The Rosetta StoneBudge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
History
The Rosetta Stone
Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
Egyptian language -- Writing, Hieroglyphic; Rosetta stone
been taken. Several of these ink impressions were sent to scholars of
great repute in many parts of Europe, and in the autumn of 1801 General
Dagua took two to Paris, where he committed them to the care of
“citizen Du Theil” of the Institut National of Paris.
Footnote 1:
This fort is marked on Napoleon’s Map of Egypt, and it stood on the
left or west bank of the Rosetta arm of the Nile.
THE ARRIVAL OF THE STONE IN ENGLAND.
After the successful operations of Sir Ralph Abercromby in Egypt in the
spring of 1801, a Treaty of Capitulation was drawn up, and by Article
XVI the Rosetta Stone and several other large and important Egyptian
antiquities were surrendered to General Hutchinson at the end of August
in that year. Some of these he despatched at once to England in H.M.S.
“Admiral,” and others in H.M.S. “Madras,” but the Rosetta Stone did not
leave Egypt until later in the year. After the ink impressions had been
taken from it, the Stone was transferred from Cairo to General Menou’s
house in Alexandria, where it was kept covered with cloth and under a
double matting. In September, 1801, Major-General Turner claimed the
Stone by virtue of the Treaty mentioned above, but as it was generally
regarded as the French General’s private property, the surrender of it
was accompanied by some difficulty. In the following month
Major-General Turner obtained possession of the Stone, and embarked
with it on H.M.S. “L’Égyptienne,” and arrived at Portsmouth in
February, 1802. On March 11 it was deposited at the rooms of the
Society of Antiquaries of London, where it remained for a few months,
and the writings upon it were submitted to a very careful examination
by many Oriental and Greek scholars. In July the President of the
Society caused four plaster casts of the Stone to be made for the
Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Dublin, and had good
copies of the Greek text engraved, and despatched to all the great
Universities, Libraries, Academies and Societies in Europe. Towards the
close of the year the Stone was removed from the Rooms of the Society
of Antiquaries to the British Museum, where it was mounted and at once
exhibited to the general public.
DESCRIPTION OF THE STONE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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