Rosetta Stone Discovered

July 15, 1799

French soldiers digging fortifications in the Nile Delta village of Rosetta uncovered a slab inscribed in three scripts - Greek, demotic, and hieroglyphic. Napoleon's savants recognized its value immediately. Within a generation, Champollion would use it to crack hieroglyphs and give ancient Egypt back its voice. The stone was seized by the British after the French surrender and placed in the British Museum, where it remains the most visited object.