The Rosetta Stone’s text is a royal decree venerating ... one of the chief generals in Egypt who happened to be at the site. Soldiers excavated the stone and later presented to Napoleon.

As French troops prepared to face Ottoman forces in Rosetta, Egypt, in July 1799, they stumbled upon a chunk of carved stone. Stuck into the wall of a fort, it displayed three languages — and ...

It was in these volatile circumstances that Ptolemy V issued the Rosetta Stone, and others like it. The Stone is not unique; there are another 17 similar inscriptions quite like it, all in three ...