Discovery at Rosetta

In 1798, the young French general, Napoleon Bonaparte, entered Egypt with an army and a brigade of 'savants', scientists, anthropologists and historians. His aim was not just conquest on the banks of the Nile but the rediscovery of the ancient world after years of obscurity under the Ottoman Empire. At the heart of this quest was a stone that was discovered in the small town of Rossetta which would offer the key to unlock the mysteries of the ancient Egyptian. It contained wording in Greek, hieroglyphs and demotic Egyptian. It was the prize that Napoleon had dreamed of, but in a series of adventures the stone came into English hands. Discovery at Rosetta will be the first book that tells the full story of how the English won the battle to claim the Stone and how it was then shipped to England. The book also tells the story of the extraordinary characters involved leading up to the race between Thomas Young and Champollion to decipher the Stone's code.