Why was the Rosetta Stone so important? - Franziska Naether

Dig into how scholars decoded the writing on the Rosetta Stone, and how this helped them understand ancient hieroglyphs.
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For centuries, scholars puzzled over the hieroglyphs they found carved onto ancient Egyptian ruins, tablets, and papyri. But in 1799, a unique discovery would finally help unlock their meaning. It was a stone inscribed with three different texts: Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Demotic Egyptian, and Ancient Greek. Franziska Naether shares how scholars decoded the ancient message of the Rosetta Stone.
Lesson by Franziska Naether, directed by Tim Rauch.
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Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Hans Peng, Gaurav Mathur, Erik Biemans, Tony, Michelle, Katie and Josh Pedretti, Hoai Nam Tran, Kack-Kyun Kim, Michael Braun-Boghos, zjweele13, Anna-Pitschna Kunz, Edla Paniguel, Thomas Mungavan, Jaron Blackburn, Venkat Venkatakrishnan, ReuniteKorea, Aaron Henson, Rohan Gupta, Begum Tutuncu, Brian Richards, Jørgen Østerpart, Tyron Jung, Carsten Tobehn, Katie Dean, Ezgi Yersu, Gerald Onyango, alessandra tasso, Doreen Reynolds-Consolati, Manognya Chakrapani, Ayala Ron, Eunsun Kim, Phyllis Dubrow, Ophelia Gibson Best, Paul Schneider, Joichiro Yamada, Henrique Cassús, Karthik Cherala, Clarence E. Harper Jr., Vignan Velivela, Ana Maria, Exal Enrique Cisneros Tuch, Tejas Dc, Khalifa Alhulail, Martin Stephen, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Mandeep Singh, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Morgan Williams, Devin Harris, Pavel Zalevskiy, Karen Goepen-Wee and Filip Dabrowski.

[@kailengray2822]

How decoders decoding lost language still never cease to amaze me

[@captainzork6109]

Ye, they puzzle gods

[@iqweencold3144]

@@captainzork6109 fr

[@BertWithoutErnie]

It will tell us where the last island in the grand line is

[@abdulrahmankhalil115]

Bro the likeness is real

[@sfguzmani]

You actually need the other 3 stones.

[@ThePikachufan1]

This is still one of the coolest historical discoveries. The fact that ancient Egyptians kept just detailed record keeping combined with the fact that they wrote a text in multiple languages helped is learn so much about the history of Egyptian civilizations to the point that we have basically it's entire lineage mapped from start to end.

[@AshVXmc]

The rosetta stone is like that one key item from a video game that unlocks knowledge of an ancient script lost to time

[@ommsterlitz1805]

Napoleon was the cheat code of history 😉👍

[@nasreensumaiya7183]

Fr

[@sator6754]

I ain't gon lie bro this gotta be the weakest comparison of all time. It's like saying "this fast car is like that one car that goes fast in a video game"

[@abdulrahmankhalil115]

@@sator6754lol yeah thats what I was thinking too no offense to anyone

[@sator6754]

@@abdulrahmankhalil115 idk why but it ticks me off when people make comparisons like that

[@asdfoifhvjbkaos]

0:12 today i learned the plural of papyrus is papyri

[@fajaradi1223]

I think they got it wrong Papyri = single Papyrus/Papyrwe = plural

[@asdfoifhvjbkaos]

@@fajaradi1223 just looked it up, they got it right in the video

[@ohNickzta]

​@@fajaradi1223 Papyrus is singular and papyri is multiple

[@fajaradi1223]

@@ohNickzta I'm kinda sad, both of you didn't get the joke

[@ohNickzta]

@@fajaradi1223 oh wow that was hilarious should consider stand up comedy

[@tardlyfe3571]

You didn't mention that ancient greek was never forgotten

[@G_Kchrst]

Ancient Greek is far younger than Ancient Egyptian and it was never stopped being spoken as as the Greek culture remained alive within Rome, Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire.

[@kingace6186]

Why bother? This isn't about the relatively new Ancient Greek.

[@tardlyfe3571]

@@kingace6186 Because if you don't say they knew ancient greek then how did they know how to read the rosetta stone? They knew the words in greek and used that to figure out the egyptian

[@Dimor-pl7oy]

​@@G_Kchrst Source?

[@TheAdammantium]

I appreciate the stone carving sound effects during the animations :)

[@andrewreynolds912]

Now i know where the name of my language app's from.

[@jestes7]

Fittingly that app is super outdated.

[@pointystories582]

So much so, that they named the Stone after the app. Totally true fact.

[@SnowyButterfly1]

@@pointystories582wow thats very interesting

[@ErdmanVonAlmaty]

So interesting 💡

[@shadabsaleem4005]

Please make a video on palmistry

[@katherineknapp4370]

This is so cool

[@darlinsebastian.3229]

It was amazing when she said "The troops took the stone to the Britih Museum", what a nice surprise.

[@alainprostbis]

also quite funny to say that the French "encountered the Rosetta stone"... well, not really. They litterally discovered it. it was in the ground, below the surface. oh well...

[@stillwaterbis2203]

@@alainprostbis then the British took it and said it was theirs

[@sfguzmani]

If they didn't bring that there, it would just be destroyed and scholars across the world can never decipher the hieroplyphs. The Rosetta Stone was found as a building stone on the wall of an Egyptian Fort.

[@alainprostbis]

@@sfguzmani no. first it was discovered by the French. not the English. and from its discovery it was copied by French scholars and distributed to scholars the world over, so the message was copied and secured. and it was eventually deciphered by Champollion who was working on the copied message and not from the original Rosetta stone in Britsih museum. .And anyway why and how do you destroy this stone?

[@sfguzmani]

@@alainprostbis Suppose you had thoroughly delved into history and conducted research on this stone. In that case, you’d be aware that the Rosetta Stone tablet is about to serve as construction material for a fortification. Had it not been brought there, it would have faced destruction, leaving scholars worldwide unable to decipher the hieroglyphs.

[@gnoscyde]

When I was a kid we used to pay 25cents for every day we neglect to return the borrowed book from our library. The Rosetta Stone reminds me of a dictionary borrowed from a library.

[@popnx]

Nico Robin probably would solve this

[@MrsJudithWright]

Fascinating. You cover so much in this.

[@macmedia1000]

Great as always i really hope you continue History vs

[@DAngelChavezM]

Rosetta Stone is the pioneer of translation in Human History. Cleverly!

[@cap9684]

The English intercepted it loool

[@2Teach2Know]

Intercepted = STOLE Please let’s tell the truth.

[@markangeloquijano3295]

thank you, ted-ed

[@ezg310]

ydt 2022 seni unutmadık…

[@directorr9080]

I was about to close my eyes but I got notified lol

[@UnfriendlyPlacebo]

Perfectly timing for bedtime viewing

[@TheArtsyAviary.]

They know your bedtime!!!!! THEY KNOW

[@ShiroTube1206]

Good night, have a nice dream!

[@Eastern1]

But it's morning

[@nickdee5764]

Or, lunchtime.

[@squishypotat0752]

Do you live in bejing or something

[@kaze987]

It is truly an incredible feeling to walk into the British Museum, and this the FIRST thing you see. Incredible

[@robynbrowne1277]

And they should return it

[@Mickyway]

​@@robynbrowne1277 no they shouldn't. The Egyptians had it for centuries and did nothing, it was British genius to use it and unlock the ancient world, we should keep it for that.

[@bobjones1999]

@@robynbrowne1277 They were the only ones who took care of the Stone. Previously, the Egyptians just disregarded the stone.

[@lReb]

Fun fact: When the British defeated the French, they took the stone to London under the terms of the Capitulation of Alexandria in 1801. Since 1802, it has been on public display at the British Museum almost continuously and it is the most visited object there.

[@alainprostbis]

the Egyptians are not amused though...

[@pinkpenzu]

​@@alainprostbis too bad

[@arctistarfox]

TIL why the language program I used to (unsuccessfully) learn Spanish in grade school was named after the Rosetta Stone

[@nachodinos3]

Great, great video! DEVUELVAN EL MOAI

[@Newdivide]

2:55 and according to accounts, he shouted, “I got it!” & fainted on the floor

[@thenovicenovelist]

Sounds like a variation of the Archimedes "Eureka" moment or the story about the first person to translate the Gilgamesh story... except with more clothing and more fainting.

[@itacom2199]

There is a missing piece in this story: Champollion was probably the first European to guess that the liturgical language of Coptic is a descendent of Ancient Egyptian, and he took lessons of Coptic from a Coptic priest in Paris, Father John (Abuna Yuhanna).

[@antoniousai1989]

It's referred to in the video.

[@itacom2199]

@@antoniousai1989 Yes, it's true.

[@vanson7709]

oh hi itacom, i saw you a lot on socialist/communist song channel lol

[@itacom2199]

@@vanson7709 Hi

[@bvillafuerte765]

Good video.

[@RaixsOreh]

Great video. But they remembered to mentioned it was "pillaged" but forgot to mention that the Rosetta Stone was found as a building stone on the wall of an Egyptian Fort. The local people didnt realize what they had, the people who "pillaged" it did. Had it not been "pillaged" it probably wpuld have been destroyed as part of the wall it was put on years ago.

[@vengefulbrainiac1395]

exactly

[@ayaanamin3339]

wow

[@saigonmonopoly1105]

what scrool used during nostic craayon

[@matteomocci7948]

Finalmente di nuovo un video come ai bei vecchi tempi di TED-Ed!

[@xantheyellow]

The jab at the british museum at the end... lol

[@Rizzed00]

It's crazy how those dudes two centuries ago were able to decode those funky texts without the use of modern tech!

[@antoniousai1989]

ROFL, modern tech exists because people studied linguistics for millennia.

[@WeenkerIV]

Lol

[@mahlataban686]

Love❤❤❤

[@anirprasadd]

The stone also had ancient greek. That language was well known among scholars across europe

[@refigee8752]

I really want to believe that if the British had the sense of mind to consult the then locals, they could have had a much better chance of deciphering the stone. Entire cultures and customs dont just vanish into thin air, oral history keeps them alive, often in small nuclear families or closely knit communities.

[@khi_wick]

gracias ted-ed

[@yellowstarproductions6743]

Same here

[@westonwadsworth8177]

That would “intercept” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Also not found by an officer but by stone masons.

[@grantponciano9386]

The fact no one knows how the stone got there makes me imagine it as some star trek time traveling shenanigans lol

[@pramodsingh7569]

Thanks

[@Footprints1111]

6:16 numbers!!! 🦋🌈✨😊

[@doriancoreyscloset421]

"Intercept" It amazes me just how much energy goes into talking about Europeans without saying the word "steal" 😅

[@alainprostbis]

the English stole it. not the European. Please be more specific. the video also said the "French encountered the Rosetta stone". while in reality the French discovered it (it was in the ground , below the surface), and brought it to Cairo where they had created a museum dedicated to antiquity. so the Europeans as a whole did not steal this stone.

[@doriancoreyscloset421]

@alainprostbis is "English" not European? Does France not have a history of colonialism? They may not have taken the object in question, but that in no way negates their deplorable history of theft and depravity. Learn history, please.

[@alainprostbis]

@@doriancoreyscloset421 having lived years in England i can tell you they do not consider themselves Europeans, so you are in the wrong. if you want to complain about the rosetta stone being stolen, please address yourselves to the "thieves" and be specific. now concerning the history of France being "deplorable", this is an idiotic statement. you are grasping at straws desperately trying to be antifrench . anything goes... there is nothing deplorable in finding an artefact in the ground, unearthing it, sending it to Cairo, and eventually deciphering it, unlocking millenia of written human history. what is your country of origin so i can reproach you something based on some weaponization of history? id like to play too...sounds like fun. but let me warn you. there is not a people on earth that cannot be reproached something at one point. reproaching something about what their ancestors may have done is the level zero of reasonning and of justice. you are only responsible of what you do. reproaching the British museum of still owning the Rosetta stone is obviously different as it is still going on and something can be done. oh well...its easier diverting the matter towards "Europeans " iunderstand...let me guess youre either australian or American. if this is the case there are quite a few massacres and horrible things that happened in the history of these countries...

[@saigonmonopoly1105]

imperial silk fabric that kind if

[@Murdaking1996]

These animations are simply divine

[@ADDICTb2st]

Imagine english script right now being decoded by future humans or other species.

[@saigonmonopoly1105]

paaper or cotton scroll?

[@auro1986]

why? it was thought to be treasure map

[@Broken_vertebratePrime]

Watching TED talks ever since 3 grade has gotten me so far with getting ahead in some classes even now in hight school

[@josephquinto5812]

If you plan on going to college, keep getting ahead. Doing well will grant scholarships, and passing AP tests will save you thousands of dollars. You can even study for any AP test on your own time and take the exam without being enrolled in the class.

[@SamsonSanusi]

Please there is this one out your video about chess please I want you to authorize me to use it in my channel.

[@frontman-ij3wv]

I thought Rosetta is a emulator from x86 to arm

[@caimoychristianjohn8783]

Now i get Jinkx Monsoon

[@justinehercthehuman6941]

I love that even back then, some instructions are "printed" with translations below them. And it even had multiple copies. It's like reading the label of my medicine haha.

[@kimannepark4709]

The Rosetta Stone is very important. Credit goes to the French for discovering it in the first place.

[@alainprostbis]

yep. that was carefully omitted from the video...strangely...

[@billvanhausen]

Uhhh... 1858 wouldn't be considered the "early eighteen fifties."

[@theenlightenedone1283]

Stone age

[@Sody-ip8xl]

C1🎉

[@damie9412]

Nice

[@hanve]

❤❤❤

[@quadtoe]

human history is so interesting

[@technicalsanaullah7963]

What about stones in Mohenjo-Daro

[@alternateguitar7779]

Who immediately remembered that Tool song?

[@johannabonana5306]

Humans are incredible as they are cruel.

[@jackhinoff]

The Rosetta stone wasn't "pillaged", without the British we would hardly know anything about the ancient Egyptians. It was being used as part of a wall in a fort before it was discovered.

[@havenless3551]

Well now that we know, and we know who it belongs to, they should return it to the Egyptians.

[@jackhinoff]

You don't even make sense. Why would they feel the need to return an object that was left to ruin by the people in the country? Also, the Pharaohs and the ruling class were more related to Europeans then they are modern day Egyptians, who are mostly Arabs, who came during the Muslim conquests. King Tutankhamen shares 50% of his DNA with western European men so if anything the British have a better claim to it than the Egyptian people.

[@alainprostbis]

thats BS Jack. the Rosetta stone was found and later deciphered by the French. without the Brits we would still know everything we do about ancient Egypt. unless in your world French and Brits are the same entity but i doubt it...

[@starsose5833]

Yay i'm early!!! 😂 love your vids as always ted ed ❤

[@Mikey-uu8fi]

I think its embedded in our DNA to recognize language even if it is not directly implied, since our ancestors used drawings and sounds to convey message even before ice age began. So it is not really surprising to them that the Egyptians used drawings that represents sounds or phonemes since it is the basic form of language.

[@assiddiq7360]

I decoded the last line, "And yet, the pillaged artifact remains far from its provenance today", and found out that the undisguised message is as follow: "Bruh, give it back already"

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Imagine if this was a long ploy to get us on the Rosetta Stone App.

[@cona94]

not one TED-ED video that doesnt end in some anti-colonial comment or climate change doom anymore

[@HIFLY01]

At least someone realizes it. How was it pillaged? The French found just a "rock" and realized it was more

[@quantum2940]

They found an ancient tablet in a country they were invading. Pillage means to rob or steal something that doesn’t belong to you. If I came into your home and said you weren’t using your pots and pans as they should be used, taken them from you, and used them in my own home, that would be pillaging. Hope this helps!

[@HIFLY01]

@@quantum2940 if you're going to make a comparison, make a better one. Its more of you visit the new neighbors and pick a rock off the ground on their lawn and then discover it was a gemstone

[@DarkStryder360]

Rosetta Stone to me is the language learning tool... Now I am learning there is another one 😂

[@aniketmore8236]

Wish there was a Rosetta stone for Indus valley Civilization Script.

[@user-bp4nv3qp4d]

PHENOMENAL 🩶🖤

[@gayslays]

the ending got me - it’s basically calling out the British Museum to bring back its artifacts to its original countries of origin

[@KNG-pc5qd]

Cry about it. Finders keepers.

[@Paul-A01]

Modern Egypt has about as much connection to the people who crafted the stone as you do to the ancient assyrians. The Rosetta stone is where it belongs

[@Alizudo]

The two comments above me are 100% correct, and I'm glad to actually find people who understand.

[@TheAegisClaw]

Elgin marbles to Greece would be safe, Rosetta Stone to Egypt not so much. Sorry Egyptians, but your country has been a bit volatile the last few decades.

[@alainprostbis]

@@KNG-pc5qd you did not find it you bozo. the French did. you stole it. "thieves keepers" would be more accurate...

[@RichardHannay]

I have this stone located in my museum… in Animal Crossing 😬

[@bhushanmarathe-nc9em]

They found a poneglyph😂😂😂😂

[@user-eq2dx2jp6v]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ thank you ❤❤❤❤❤

[@saigonmonopoly1105]

first why caant see so small picto book?

[@Thwacker71]

Great video but "pillaged"? It was literally forgotten and used as a brick until that French officer happened to stumble upon it

[@pbjmochi8400]

🙏 Here's hoping we find a Rosetta Stones for Linear A, the Indus Script, and other writing systems lost to time.

[@dishachhillar719]

I am a big fan of egyptian history ❤ from India 🇮🇳 ... And I really wish that I get the chance to visit Egypt some day and explore it by myself 💕

[@antoniousai1989]

Good luck!

[@dishachhillar719]

​@@antoniousai1989 Thank you so much

[@TheLegend-cc4ju]

What about Ibn Waḥshiyya in his attempted translation of Egyptian hieroglyphs Shawq al-mustahām fī maʿrifat rumūz al-aqlām ☑️

[@dangg1502]

Ever the skeptic,so,by comparison to each other they figured it out....🤔,something 5 year olds do everyday on kindergarten,wow ,what a breakthrough

[@JorgeMartinez-nr2sv]

And who made this stone?

[@edntz]

Someone without access to internet. Imagine how bored he must've been.

[@antoniousai1989]

The "government" at the time of Ptolomy

[@Baxtexx]

Aliens

[@sfguzmani]

Kozuki clan

[@electromika]

Haven't watched one of these in a while. The illustrations are particularly good in this one. Thank you to your illustrator(s).

[@YorkShire-fb1jq]

Ancient Egypt is very interesting 🙂

[@luukheidelberg1201]

If I see a single TOOL reference I will eat my lateralus vinyl

[@awesomehpt8938]

What if the Rosetta stone had never been found? Would we still have no idea what Egyptian hieroglyphs mean?

[@arthaiser]

finding about it when they did basically brought a lot of attention to egyptian culture at the time, making all these discorveries at the 1900s, the mummy curses and all that. if they hadnt do it then, we would probably do it when computers came in the form of brute forcing it somehow. and that would mean that whatever popularity egpypt got in 1900 it would have gotten it around 1970-1990.

[@user-nz7co4pk5s]

I think it is fair for countries to return artefacts they took during occupations or colonisations. It'll be a lamentable tragedy when those artefacts are subsequently destroyed for being seen as idolatrous, left to deteriorate due to lack of proper care or complex preservation, or stolen and sold into private collections where they will no longer be studied.

[@jarekwrzosek2048]

You forgot to mention the fact, that Champollion was an immense linguistic genius, speaking not only Coptic, but many other Eastern languages, including Hebrew, Sanskrit and Chinese. He also learned to read all by himself at the age of 5 years old.

[@prasanth2601]

5 years old?? You gotta be kidding me.

[@evehnkadusale7679]

@@prasanth2601bro don't ruin the dramatic effect

[@jarekwrzosek2048]

@@prasanth2601 Nope, that's true, dude was an absolute genius, he studied chinese grammatics just for fun! His biography is incredible.

[@ICT_ID]

One Piece's Poneglyph

[@user-pl5it8yc1o]

I like this video

[@evanrosman9226]

I remember hearing about the Rosetta Stone in high school.

[@SanneBerkhuizen]

If the Pyramid were tombs. Why didn't they contain mummies?

[@derkaiser420]

Imagine forgetting your entire language because of religious invaders who thought it was heresy only to find out people who conquered your nation before made sure to write it down which saved your culture.

[@antoniousai1989]

Hieroglyphs weren't in Coptic Demotic, so your point is meaningless.

[@wolfgar_m9389]

Why are the great pyramids located in Egypt? - because the British concluded they were too big to fit into the British Museum.

[@Pedrosa2541]

I would love they found a Rosetta Stone of Rongorongo or Linear A, but I guess the chances are dim, mainly for the second one.

[@piratapan]

Humanity better praise these amazing nerds

[@abhilashchaturvedi4575]

Rosetta stones forever

[@kalpanajain7695]

It's like poneygleph