Ancient Inscribed Slab Brought To Light (Another Rosetta Stone - Three Languages)

IOL ^ | 4-19-2004

[blam]

Ancient inscribed slab brought to light

April 19 2004 at 03:15PM

Potsdam - A team of German and Egyptian archaeologists working in the Nile Delta has unearthed "quite a remarkable" stele dating back 2 200 years to Ptolemaic Egypt which bears an identical inscription in three written languages - like the famed Rosetta Stone.

Announcing the find on Monday, University of Potsdam chief Egyptologist Christian Tietze said the stone fragment was "quite remarkable and the most significant of its kind to be found in Egypt in 120 years".

The grey granite stone, 99cm high and 84cm wide, was found "purely by accident" at the German excavation site of the ruined city of Bubastis, a once important religious and political centre 90km north-east of modern-day Cairo.

It shows a royal decree, written in ancient Greek, Demotic and Hieroglyphs, that mentions King Ptolemy III Euergetes I along with the date 238 BC.

"The decree is significant because it specifically mentions a reform of the ancient Egyptian calendar which was not in fact actually implemented until some 250 years later under Julius Caesar," Tietze said.

The inscription consists of 67 lines of Greek text and 24 lines of Demotic along with traces of Hieroglyphs outlining the calendar reform and praising Ptolemy.

The king is lauded for importing grain from Syria, Phoenicia and Cyprus to alleviate famine in ancient Egypt, among other deeds.

"It documents the might and beneficence of Ptolemy III," Tietze said.

Bubastis was the capital city of Egypt in the eighth Century BC. The temple where the Germany dig site is located was probably destroyed by an earthquake, according to Tietze.

The Rosetta Stone, named after the site where it was discovered in 1977, had an inscription in Greek, Demotic and Hieroglyphs which let to the decryption by Jean-Franaois Champollion of the ancient Egyptian language. The Rosetta Stone is now at the British Museum. - Sapa-dpa

[michigander]

To whom it may concern,
Ptolemy III, the great and merciful, hearby declares:
When this stone is found, many years from now, the world will be Doomed, DOOMED!!
Also, it will be the fault of one man, George W. Bush.

[mtbopfuyn]

...along with the date 238 BC.Well, they do follow up with it was found "purely by accident."

[John H K]

Well, they haven't found the Stargate yet....

[VadeRetro]

It shows a royal decree, written in ancient Greek, Demotic and Hieroglyphs, that mentions King Ptolemy III Euergetes I along with the date 238 BC.

It's the SAME three languages as the Rosetta Stone, and only has traces of the hieroglyphic portion. Thus, I doubt if this is much of a breakthrough for the linguists. (There are still some outstanding questions on the interpretation of some hieroglyphs, but this won't answer them.)

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Sounds like another mission for SG-1.

[John H K]

Yeah, I was relieved to see it was Greek, Denotic, and Hieroglyphs instead of Greek, Denotic, and Goa'uld.

[hopespringseternal]

Is this from the Onion? The writer apparently has a real problem with dates.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Thanks for the interesting post. Perhaps you can answer a question I have (since seeing The Passion) that I have not been able to figure out. Jesus and his followers spoke Aramaic. Who spoke Hebrew in those days? Was Hebrew used only by the priests and Aramaic by the common people? I think the Torah was written in Hebrew, but I'm not altogether sure. In all of your reading, have you ever come across the answers to this question?

[bmwcyle]

I have seen this before?????

[curmudgeonII]

The Rosetta stone is not the only stone found with inscriptons in 3 different languages.

[Theo]

Translation: "To whom it may concern, Ptolemy III, the great and merciful, hearby declares: When this stone is found, many years from now, the world will be Doomed, DOOMED!! Also, it will be the fault of one man, George W. Bush."

[Airborne Longhorn]

Clever...very clever!

Anybody else get it?

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

...and Goa'uld

If it had Goa'uld markings, do you think they would tell us? No.

[Airborne Longhorn]

Just damn, Theo! You're too fast! hehehehehe...

[Textide]

Hehe... Word97 is the electronic Rosetta stone.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

It can't be real then. It would also have to blame Halliburton and the Skull and Bones.

[hunter112]

I did, I recognized Wingdings, and that looks like a good way to encrypt simple messages for fun. Nice thing is, it was easy to cut and paste into a blank Word document, highlight the text, and change the font into a readable one.

[jpsb]

Demotic ????

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[michigander]

I have seen this before?????

Probably not. But, even then, one needed to read the fine hieroglyphs.
At the bottom of the stone, almost imperceptible to the human eye, was this...

Vote for John F'ing Kerry in A.D. 2004!

It appears that King Ptolemy III was one of those foreign leader's endorsements Kerry was talking about.

Who would have pthought??