The Rosetta Stone has been in the British Museum's collection for more than 200 years. AFP
The Rosetta Stone has been in the British Museum's collection for more than 200 years. AFP
The Rosetta Stone has been in the British Museum's collection for more than 200 years. AFP
The Rosetta Stone has been in the British Museum's collection for more than 200 years. AFP

What is the Rosetta Stone? All you need to know as British Museum faces claim from Egypt


Tim Stickings
  • English
  • Arabic

What is the Rosetta Stone?

A priceless stone tablet from Ancient Egypt, dating back to about 200 BC and rediscovered in 1799, that taught the modern world to read hieroglyphics from more than two millennia ago.

Inscribed on the Stone, 112cm high and made of a granite-like rock, is the same message in three different languages – formal hieroglyphics, an everyday Egyptian script and Ancient Greek.

After its discovery, scholars used their knowledge of Ancient Greek to decode the hieroglyphics and the Stone became one of Egypt’s most famous relics.

How was it discovered?

Accidentally, by French soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars.

Fighting in Egypt, some of Napoleon’s forces came across the Stone while digging the foundations of a fort near the town of Rashid, also called Rosetta.

Pierre-Francois Bouchard, the officer in charge, went down in history as the Stone’s discoverer after realising the significance of his find and passing it to scholars.

But the Stone did not remain in French hands, as Napoleon’s war loot was handed to Britain in the 1801 Treaty of Alexandria, and it was subsequently shipped to England.

A drawing of a 19th-century International Congress of Orientalists examining the Rosetta Stone. Wikimedia Commons
A drawing of a 19th-century International Congress of Orientalists examining the Rosetta Stone. Wikimedia Commons

Where is it now?

The British Museum in London, which has had the Stone in its collection since it was presented by King George III in 1802. It is housed in a glass case in the museum’s Egyptian Sculpture Gallery.

The only time it is known to have left the museum was in 1917, during the First World War, when it was moved to an underground railway tunnel to keep it safe from wartime bombing.

What is written on the Stone?

The actual text is not of enormous significance. It is a decree by a council of priests that venerates a young king, Ptolemy V, on the first anniversary of his coronation.

The Rosetta Stone is only a broken fragment of a larger whole and it is thought that the same message would have been reproduced on other tablets.

But the Stone contained enough clues for French scholar Jean-Francois Champollion to crack the code, although it was not until 1822 that he announced his findings in Paris.

His breakthrough pushed open many more doors as scholars started deciphering letters, documents and works of poetry from Ancient Egypt that had previously been illegible.

The ancient hieroglyphic script deciphered with the help of the Greek text below. AFP
The ancient hieroglyphic script deciphered with the help of the Greek text below. AFP

What are the languages on it?

Hieroglyphics: the pictorial script most commonly associated with Ancient Egypt, although by 200 BC it was already archaic and only used in formal settings such as this. It had fallen into complete disuse by about 400 AD and later scholars could not read it until the Stone’s discovery in 1799.

Demotic script: the everyday script used by literate Egyptians at the time the Rosetta Stone was inscribed. Like hieroglyphics, it fell out of use and was gradually pieced together again with the help of the Stone.

Ancient Greek: used by the rulers of Egypt at the time following its conquest by Alexander the Great. Still understood by some scholars in 1799, it was the key that allowed them to decipher the Egyptian languages.

What will happen to it next?

The British Museum is staging an exhibition to mark 200 years since Champollion’s breakthrough in 1822, titled 'Hieroglyphs: Unlocking Ancient Egypt'.

The Rosetta Stone will be part of the display, which was described by a museum spokeswoman as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for visitors to learn more about the Rosetta Stone’s significance and legacy”.

But some people, notably including Egyptian archaeologist and former antiquities minister Dr Zahi Hawass, believe the Stone was stolen and rightfully belongs in Egypt.

Dr Hawass plans to petition the British Museum this autumn to return the Stone, while making similar appeals to French and German collections to hand over other treasured artefacts.

The museum said no formal request to return the Stone had ever been received.

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Ain Dubai in numbers

126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure

1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch

16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.

9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.

5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place

192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.

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While you're here
JOKE'S%20ON%20YOU
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates

Like a Fading Shadow

Antonio Muñoz Molina

Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez

Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)

Spider-Man%202
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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

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Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

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Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
  • Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
THE CLOWN OF GAZA

Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah 

Starring: Alaa Meqdad

Rating: 4/5

RESULTS

Manchester United 2

Anthony Martial 30'

Scott McTominay 90 6' 

Manchester City 0

CONFIRMED%20LINE-UP
%3Cp%3EElena%20Rybakina%20(Kazakhstan)%0D%3Cbr%3EOns%20Jabeur%20(Tunisia)%0D%3Cbr%3EMaria%20Sakkari%20(Greece)%0D%3Cbr%3EBarbora%20Krej%C4%8D%C3%ADkov%C3%A1%20(Czech%20Republic)%0D%3Cbr%3EBeatriz%20Haddad%20Maia%20(Brazil)%0D%3Cbr%3EJe%C4%BCena%20Ostapenko%20(Latvia)%0D%3Cbr%3ELiudmila%20Samsonova%0D%3Cbr%3EDaria%20Kasatkina%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3EVeronika%20Kudermetova%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3ECaroline%20Garcia%20(France)%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3EMagda%20Linette%20(Poland)%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3ESorana%20C%C3%AErstea%20(Romania)%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3EAnastasia%20Potapova%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3EAnhelina%20Kalinina%20(Ukraine)%E2%80%AF%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3EJasmine%20Paolini%20(Italy)%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3EEmma%20Navarro%20(USA)%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3ELesia%20Tsurenko%20(Ukraine)%0D%3Cbr%3ENaomi%20Osaka%20(Japan)%20-%20wildcard%0D%3Cbr%3EEmma%20Raducanu%20(Great%20Britain)%20-%20wildcard%3Cbr%3EAlexandra%20Eala%20(Philippines)%20-%20wildcard%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The biog

Favourite hobby: taking his rescue dog, Sally, for long walks.

Favourite book: anything by Stephen King, although he said the films rarely match the quality of the books

Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption stands out as his favourite movie, a classic King novella

Favourite music: “I have a wide and varied music taste, so it would be unfair to pick a single song from blues to rock as a favourite"

The Matrix Resurrections

Director: Lana Wachowski

Stars:  Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Henwick 

Rating:****

RESULTS
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What is graphene?

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.

It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.

Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.

By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.

At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.

It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.

But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.

In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties. 

 

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Director: Jon Watts

Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon 

Rating:*****

Sting & Shaggy

44/876

(Interscope)

F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz S 450

Price, base / as tested Dh525,000 / Dh559,000

Engine: 3.0L V6 biturbo

Transmission: Nine-speed automatic

Power: 369hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 500Nm at 1,800rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 8.0L / 100km

What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

Warn others to prevent further harm

Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The%20Killer
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The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
A%20QUIET%20PLACE
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Updated: August 19, 2022, 12:46 PM`