Hi there, you're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast, Episode 33, Ptolemaic Egypt.

Ptolemy the first, son of Lagos, son of Ra.

In 1799, a French lieutenant by the name of Pierre Francois Bouchard was stationed in Egypt as part of the invasion of Napoleon Bonaparte's Armide de Orient.

While observing the re-fortification of an old crusader's stronghold,

he saw an unusually large and beautiful piece of pink granite stone settled among the sands and rubble.

Halting construction, he took a closer inspection and realized that something was special,

something that would prove

to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries of all time. Written upon the stone

were three languages, Demotic Egyptian, the commoner script of ancient Egypt, hieroglyphs, the more

famous of the Egyptian writings, and Coyne Greek.

This piece of granite, more famously known as the Rosetta Stone, would be the key to deciphering

the long-forgotten hieroglyphic script, and ultimately help giving birth to the field of Egyptology

as we know it today.

The Rosetta Stone is one of the many cultural depths that are now owed

to the 31st and last ruling dynasty of Egypt, the Ptolemies. The founding dynast, Ptolemy

the first, would be born in Macedon in the northern part of the Greek peninsula, and after

fighting in the campaigns with Alexander the Great, he effectively declared himself King of all of Egypt during the 310s BC, incorporating the title of Pharaoh into his moniker.

The Ptolemaic Kingdom, out of all of the successor states carved from Alexander's empire, would be the longest to last, ultimately ending in 30 BC with the death of its most

famous ruler, Cleopatra the 7th, and its absorption into the Roman Empire.

The Rosetta Stone is an appropriate relic to represent the Ptolemies, who ruled as Macedonian-style

warlords and monarchs, evoking the reigns of Alexander and Philip II, while simultaneously

stressing the notion of continuity with the Egyptian dynasties who ruled for well over two millennia.

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