The Rosetta Stone is a stele (large stone with writing on it) from Ancient Egypt. Created in 196 B.C.E., the Rosetta Stone presents an official announcement from Pharaoh Ptolemy V. But the Stone’s royal proclamation is not what makes it so important to us today; it is the way it was written. The Pharaoh’s message appears in three different languages on the Stone: Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, Egyptian Demotic, and Ancient Greek. When the Stone was discovered in 1799, no one knew how to read Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Only a handful of people could read Egyptian Demotic. However, French historian Jean-François Champollion knew how to read both Ancient Greek and Egyptian Demotic. After spending many years studying the Rosetta Stone, Champollion was at last able to crack the code, finally enabling historians to understand Egyptian hieroglyphics. Today, the Rosetta Stone is in the British Museum in London.