“MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
No. 115. | 
June 1, 1804. 
[5, of Vou. 17. 
ORIGINAL ' COMMUNICATIONS. 
For the Mazthly Magazine. 
An account of the celebrated 1NSCRIP- 
TION, 72 THREE LANGUAGES, J/ately 
difcovered near: ROSETTA, 72 EGYPT, 
and now depofited in the BRITISH MU- 
SEUM; with a large PLATE, contain- 
ing exaéi FAC-SIMILES Of the feveral 
CHARACTERS. 
Pe eee the numerous. relics of an- 
tiguity that have been found of late 
vears, few have attracted fuch uviverfal 
notice as the Triple Infcriplion from Ro- 
fetta. The fingular tact of a ftone being 
inftribed with the fame Decree, not only 
in the facred and vernacular "egyptian, 
but in the Greek language, feemed to 
furnifh a hope that a key to the hierogly- 
phic charaéter of ancient Egypt was at 
lait difcovered. oigde * 
Tt was found by a lieutenant of engi- 
neers, while fuperintending the repairs of 
of Fort Ellcve, near the Bogar of Rofetta, 
about two leagues from the town; was 
brought to Cairo foon after Bonaparte’s 
efcape, and at length depofited with the 
Inftitute. The copies of this ftone firt 
taken were made at Cairo, by Citizens 
Marce) and Conté: one, the director of 
the national printing office in Egypt; the 
other, chief of the brigade of Adroltats; 
and two of them were prefenied by Ge- 
neral Dugua to the National Inftitute at 
Paris, in the fitting of Augult 23, 1800. 
‘The ftome itfelt was afterward removed 
with other rarities of ancient art to Alex- 
andria, and whén the city furrensered to 
the Englifh, was claimed by General 
Menou, as his own private property. The 
axtifice, however, was too fhallow to at- 
tain its purpofe; and “* The Gem of An- 
_tiquity,” as the French termed it, was at 
Jatt thipped fcr Engla d, where it arrived 
on board his Majefiy’s thip L’Egyptienne, 
under the care of Colonel Turner, in the 
month of February, 1802. On the oth 
of March, Lord Hobart, one of his Ma- 
 jefty’s principal fecretar.es of flate, or- 
dered it to be fent to ‘the Society of Anti- 
Guaries, wider whofe dire&tion a fac-fimile 
of the three infcriptions, fimilar to the 
{pectinens reprefented in the annexed plate, 
has been engraved; and, finally, in the 
MonTHLY Mag. No, 115, 
month of June, 1803, it was depofited in 
the library of the Britifh Mufeum, Pe 
It has now engaged the attention of 
the learned nearly three years; and it 
may be prefumed, that a compendious 
view of the different illofrations of this 
curious monument, accompanied by a 
faithful copy of the Greek part in the 
curfive charaéter, and a tranflation into 
Englith, will excite a confiderabie intereft 
in the generality of our readers. 
To enlarge upon every epithet or pare 
ticular expreffion, would be to write a 
treatife on the priefts, the worfhip, and 
the hiftory, of Egypt. We fhall therefore 
chiefly confine our remarks to fuch mat 
ters as tend to place the purport of the 
infeription in a clearer point of view, 
ferupuloufly adhering in the copy to all 
the faults of the original ; and referving the 
errors and deficiencies to be correéted or 
filled up in the commentary at the clofe. 
Ptolomy Epiphanes, in remembrance of 
whofe fervices both ‘to religion and the 
ftate in general, the infeription was fet 
up, was only five years old at his accefhen 
to the throne, in the firft year of the 144th 
Olympiad, 204 years before the Chriftian 
era. Ariftomenes, the experienced’ mi- 
nifter of bis father, Ptolomy Philopatory 
governed his minority, and raifed the king- 
dom to a profperous condition. In the 
third year of his reign, the Romans fent 
an embafly to Egypt to notify their vic- 
tory over Hannibal, and the treaty of 
peace that had been made with Carthage: 
and fucceeded fo far in fecuring the at 
tachment of the Egyptian lords, that they 
placed their young king under the pro- 
te&tion of the Roman fenate: and, though 
M. Lepidus was at firft appointed the 
royal guardian, the charge was feon coa-_ 
ferred upon Arifiomenes, who net only — 
cultivated the connection with the Ro- 
mans, but took care to renew the anciert 
alliance between the crown of Egypt and 
the republic of Achaia. Cato, «as quoted 
by Prifcian the grammarian, commends 
Piolomy, both as excellent and bountifal 5 
a character which appears to have heey 
only applicable during his minority, while 
he followed the counfels of Ariftomenes 5 
and to which it is probable, the praifes 
3H Sane 
