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The Rosetta Stone
For centuries, Egyptian hieroglyphics remained a complete mystery. But then the Rosetta Stone was discovered. This one find resulted in a revolutionary change. The inscribed text on the stone isn't very important, some public notice or other, but what makes it so amazing is that the same text is written in three languages; ancient Greek, Demotic, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. (like some tourist leaflets that have translations into different languages, but contain the same information). At the time, ancient Greek was well understood by scholars, so having the same text in hieroglyphs allowed the meanings to be found, like cracking a code.
The Rosetta Stone is therefore an icon of translation, and when it is on show in the British Museum (as seen in the picture here), it is often tricky to get near because of the numbers of people who want to see it. It was especially difficult taking this photo here, as it required skill to take a flash photo of an object in a glass case with people crowding round it.
Further information: The actual Rosetta Stone is about 3ft high, black, and has seen a lot of wear and damage over the years, (although it's being kept well now (2001)). The British Museum also has a full size replica, but the one in the photo is the actual Rosetta Stone. Also, it's possible to buy small copies in varying degrees of resolution and price from the British Museum Store.
Sorry the picture is a bit dark and it's impossible to see the writing on the stone. I can assure you that the writing is quite clear to see if you're there seeing it! There's quite a lot of text on the stone, and it doesn't come out well on 640x480.
I would like to put on this page a freeware/shareware software copy of the Rosetta Stone on which you can see the actual writing. I would guess that it is more than fifty years since the death of the writers (plus a millennium or two), so it likely out of copyright. So, it might be worth asking nicely at the British Museum.
Also see Rosetta Software's review on the Rosetta Stone (was http://www.rosetta.com/RosettaStone.html)
Then again,
if you're looking for the BAND Rosetta Stone,
You might try this: http://www.angelfire.com/co/rsff/
Other places called Rosetta Stone include www.rosetta-stone.co.uk the UK business information management solutions company whose motto is "Helping companies improve their Business Performance through the successful implementation of Information Management Solutions". See their page about the Rosetta Stone
| Wanted: Full-size replica of the Rosetta Stone. Potential buyer requires full-size replica of the legendary Rosetta Stone. The British Museum used to sell full-size replicas a while ago, but demand was not high. However, there are probably still some of these out there. If you have such a Rosetta Stone (full size), or know where such an artifact can be obtained, please let us know so we can forward the information on the the potential buyer. |
I will be able to provide full sized replicas in the near future. I am negotiating with a company to make them after we make a mold of the few replicas that British Museum made from the original stone. Glen Kuban gkpaleo [at] yahoo.com |
There is clearly a
matter of the supply and demand for the full-size replica of the
Rosetta Stone and there have been a number of requests for such.
If this is for you, good luck!
Just in case
you're interested, you can get a variety of Rosetta Stone
paraphernalia at The British Museum Shop (just follow through to
the place and then do a search for "rosetta"). As the
Rosetta Stone is an icon of historic proportions it's to be
expected that all kinds of things can be got with it on!
There is a company in the business of providing language teaching courses, and they have named the company after the famous Rosetta Stone! See Rosetta Stone Language to look at the possibility of learning a language.
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