Rhakotis. The Greek name of the town on whose site Alexander the Great built Alexandria (which see). [91]
Rising Sun. The god Râ. [22]
Rome. The capital of the ancient world. Its Egyptian name occurs on the Barberini Obelisk as
Rosetta. A modern town at the mouth of the Bolbitinic arm of the Nile. It was the ancient Bolbitiné. [91]
Rosetta Stone. Without a doubt this is the most important monument of antiquity that has come down to us. It is a stelé of black basalt, bearing an inscription in Hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek. It contains a decree of the priests in honor of Ptolemy V. Epiphanes, which was issued on March 27, 195 B. C. This stone, discovered in 1799, furnished the key for deciphering the hieroglyphs, and is now preserved in the British Museum. [92]
Rotennu. A Syrian people who were repeatedly defeated and subjugated by kings of the XVIIIth and later dynasties. They were subdivided into the Upper and Lower Rotennu, and their Egyptian name was
Saccarah. A modern village near the site of ancient Memphis with a number of famous pyramids. The name is undoubtedly derived from that of the god Ptah-Sokar-Osiris. [91]