Ptolemy's concessions to the rebels and his…
196 BCE
Ptolemy's concessions to the rebels and his eventual suppression of them are inscribed on a basalt tablet (later known as the Rosetta Stone) in a bilingual text dating from 196 in Greek and Egyptian (both hieroglyphic and demotic) and referring to known Greek names.
Made up of three translations of a single passage, written in two Egyptian language scripts (hieroglyphic and demotic), and in classical Greek, the Rosetta Stone is carved in a gesture of thanks to the priests for defeating Harmachis, about whose reign little is known as most of the relevant records were destroyed.
The text of the Rosetta Stone is a decree from Ptolemy V, describing the repealing of various taxes and instructions to erect statues in temples.
Discovered by the French in 1799 at Rosetta, a harbor on the Mediterranean coast in Egypt, it will contribute greatly to the decipherment of the principles of hieroglyphic writing in 1822 by the French scholar Jean-François Champollion.
Comparative translation of the stone will assist in understanding many previously undecipherable examples of hieroglyphic writing.
The King, though at thirteen legally an adult, remains under the control of his guardians and advisers.
To forestall further insurrections in the south, he extends the authority of the governor of Thebes to include all Upper Egypt.
A great portion of the Ptolemaic overseas empire has been permanently lost by about 196.
To shore up and advertise the strength of the ruling house at home and abroad, the administration adopts a series of grandiloquent honorific titles for its officers.
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