Ptolemy V Epiphanes
205 BCE–180 BCE · Ptolemaic-Roman · Alexandria
Ptolemy V Epiphanes was a Ptolemaic boy-king during whose reign Egypt lost its overseas possessions amid dynastic weakness. His reign is famous for one object above all: the priestly Memphis Decree of 196 BCE, inscribed in three scripts (hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek) on the stone now known as the Rosetta Stone. The stone itself is a Ptolemaic temple decree, but because it carries the same text in Greek and in Egyptian scripts, it later gave the scholar Jean-François Champollion the key to deciphering hieroglyphs and so to recovering the whole of ancient Egyptian writing. That decipherment value is a modern achievement, distinct from the stone's original purpose as a temple decree honouring the king.
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