Most people know "Rosetta Stone" as a foreign language training software company. I'm sure most in this audience have heard the story of the r-e-a-l Rosetta Stone.
The Rosetta stone is a broken but invaluable piece of black granite, found near the town of Rosetta (Rashīd), near Alexandria. It was discovered by a Frenchman named Bouchard in August 1799 and shortly thereafter passed into British hands. It can now be seen in the British Museum in London.
The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian stone bearing inscriptions in several languages and scripts. What makes the stone unique is that the decipherment of the languages on the stone finally led to an understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. It was an historic breakthrough.
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