The Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone: What the Decree Says
E. A. Wallis Budge (1857–1934)
1913, on a decree of 196 BCE

Cold Library · Open Stacks · S-008013 · https://coldlibrary.com/s/008013
Rights: Published in 1913; the author died in 1934. Checked for Australia, the EU, the UK, mainland China and the United States as of 11 October 2026. Guidance, not legal advice.
Source: Project Gutenberg #48649, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/48649/pg48649.txt (retrieved 2026-10-11)
Generated 2026-10-14 from https://coldlibrary.com/en/open-stacks/rosetta-stone-budge

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The Writing on the Stone

The inscription on the Rosetta Stone is written in two languages, that is to say, in Egyptian and in Greek. The Egyptian portion of it is cut upon it in: I. the hieroglyphic character, that is to say, in the old picture writing which was employed from the earliest dynasties in making copies of the Book of the Dead, and in nearly all state and ceremonial documents that were intended to be seen by the public; and II. the demotic character, that is to say, the conventional, abbreviated and modified form of the hieratic character, or cursive form of hieroglyphic writing, which was in use in the Ptolemaïc Period. The Greek portion of the inscription is cut in ordinary uncials. The hieroglyphic text consists of 14 lines only, and these correspond to the last 28 lines of the Greek text. The Demotic text consists of 32 lines, the first 14 being imperfect at the beginnings, and the Greek text consists of 54 lines, the last 26 being imperfect at the ends. A large portion of the missing lines of the hieroglyphic text can be restored from a stele discovered in 1898 at Damanhûr in the Delta (Hermopolis Parva), and now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (No. 5576), and from the copy of a text of the Decree cut on the walls of a temple at Philæ, and the correctness of the restorations of broken passages in the Demotic and Greek texts being evident, we are justified in assuming that we have the inscription of the Rosetta Stone complete both in Egyptian and Greek.


The Contents of the Inscription on the Rosetta Stone

The inscription on the Rosetta Stone is a copy of the Decree passed by the General Council of Egyptian priests assembled at Memphis to celebrate the first commemoration of the coronation of Ptolemy V, Epiphanes, king of all Egypt. The young king had been crowned in the eighth year of his reign, therefore the first commemoration took place in the ninth year, in the spring of the year B.C. 196. The original form of the Decree is given by the Demotic section, and the Hieroglyphic and Greek versions were made from it.

The inscription is dated on the fourth day of the Greek month Xandikos (April), corresponding to the eighteenth day of the Egyptian month Meshir, or Mekhir, of the ninth year of the reign of Ptolemy V, Epiphanes, the year in which Aetus, the son of Aetus, was chief priest and Pyrrha, the daughter of Philinus, and Areia, the daughter of Diogenes, and Irene, the daughter of Ptolemy, were chief priestesses. The opening lines are filled with a list of the titles of Ptolemy V, and a series of epithets which proclaim the king's piety towards the gods, and his love for the Egyptians and his country. In the second section of the inscription the priests enumerate the benefits which he had conferred upon Egypt, and which may be thus summarized:

1. Gifts of money and corn to the temples.
2. Gifts of endowments to temples.
3. Remission of one half of taxes due to the Government.
4. Abolition of one half of the taxes.
5. Forgiveness of debts owed by the people to the Government.
6. Release of the prisoners who had been languishing in gaol for years.
7. Abolition of the press-gang for sailors.
8. Reduction of fees payable by candidates for the priesthood.
9. Reduction of the dues payable by the temples to the Government.
10. Restoration of the services in the temples.
11. Forgiveness of rebels, who were permitted to return to Egypt and live there.
12. Despatch of troops by sea and land against the enemies of Egypt.
13. The siege and conquest of the town of Shekan (Lycopolis).
14. Forgiveness of the debts owed by the priests to him.
15. Reduction of the tax on byssus.
16. Reduction of the tax on corn lands.
17. Restoration of the temples of the Apis and Mnevis Bulls, and of the other sacred animals.
18. Rebuilding of ruined shrines and sacred buildings, and providing them with endowments.

As a mark of the gratitude of the priesthood to the king for all these gracious acts of Ptolemy V, it was decided by the General Council of the priests of Egypt to "increase the ceremonial observances of honour which are paid to Ptolemy, the ever-living, in the temples." With this object in view it was decided:

1. To make statues of Ptolemy in his character of "Saviour of Egypt," and to set up one in every temple of Egypt for the priests and people to worship.
2. To make figures of Ptolemy [in gold], and to place them in gold shrines, which are to be set side by side with the shrines of the gods, and carried about in procession with them.
3. To distinguish the shrine of Ptolemy by means of ten double-crowns of gold which are to be placed upon it.
4. To make the anniversaries of the birthday and coronation days of Ptolemy, viz., the XVIIth and the XXXth days of the month Mesore, festival days for ever.
5. To make the first five days of the month of Thoth days of festival for ever; offerings shall be made in the temples, and all the people shall wear garlands.
6. To add a new title to the titles of the priests, viz., "Priests of the beneficent god Ptolemy Epiphanes, who appeareth on earth," which is to be cut upon the ring of every priest of Ptolemy, and inserted in every priestly document.
7. That the soldiers may borrow the shrines with figures of Ptolemy inside them from the temples, and may take them to their quarters, and carry them about in procession.
8. That copies of this Decree shall be cut upon slabs of basalt in the "writing of the speech of the god," i.e. hieroglyphs, and in the writing of the books, i.e. demotic, and in the writing of the Ueienin, i.e. Greek. "And a basalt slab on which a copy of this Decree is cut shall be set up in the temples of the first, second and third orders, side by side with the statue of Ptolemy, the ever-living god."