What helped decipher hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone?

What helped decipher hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone?

• A. Latin script found on the Rosetta Stone
• B. Greek script found on the Rosetta Stone
• C. Demotic script on the Rosetta Stone
• D. Hieratic signs on the Rosetta Stone

Answer: (B)

The question tests how a known language can unlock an unknown script by providing a bridge. The Rosetta Stone repeats the same text in three scripts: hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek. Because Greek could be read, scholars could take the Greek version and compare it with the same passage rendered in hieroglyphs. This parallel setup lets you identify which signs or groups of signs correspond to particular words or sounds, including proper names, and gradually map the hieroglyphic system. Once that link is established, the rest of the inscriptions can be translated. Demotic and Hieratic are helpful contexts, but the critical breakthrough came from using the Greek text as the decipherable anchor that made sense of the hieroglyphic signs.

The question tests how a known language can unlock an unknown script by providing a bridge. The Rosetta Stone repeats the same text in three scripts: hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek. Because Greek could be read, scholars could take the Greek version and compare it with the same passage rendered in hieroglyphs. This parallel setup lets you identify which signs or groups of signs correspond to particular words or sounds, including proper names, and gradually map the hieroglyphic system. Once that link is established, the rest of the inscriptions can be translated. Demotic and Hieratic are helpful contexts, but the critical breakthrough came from using the Greek text as the decipherable anchor that made sense of the hieroglyphic signs.