PROGRAMME ABOUT “THE ROSETTA STONE”

This programme talk about the secrets of the ancient Egyptians, who built pyramid and who
thought up hieroglyphs 

In 1799 Napoleon’s soldiers found out a damaged (granite) rock

under the ground in the Egyptian town of Rosetta.  On the stone
there were three scripts: Greek at the bottom, Demotic in the middle
and Hieroglyphs at the top.

Before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, no-one had managed

to decipher hieroglyphs. People were exploring all of ways of trying to decipher the stone.
Including trying to link the script with Chinese to see if there is a parallel. People wanted to get a
grip on it because it was known from the classical authors that the Egyptian script contained
mysterious pearls of wisdom (wise words) from the Egyptian philosophers.

The first person who understand hieroglyphs was a young Frenchman

named Jean-François Champollion about two thousand years after the
ancient Egyptians themselves. He was certainly a prodigy, He was
encouraged in this by his older brother so there was soon to be no holding
him back, once he got the bug and he made a great job.

Today, the Rosetta Stone is perhaps the most famous museum object in the
world. But it contains a dull (noioso) tax break that describes an agreement
with the pharaon Cleopatra, which allows priests (sacerdoti) not to pay taxes to her.

Vocabulary
hieroglyphs
pictures or symbol that represents words and sounds and were used in ancient Egypt 

decipher
discover the meaning of a piece of writing, even though it is difficult to read or understand 

to get a grip on have the

control of something

pearls of wisdom
wise words, sayings or advice 

prodigy
a young person with a great natural ability or talent for doing something 

there is no holding (somebody) back

(idiom) when someone is doing something so enthusiastically they cannot be stopped

get the bug

suddenly develop a strong enthusiasm for something