Discovery of the Rosetta Stone (1799)

Hello. My name is Pierre. I was a soldier from a faraway country called France. A long, long time ago, I was working in a warm, sunny land called Egypt. The sun felt like a warm blanket, and the sand was yellow and soft under my boots. It was a very hot day. My friends and I were working so hard together. We were building a new fort to help keep us safe. The date was July 15th, 1799. To make space for our new fort, we had to take down an old, crumbly wall. Thump, thump, went our tools. As I was helping, I saw something dark peeking out from the wall. It was not just a regular rock. It was big and flat and looked very important. I stopped what I was doing and called to my friends. “Look.” I said. “What could this be?” It felt like we were finding a hidden treasure. I was so excited to see what was underneath all that dust and dirt. I knew right away it was something special.

We carefully pulled the stone out. It was a big, dark slab, almost like a giant chalkboard. And it was covered in amazing writing. The best part was that it had three different kinds of writing on it. At the very top, there were little pictures. I saw birds and lions and squiggly lines. These are called hieroglyphs. Below the pictures were two other kinds of writing that looked like swirly, loopy lines. I felt like I had found a secret key. A key that could unlock all the stories of ancient Egypt that no one could read for a very, very long time. And I was right. This special stone, which people later called the Rosetta Stone, helped clever people learn how to read the picture writing. Because of my discovery, now we know all about the amazing pharaohs and tall pyramids from long, long ago.