Sketches in History | The Speaking Stone
Hello, and welcome back to Sketches in History! I'm Lottie Archer, your guide. Every week, we sit in my grandfather's study and open my magical notebook to a sketch from history, letting it pull us into the past to experience a moment first-hand. Last time, we witnessed the premiere of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, a triumph of human creativity over adversity. Today, we're journeying to yet another remarkable moment, but again, let's begin in my grandfather's study.
The study feels particularly mysterious today. Outside, fog presses against the windows, turning the world beyond into soft, indistinct shapes. This is the perfect weather for uncovering secrets! I notice a small display case on one of the bookshelves. Let’s go see what’s in it.
Inside the case is a collection of small replicas and models, miniature versions of famous artifacts from around the world. There's a tiny Statue of Liberty, a model of the Parthenon, and... what's this rectangular object?
It's a palm-sized plaster replica of a stone tablet with three different types of writing on it. The label beneath it reads "Rosetta Stone, discovered 1799. The key that unlocked ancient Egypt."
Let's see if the notebook has something to show us about this fascinating object. I'll place the replica on the desk and open today's page.
But first, our word of the day: decipher.
Decipher is a word that means solving a code or puzzle to understand writing or language that was previously unknown. When you figure out a secret message or break a code, that's a type of decipherment, which is the noun – a person, place, or thing - form of the word, decipher which is a verb - an action. Today, we're witnessing the discovery of an object that will lead to the greatest decipherment in archaeological history—cracking the code of Egyptian hieroglyphics after 1,500 years of silence.
Extraordinary! The sketch shows soldiers in old-fashioned French military uniforms working in what appears to be the ruins of an ancient fort. One soldier is pointing excitedly at a large, dark stone embedded in a wall they're demolishing. Several officers are gathering around, looking curious. The sketch is beginning to move—I can see dust rising from the construction, and the soldiers gesturing animatedly. You know what that means!
Are you ready? Close your eyes, hold on tight, and let's go!
We made it! The air is hot and dry, filled with dust that makes my eyes water. All around us are the remains of ancient stone walls being dismantled by soldiers in blue and white uniforms with distinctive tricorn hats. Based on their appearance and the snippets of French I can hear, these must be Napoleon Bonaparte's troops in Egypt.
Judging from the replica in Grandfather's display case and what I can see, we must be in the town of Rashid, called "Rosetta" by Europeans, near the Nile Delta in Egypt. The date is July 15, 1799. We're about to witness the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, one of the most important archaeological finds in history!
Let's move closer to see what's happening!
Look over there! That soldier working on demolishing part of an old wall has just uncovered something unusual. He's calling his officer over to look. It's a large slab of dark basalt stone with writing carved into it. The soldiers don't yet realize what they've found, but this stone will change our understanding of history forever.
The officer examining it is Pierre-François Bouchard, a lieutenant in Napoleon's engineering corps. His men are rebuilding an old fort they call Fort Julien when they uncovered this stone embedded in an ancient wall.
Lieutenant Bouchard is pointing out the three distinct bands of text on the stone. At the top are Egyptian hieroglyphics—those picture-like symbols that had puzzled scholars for centuries. In the middle is another Egyptian script called Demotic. And at the bottom is Ancient Greek, which scholars can still read!
Bouchard seems to understand this might be important. I can hear him instructing his men to handle it carefully. He's already planning to send it to scholars with Napoleon's scientific expedition.
What these men don't yet realize is that this stone contains the same text written in three different scripts. Because scholars can read the Greek section, they'll eventually be able to use it as a key to decipher the hieroglyphics—a code that had remained unbroken for 1,500 years since the last ancient Egyptian temple closed.
The stone is being carefully extracted now. It's quite large—about 3.5 feet tall and 2.5 feet wide, weighing over 1,600 pounds! The soldiers are preparing to transport it for closer examination.
This discovery is happening during Napoleon Bonaparte's military campaign in Egypt. While the campaign was primarily military, Napoleon also brought along 167 scientists, engineers, and scholars to study Egypt's ancient civilization. This combination of military expedition and scientific mission was quite revolutionary for its time.
The actual decipherment won't happen immediately. It will take 23 years before a French scholar named Jean-François Champollion finally cracks the code in 1822, using this stone as his key. His breakthrough will unlock thousands of years of ancient Egyptian history, literature, science, and religion that had been silent for over a millennium.
Let's head back to the study before we get recruited to help move that massive stone!
We're back in the study, still feeling the Egyptian heat on our skin! Let's see what the notebook says about today's adventure.
We just witnessed the discovery of the Rosetta Stone on July 15, 1799, near the town of Rosetta (Rashid) in Egypt. French soldiers under Napoleon's command uncovered this black basalt stone while rebuilding an old fort. The stone, containing the same text in three different scripts—hieroglyphics, Demotic, and Ancient Greek—eventually provided the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics, unlocking an entire civilization's written legacy after 1,500 years of silence.
The Rosetta Stone became one of archaeology's most famous discoveries, not for its beauty or rarity, but for the knowledge it unlocked. After Jean-François Champollion deciphered hieroglyphics in 1822, scholars could finally read thousands of ancient Egyptian texts, opening a window into one of history's most fascinating civilizations.
Remember our word of the day? That's right—decipher. The Rosetta Stone led to the decipherment of hieroglyphics, turning meaningless symbols back into a living language. That small replica in Grandfather's display case represents one of history's greatest intellectual achievements—the recovery of a lost language and the voice of an ancient civilization.
What an incredible moment! We witnessed a chance discovery that would eventually bridge a 1,500-year gap in human knowledge. Thanks for joining me in Sketches in History. Don't forget to subscribe to the 15-Minute History Podcast so you'll never miss an adventure. If you have a historical moment you'd like to visit, send your ideas to 15minutehistory@gmail.com.
Until next time, keep wondering, keep imagining, and remember—the past is just a page away.
Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think it was so difficult to decipher hieroglyphics without something like the Rosetta Stone?
2. How do you think ancient Egyptian people would feel knowing their writing became a mystery for over 1,500 years?
3. Can you think of other "keys" that have helped us understand the past?
4. If you could create a message for people 2,000 years in the future, what would you say and how would you make sure they could understand it?
