The fragment over which the scientist dreamed was the Rosetta Stone. It is merely a piece of black basalt 28½ inches wide and 45 inches in length. The top left corner has disappeared in the dust of centuries, and both corners on the right side have been smashed off. The remainder is one of the world’s greatest treasures, for it has given us the clue to the past, unfolded for us the romance of ancient Egypt, and enabled us to glimpse the Pharaohs in all their glory.
The Rosetta Stone is divided into three sections, each of which is covered with writing cut into the surface. The top section is composed of hieroglyphics, the curious picture-writing of ancient Egypt, the middle section is in the everyday writing of the ordinary people of ancient Egypt, known as demotic characters, and the bottom section is in Greek.
This famous stone has travelled far from its original resting-place in the Nile delta, where it may have lain for close on two thousand years. Had Napoleon not made up his mind to conquer Egypt it might never have been recovered. By chance, Napoleon managed to escape Nelson, who was searching the Mediterranean for him, and landed his expedition at Alexandria. Sweeping everything before him, Bonaparte soon dominated the country and despoiled the conquered people of the relics of the past.
Then Nelson, coming back to look for his foe, found the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, and swept it for ever from the seas. Napoleon was shaken, but hid his mortification, and in due course set off to invade Syria. Gazah, of Biblical history, fell before him, Jaffa was captured, but at Acre another British Admiral, Sir Sydney Smith, intervened. The French ships sailing along the coast with stores for Napoleon’s troops were captured, and the British sailor then threw himself heart and soul into the defence of the city. Napoleon fought desperately for weeks to capture Acre, but the Admiral was his match, and the French forces were at last compelled to retreat.
About this time a sapper was digging away in the ruins of Fort St. Julian when his pick struck against a rock. He drove the tool into the soil to see if the rock were large or small, and whether it would be difficult to remove. He quickly discovered that the rock was of no great size, and in a few minutes it was lying clear at the bottom of the trench.
Glancing idly at the stone, the Frenchman noticed it was covered with strange characters. The soldier was quite interested in his find, so interested that he cleaned the whole surface of the strange stone he had unearthed. That the characters were some sort of writing was obvious, but what it was all about was much more than he could tell. Other men might have thrown the stone aside and covered it up again, but fortunately the finder possessed intelligence and the curious stone was added to the rest of the booty collected by the French.
That stone, unearthed in 1798, was the piece of black basalt which is now to be seen at the British Museum in London. It became known as the Rosetta Stone because it was found near Rosetta, the seaport whence Napoleon eventually fled from Egypt, and when the French were defeated it passed into our possession as one of the spoils of war.
It seems strange that two of the greatest figures in history, Nelson and Napoleon, should be connected with the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. Stranger still to think what might have happened had the soldier who found the stone smashed it to pieces or tossed it out of the way. These things might easily have occurred, as they have no doubt occurred to many valuable relics in bygone times.
Had the Rosetta Stone not come to light, one of the vital links with Egypt’s past would have been missing. We might still be groping in the dark, wondering what all the quaint picture-writing of the Egyptians meant, seeking for the clue that would tell us. Luckily the man who found the stone saw that it was something more than a broken piece of rock, and so preserved it for posterity.
