Rosetta Stone decree
The Rosetta Stone decree, or the Decree of Memphis, is a
Context
The native Egyptian population at home was treated as second-class citizens by its
Ptolemy V Epiphanes reigned from 204 to 181 BC, the son of
In the year after the majority of Ptolemy V., he was crowned at Memphis. For this event, the priests of Egypt assembled there and passed the decree.[7]
Text
The text as recorded on the Rosetta Stone is considered the most complete of any of the surviving stelae, as it preserves the inscription in three scripts and two languages.[8] The first script is Egyptian hieroglyphs, the second is Demotic, and the third is Greek capitals. Only parts of the last fourteen lines of hieroglyphs remain; these correspond to the last twenty-eight lines of Greek text which is also damaged. The Demotic section is thirty-two lines of which the starts of fourteen are damaged (reading right to left). Fifty-four lines of Greek are present, twenty-six of which are damaged at the ends.[9] The majority of the damaged and missing sections of the hieroglyphic portion of the inscription can be restored using a copy of the decree from Damanhur (Hermopolis Magna) which was discovered in 1896. It post-dates the Rosetta Stone by fourteen years and as such has slightly different content, omitting details that are no longer relevant.[9]
Demotic was possibly the draft language of the decree, based on the rendering of the section describing the shrine housing the statue of the king. The wording makes the most sense in Demotic, with the Greek version not making much sense, and the hieroglyphic version lacking a determinative, rendering the meaning unspecific.[10] However, the text is a composite, with sections drawing more on Greek or pharaonic traditions more than others.[11]
The inscription opens with the date of the decree:
[Year 9, Xandikos, day] 4 which corresponds to the second month of the Egyptians, Winter, day 18 (under) Pharaoh...[12]
This date corresponds to 27 March 196 B.C.[13] It does not record the day the decree was issued, but the date on which priests assembled as part of national festivals. On the Rosetta Stone, this is the coronation of the king, while on other stelae the occasion is the installation of a sacred animal.[14]
The text records that Ptolemy reduced or abolished taxes for the army and general population:
Of the dues and taxes existing in Egypt some he has cut and others he has abolished completely in order to cause the army and all other people to be happy in his time as [Pharaoh].[15]
Taxes levied on temples and their estates were also relaxed, with the order that "the divine revenues of the gods and the silver and grain which are given as syntaxis to their [temples] each year and the portions which accrue to the gods from vineyards and gardens and all other property over which they had rights under his father, that they remain in their possession..."[16] These tax breaks extended to the priesthood, as they were ordered "not to pay their tax for serving as priest above the amount they paid up to year one of his father. He has relieved the people [who are in] the offices of the temples of the sailing they make to Alexandria every year..."[16]
The generosity of the king is also extolled, having granted amnesty to prisoners, and outlawing pressganging.[17] Much space is dedicated to detailing the silver and grain given to temples, especially those centered on the animal cults with Ptolemy making "numerous benefactions to the Apis and Mnevis and the other animals which are sacred in Egypt... his heart being concerned with their affairs at all times, giving whatever was desired for their burials great and revered and bearing that which occurred for them (at) their temples when they celebrate festivals and make burnt offerings before them and the other things it is fitting to do."[18] Additionally, restoration and rebuilding of temples was carried out throughout Egypt.[18]
Earlier copies of the text recount the king's victory in the siege of Shekan (Lycopolis), which was "fortified by the enemy with every device."[19] He shows amnesty to "the men who had been on the other side in the rebellion which occurred in Egypt, to let them [return] to their homes and their property belong to them (again)."[19] The same clemency is not shown to the leaders of the rebellion, who are "slain at the stake" in Memphis as part of the festivities surrounding Ptolemy's ascension.[19] Later versions from Upper Egypt refer to the conquering of Thebes after its rebellion.[20]
The cult of the king is established, with temples throughout Egypt ordered to "...set up a statue of Pharaoh Ptolemy... in the (most) conspicuous place in the temple..."
The worship of the king is also extended to the general population, with "ordinary people who so wish" to have in their homes a gold shrine similar to that found in the temples containing a statue of the king "and to celebrate the festivals and processions described above each year..."[22]
The text ends with instruction that temples throughout Egypt are to erect a stela bearing a copy of the decree recorded in three scripts and two languages.[22]
Copies
As a result of the instruction to erect copies of the decree in temples throughout Egypt, ten securely dated copies of the decree survive. The Rosetta Stone preserves the earliest and most complete copy of the decree, from year 9 of Ptolemy V’s reign. Two copies of the text were inscribed on the wall of
The content of the text is broadly the same across the various copies, with later versions omitting or adding details as relevant. These include adding Ptolemy’s wife,
See also
- Ptolemy III
- Ptolemy IV
- Nubayrah Stele
Notes
- ^ a b c Silverstein (2023)
- ^ Parkinson et al. (1999) p. 29
- ^ Assmann (2003) p. 376
- ^ a b Clayton (2006) p. 211
- ^ Tyldesley (2006) p. 194
- ^ Bevan (1927) pp. 252–262
- ^ Pfeiffer 2015, pp. 111–112.
- ^ Quirke & Andrews 1988, p. 9.
- ^ a b Andrews 1985, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Andrews 1985, p. 43.
- ^ Quirke & Andrews 1988, pp. 9–10.
- ^ Quirke & Andrews 1988, p. 16.
- ^ Andrews 1985, p. 41.
- ^ Quirke & Andrews 1988, p. 8.
- ^ Quirke & Andrews 1988, p. 17.
- ^ a b Quirke & Andrews 1988, pp. 17–19.
- ^ Quirke & Andrews 1988, pp. 17–18.
- ^ a b Quirke & Andrews 1988, p. 19.
- ^ a b c Quirke & Andrews 1988, pp. 18–19.
- ^ Müller 1920, pp. 60–61.
- ^ a b c Quirke & Andrews 1988, pp. 20–21.
- ^ a b c Quirke & Andrews 1988, p. 22.
- ^ a b Quirke & Andrews 1988, p. 21.
- ^ a b c Quirke & Andrews 1988, pp. 21–22.
- ^ a b Quirke & Andrews 1988, pp. 7–8.
References
- Andrews, Carol (1985). The British Museum Book of the Rosetta Stone (First American ed.). New York: Peter Bedrick Books. ISBN 978-0-87226-034-4. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- Assmann, Jan; Jenkins, Andrew (2003). The Mind of Egypt: history and meaning in the time of the Pharaohs. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01211-0. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
- Bevan, E. R. (1927). The House of Ptolemy. Methuen. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
- Clayton, Peter A. (2006). Chronicles of the Pharaohs: the reign-by-reign record of the rulers and dynasties of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-28628-0.
- Müller, W. Max (1920). Egyptological Researches Vol. III: The Bilingual Decrees of Philae. Washington, D. C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-520-22306-6. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
- Pfeiffer, Stefan (2015). Griechische und lateinische Inschriften zum Ptolemäerreich und zur römischen Provinz Aegyptus. Einführungen und Quellentexte zur Ägyptologie (in German). Vol. 9. Münster: Lit. pp. 111–126.
- Silverstein, Jay (2023). "I dug for evidence of the Rosetta Stone's ancient Egyptian rebellion – here's what I found". The Conversation. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
- Quirke, Stephen; Andrews, Carol (1988). Rosetta Stone Facsimile Drawing With an Introduction and Translation. London: British Museum Publications Ltd.
- ISBN 0-500-05145-3.