The Rosetta Stone carries one decree in three scripts: hieroglyphs at the top, Demotic in the middle and Greek at the bottom. It was issued by an assembly of priests at Memphis in 196 BC, in the reign of Ptolemy V, and its hieroglyphic text is the part you can now begin to read.
Key idea
The hieroglyphic text names the king in cartouches, most often ptwlmys ꜥnḫ ḏt mrj ptḥ "Ptolemy, living forever, beloved of Ptah". It ends by ordering the decree to be written m sẖ n mdw-nṯr sẖ n šꜥt sẖ n ḥꜣw-nbw "in the writing of the god's words (hieroglyphs), the writing of documents (Demotic) and the writing of the Greeks".
Why it works
The language of the hieroglyphic text is the traditional one of temple inscriptions, close to Middle Egyptian, but the scribes wrote it well over a thousand years after the Middle Kingdom. Their spellings and some of their signs are those of the Ptolemaic Period, and a few constructions reflect later stages of Egyptian. So you will recognize much of the grammar and many words, and you should expect late spellings rather than the classical ones of Sinuhe.
| Egyptian | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ptwlmys | Ptolemy | a Greek name spelled with sound signs (Reading Royal Names) |
| ꜥnḫ ḏt | living forever | ḏt "eternity" |
| mrj ptḥ | beloved of Ptah | a passive participle; Ptah's name is written first out of honor |
| sẖ n mdw-nṯr | the writing of the god's words | the Egyptian name for hieroglyphs |
| sẖ n šꜥt | the writing of documents | Demotic |
| sẖ n ḥꜣw-nbw | the writing of the Greeks | Greek |
Worked example: Read the epithet
Translate mrj ptḥ.
- mrj: the passive participle "beloved" (Passive Participles).
- ptḥ "Ptah", the one who loves, as a direct genitive.
Answer: "Beloved of Ptah."
Common mistake
Expecting classical Middle Egyptian everywhere. Students who have read Sinuhe are puzzled by unfamiliar sign shapes and spellings on the stone. The text is Ptolemaic, with later spellings and new signs. Check: when a word looks odd, compare it with its classical spelling in a dictionary, and expect the meaning to be the familiar one.