The Rosetta Stone

[jiacinto]

What is it

[Andy_Stephenson]

1. The key that allowed us to read

Egyptian Hieroglyphs. It is written in 3 languages...Greek and 2 styles of hieroglyphs. First word translated was cleopatra.

[jiacinto]

7. Is that what made it possible

to translate Egyptian?

[roughsatori]

2. here's a link

http://www.ba.dlr.de/ne/pe/virtis/stone1.htm

[David Zephyr]

3. It Sits in the British Museum Next to a Fossile of Tony Blair.

n/t

[Andy_Stephenson]

5. I have been there...and ooooooops

touched the side of it.

[XanaDUer]

8. Me too.

was that bad of us? No one seemed to care. In the Met Museum in NYC, the guards are vigilant (as they should be, of course).

[Brian Sweat]

16. Did you get goose bumps

I would be in total awe of the Rosetta stone just because it is over two thousand years old. Throw in the fact that it is one of the most historically significant artifacts around and you have a completely mind numbing experience. I would rather see the Rosetta Stone than the Mona Lisa.

[XanaDUer]

18. The Mona Lisa was a little disappointing...

and very small.

I did get goose bumps when I saw the remnants of a Roman wall in the middle of London-wild.

[David Zephyr]

23. But It Is A "Leonardo," My Dear.

And that is something, nes pas?

[XanaDUer]

25. Yes.

I preferred the goddess Nike.

[David Zephyr]

Well, Venus de Milo Rooms Near the Mona Lisa

and perhaps that is her goddess.

[Andy_Stephenson]

10. The British Museum

Is ASTOUNDING....they have a wonderful collection of Egyptian Antiquities.



Good thread Carlos!

Hopefully it will stay friendly.

[XanaDUer]

13. Why would it not stay friendly?

n/t.

[Andy_Stephenson]

34. You never know....

flame bait threads like this one can get ugly quick.
:hi:

[XanaDUer]

36. I think I see what you mean.

Not sure what they mean, but (shrug).

[David Zephyr]

14. Well, They Sort of Stole Those Antiquities, Didn't They?

In a proper British sort of way, of course.

[XanaDUer]

17. Did you touch the Elgin marbles?

Just kidding.

Didn't Melina Mercouri want them back? And Greece of course, wants them back.

[David Zephyr]

20. Fondling Antiquities is a No, No. But, If No One is Looking....

But it was the Karl Marx Desk that did it for me...not the stone.

[XanaDUer]

21. I'd love to touch his desk...

We all have the antiquities that turn us on...


Once, I really, really wanted to touch a horse sculpture from Pompeii.

But I controlled myself.

[David Zephyr]

24. Which Part of the Horse?

If it was in Pompeii, then it must have been rock hard.

[XanaDUer]

28. Hmmmm

what a suggestive question.

I really wanted to touch...his nose!

The rest of him was missing, poor thing. He could no longer act as stud.

[David Zephyr]

30. Pre-Viagra Equestrians

Poor things.

[XanaDUer]

29. PS

The horse and I were in NYC. I guess they got his head out.

The guard was not looking, but I did not touch it.

[Andy_Stephenson]

32. Those were my words as I walked

through the galleriees.

[caribmon]

41. And they have a greek temple

almost in its entirety... which the Greeks want back.

[Andy_Stephenson]

43. And the friezes from the Parthenon.

they should go back to Greece.

[David Zephyr]

11. Then, We've Caressed The Stone Together In Warped Time/Space Fabric

Well, when I'm at the British Museum I prefer to stroke the desk where Karl Marx worked. Far more satisying.

[XanaDUer]

6. I touched it.

The RS, not the fossil of Tony Blair.

[Wonk]

4. Google is your friend. http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Rosetta+Stone%22

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Rosetta+Stone%22

[NewYorkerfromMass]

9. Google is the "Rosetta Stone of the internet" nt

[Andy_Stephenson]

12. I certainly have to agree with that statement.

"Google is the "Rosetta Stone of the internet"

[JanMichael]

15. Perhaps a rock.

Lets get off the mythology my friend. Perhaps we can focus, work, on the material world for a while?

[Brian Sweat]

26. There is nothing mythological about the Rosetta Stone

It is simply a tablet with the same proclaimation written once in hieroglyphic, once in Demotic and once in ancient Greek. Because scientist could read Demotic and ancient Greek, they were able to use the Rosetta Stone to decypher hieroglyphic writting. Once scientist were able to read hieroglyphic writting, they were able to read tons of information left behind by the ancient Egyptians from as far back as 5000 years ago and earlier.

[JanMichael]

31. Sssh! I was only reading into, projecting I suppose, into motives!

"Mary", "Rosetta Stone" etcetera.

I'm a "Here & Now" sort of DU'er...I guess that I just don't dig the speculative conjecture occasionally.

Sorry for the confusion.

[Clete]

19. Rosetta stone.

Brought back by Napoleon's armies from the conquest of Egypt. Up until then no one really knew what the old Egyptian heiroglyphs meant. The Rosetta Stone had a tract written in three languages, one of them a modern enough language to translate the ancient ones. I am sorry I don't remember off hand which were the known languages but o I believe one was a form of ancient Greek.

[XanaDUer]

22. Yes, ancient Greek

and Hieretic . The Greek was linear B.

[MrPrax]

27. Must be more of the same

I am sorry but since the politiburo sent out the call for NEW moderators the content on all the DU postings have been downhill...
This is one of them...I think the OPS should do a search
Just an Opinion...an month ago this site was pretty informative and lively...
NOW...questions like
"Get ready for a potential spike in Bush's numbers."!!!
With nothing else to post...

[JanMichael]

33. I smashed an empty beer bottle down on the driveway and read...

...they broken shards of glass..

They indicated an hangover for tomorrow...

[XanaDUer]

35. Hi JanMichael!

What the hell are you talking about?

Also, is there a FL meet-up going on soon?

LC

[JanMichael]

38. Oh nothing really.

I just thought the mythology was a Meeting Room game.

I was trying to be cutesy/sarcastic waaaaay too late!

[XanaDUer]

39. Okay,then stay away from the

midwifery thread. It could get ugly. :)

[Joeve]

42. Hmm

JanMichael, I'm confused by your constant references to "mythology" which has nothing to do with the Rosetta Stone. The stone is not a myth, nor is what's written on it mythological, it was and is a valuable artifact that helped open up the wonders of ancient Egypt to us.

As for touching historical objects, many years ago I lived in Italy, near Napoli (Naples) where I worked for the US Navy as a civilian. Just north of Napoli, where I worked, and south of the town of Lago Lucrino, where I lived, lies the city of Pozzuoli, which is partly famous for being the birthplace of Sophia Loren. Anyway, in Pozzuoli there is a small Colisseum, similar to Rome's but much smaller, about the size of a small hockey or basketball arena. One day some friends and I bought some sandwiches at a local Italian deli (I forget the Italian name of the place) and we snuck into the Colisseum, sat on the ancient seats, and ate our sandwiches. As I sat there I wondered about who had sat in that seat before, and what their lives must have been like. It was an extraodrinary feeling that I have never forgotten.

I also visited the actual Roman Colliseum, though we couldn't sit in it. The Romans were masterful architects.

-Joe

[David Zephyr]

37. Tea Leaves Are Better, JanMichael.

Red ones, of course. :hi:

[Ediacara]

40. It was a translation guide

It allowed us modern linguists and archaeologists decipher ancient Egyptian. Among other things, we now know that Ancient Egyption is a rather ordinary Afro-Asiatic language not much different from Arabic or Hebrew. Additionally, we know that Coptic, which is written in a Greek-style script, is it's direct descendant.

For as cheesey as the Mummy movies (Brendan Fraser) were, I think they were actually speaking real Ancient Egyptian.