The Rosetta Stone helped decipher which writing system?

The Rosetta Stone helped decipher which writing system?

• A. Hieroglyphics
• B. Cuneiform
• C. Demotic script
• D. Phoenician alphabet

Answer: (A)

This question centers on how a bilingual inscription can unlock a language. The Rosetta Stone carries the same text in three scripts: hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek. Because scholars could read Greek, they used the Greek portion as a reference and compared it with the hieroglyphic text. From this cross-translation, they worked out which symbols corresponded to sounds and words, gradually revealing how the ancient Egyptian language was written and spoken. That bridge between Greek and the hieroglyphic signs is what made the Rosetta Stone so revolutionary, so the writing system deciphered is hieroglyphics. The other scripts on the stone—Demotic and Greek—are part of the same artifact, but the main breakthrough was understanding hieroglyphs. Cuneiform is a different script from a different region, not connected to this stone, and the Phoenician alphabet is unrelated to the decipherment addressed here.

This question centers on how a bilingual inscription can unlock a language. The Rosetta Stone carries the same text in three scripts: hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek. Because scholars could read Greek, they used the Greek portion as a reference and compared it with the hieroglyphic text. From this cross-translation, they worked out which symbols corresponded to sounds and words, gradually revealing how the ancient Egyptian language was written and spoken.

That bridge between Greek and the hieroglyphic signs is what made the Rosetta Stone so revolutionary, so the writing system deciphered is hieroglyphics. The other scripts on the stone—Demotic and Greek—are part of the same artifact, but the main breakthrough was understanding hieroglyphs. Cuneiform is a different script from a different region, not connected to this stone, and the Phoenician alphabet is unrelated to the decipherment addressed here.