The defeated were required to hand over all their ancient Egyptian artifacts. However, that attempt failed in 1801 due to the victory of English troops over the French. But even they had no explanation and wanted to take the find back to France for further investigation. He informed French archaeologists who had accompanied the troops. Egypt is rich with ancient wonders, including the Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza Image: AlexAnton/Zoonar/picture alliance A mysterious discoveryīut what did the three texts mean? Were they identical messages in different languages and scripts? Lieutenant Pierre-Francois Bouchard, commander of the Napoleonic expeditionary corps, was completely fascinated. Of the lower, ancient Greek text, a large corner piece was missing. The middle text in Demotic script, an ancient Egyptian form of writing for daily business, was the best preserved. In addition, many lines were damaged at the edges. The slab was also damaged: Two thirds of the upper text, illegible hieroglyphics, were missing.
The stone tablet made of a granite-like igneous rock, just 112 centimeters high and 75.7 centimeters (44 x 30 inches) wide, turned out to be a fragment of a much larger ancient stele.īut what did the inscriptions, letters and symbols mean? None of the men taking part in Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign (1798-1801) preparing to fight the troops of the Ottoman Empire had any idea what treasure they were holding in their hands. Three sections of writing were carved into the surface. On July 19, 1799, French soldiers pulled an inconspicuous stone slab out of the rubble of a demolition wall in Rosetta, a port city on the Nile Delta.