The Rosetta Stone

"The Rosetta Stone" by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge is a historical account written in the early 20th century. The book focuses on the discovery and significance of the Rosetta Stone, an ancient artifact that played a crucial role in the understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs. It delves into the stone's origins, its various inscriptions in Greek, Demotic, and hieroglyphics, and its profound impact on the field of Egyptology. The content of the book traces the Rosetta Stone's journey from its discovery by French officers during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt to its eventual arrival in the British Museum. Budge outlines the various translations and decipherments initiated by scholars, highlighting key figures like Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion, who unraveled the mysteries of the hieroglyphic inscriptions. The book also provides an overview of the decree inscribed on the stone, which celebrates the achievements of Ptolemy V and documents the king's benevolent acts toward the Egyptian people and temples. Overall, it emphasizes the Rosetta Stone's pivotal role in the resurgence of interest in ancient Egyptian language and culture. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East. He made numerous trips to Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan on behalf of the British Museum to buy antiquities, and helped it build its collection of cuneiform tablets, manuscripts, and papyri. He published many books on Egyptology, helping to bring the findings to larger audiences. In 1920, he was knighted for his service to Egyptology and the British Museum.