Race to Decipher Ancient Languages: Two Brilliant Minds

How a single building unlocked the world's forgotten languages

Chapter 1

The stone that spoke three tongues

Chapter 2

Cracking the clay code of Babylon

Chapter 3

Unraveling the mystery of Maya glyphs

Chapter 4

Lost scripts we still cannot read

YOUR GOAL

Master of How a single building unlocked the world's forgotten languages

Ch 1 · The stone that spoke three tongues

choko Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion competed to decode ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

choko The Rosetta Stone

Three scripts showing just one decree (yeah, that's it) / Unlocked all the secrets we couldn't read (oh-oh)

choko British forces claim the Rosetta Stone and ship it to London

How the Rosetta Stone reached London

choko The British Museum acquired the famous stone through a treaty following military battles in Egypt.

The race between two brilliant minds

choko An English polymath and a French linguistic genius raced to decode the mysterious hieroglyphs.

The Chatty Pebble

BETA

choko Decode the carved symbols to learn how one stone unlocked the world's forgotten languages.

Fun Fact

Rosetta Stone dust: The Rosetta Stone was originally thought to be black basalt, but cleaning revealed it is actually dark grey granodiorite.

Glossary

rosetta stone (noun)
A key that provides a means of decoding a highly difficult problem or translating a mysterious language. French soldiers unearthed this granodiorite slab in 1799, enabling scholars to finally decode ancient Egyptian writing.

Gossip

Where should the Rosetta Stone be displayed?

Quiz

In which modern country was the Rosetta Stone discovered in 1799?

choko French soldiers accidentally uncover the Rosetta Stone in Egypt.

Quiz

In what year did the Rosetta Stone arrive at the British Museum?

choko Scholars decipher ancient hieroglyphs carved on Egyptian monument walls

Quiz

What did English polymath Thomas Young discover about the oval-shaped 'cartouches' in hieroglyphs?

Quiz

Why was ancient Greek included on the Rosetta Stone?

Quiz

Which three scripts were carved onto the Rosetta Stone?

Quiz

Which French scholar is credited with deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs in 1822?

Quiz

The decree on the Rosetta Stone was issued during the reign of which pharaoh?

Quiz

Under which treaty did the British Museum acquire the Rosetta Stone in 1801?