[2026] PTE Academic Reading - Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

The Rosetta Stone is one of the most famous archaeological artifacts in the world, discovered by French soldiers in Egypt in 1799.It is a granodiorite stele inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC.The top and middle texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic and Demotic scripts, while the bottom is in Ancient Greek.

The significance of the stone lies in its role as the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs.Because Ancient Greek was well understood by scholars, it provided a starting point for translation.Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion were the primary figures who painstakingly compared the Greek text with the unknown Egyptian scripts.

Champollion's breakthrough in 1822 demonstrated that the hieroglyphic writing system was a combination of phonetic and ideographic signs.This monumental discovery opened up a completely new window into ancient Egyptian history, allowing modern scholars to read thousands of surviving records and monuments.