those of the gods and to hold
celebrations in his honour.

5. Why was the Stone so important?
The importance of the Rosetta Stone
does not lie in the content itself but
in the fact that it was written in three
scripts: the upper text is Ancient
Egyptian hieroglyphs which was used
by the ruling class, then the middle
portion is demotic, used by common
people, and the lowest one is Ancient
Greek. Its translation was very
important because it allowed us to
decipher the Egyptian written
language that had long been out of
use and that was totally unknown.
Furthermore it is useful to
understand and know ancient
Egyptian society thanks to its
contents.

6. Try to persuade the International Tribunal that Britain is
the rightful owner of the Rosetta Stone and that it
should remain in the British Museum.
The discovery of the stone is attributed to the Within the context of this unparalleled
French captain Pierre-Francois Bouchard. collection, the Rosetta Stone is an
Actually, an unknown soldier found it but important representation of Egyptian
Bouchard, who understood its importance, civilization. Each year millions of
showed the stone to the French General visitors admire the stone and
Jacques Francois Menou. This General understand its importance.
decided to move Rosetta stone to
Alessandria. But when in 1801 a war broke out As for the Egyptian pretensions to bring
between France and England, the English the stone back to their country, we want
troops won and there was a dispute over the to underline that English government is
remains found by the French. In fact the more able than the Egyptian one to
English soldiers considered the stone as a protect and keep ancient treasures,
part of their booty in the name of King because our museums are endowed with
George III. This is the reason why the stone security systems and air conditioning
has to stay in the British Museum and not in which is necessary to preserve ancient
France. The British Museum exists to tell the documents and to prevent their
story of cultural achievements throughout deterioration. Moreover the political
the world from the dawn of human history situation in Egypt is not steady enough
over two million years ago until the present so it might be dangerous to bring the
day. The Museum is a unique resource for the stone there.
world: the breadth and depth of its collection
allows the world public to re-examine
cultural identities and explore the complex
network of interconnected world cultures.