Rosetta Stones

Napoleon knew that conquering Egypt would undermine British access to India, which meant crippling their economic empire.

In 1798, Bonaparte embarked on an expedition that would have lasting implications far beyond his military objectives. Among his legion of soldiers and engineers, he brought along an unexpected cohort of more than 150 scholars who were tasked to explore and document Egypt's rich historical legacy.

In a dusty corner of Fort Julien, near the Egyptian port town of Rashid, their efforts culminated in a discovery that would reverberate through the ages: a slab of black basalt, etched with mysterious inscriptions.

This “Rosetta Stone” was inscribed with three different scripts: Ancient Greek, Demotic, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. In an unreal stroke of luck, all three languages said pretty much the same thing, and the secrets of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics were almost instantly unlocked. In doing so, a window opened into a civilization that had remained enigmatic for centu…