Date:
Name:
Period:
Ch 1.6 Rosetta Stone Worksheet
Directions: Read the story in the left column. Answer the questions on the right.
The Sphinx
The sphinx is a mythological cteature that
originates in ancient Egypt. There are many
descriptions of sphinxes. Sonre have the
body of a lion with the head of a human.
Some have the body of a lion rvith the head
of a ram. And some lrave the body of a lion
with the head of a hawk or falcou.
There are many statues of sphiru<es in
Egypt standing guard. The most famous of
tlrese is the Great Sphinx of Giza, u'hich
was built around 2500 BC.
The Greeks imported the sphinx into their
rnythology as well. [n Greek m14hs, the
Sphinx was a nasty winged lion with the
head of a woman. The sphinx was a demon
(1) Where did the sphinx originate?
(2) What arc three descriptions of a sphinx?
(a)
(b)
(c)
(3) What do sphinx statues do?
(4) What is the most famous sphinx?
(5) When was it built?
of bad luck and destruction.
(6) What was a sphinx in Greek rnythology?
In one Greek story, the sphinx besieged the
city of Thebes. The sphinx stopped all
travelers going into the city aud asked thern
a riddle. If the traveler couldn't answer the
riddle then she devoured them.
(7) What kind of dernon lvas the sphinx?
(8) What city did the sphinx besiege?
(9) What did the sphinx do to travelers?.
(10) What did the sphinx do if the traveler
couldn't answer the riddle?
#fi ,* E:,s /F\
[i HHt.g ffiiU:bH[iil,d S['#HilH
%FE*,* ffii).""* o,Ti,!lr*,
The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian stone that is inscribed with a
decree that was issued on behalf of an ancient Greek king. The Rosetta
Stone was the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphics. Since the
decree was written in three different languages -- ancient Egyptian
hieroglyphics, Demotic script, and ancient Greek -- scholars were able to
compare them and translate the hieroglyphics based on their knowledge of
ancient Greek.
Thomas Young, an English physicist, was the first to show that some of the
hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone wrote out the sounds of an Egyptian
King. The French scholar Jean-Frangois Champollion then realized that
hieroglyphics recorded the sound of the
Egyptian language and set up the
foundations of our knowledge of ancient
Egyptian language.
lHflero$$yphfres
Hieroglyphics were sacred characters reserved for religious or
governmental mandates. The language was used to inscribe
tombs, temples and other monuments. Because hieroglyphics
were such an intricate and sacred language, the Egyptians
developed hierativ, which was an abbreviated version of
hieroglyphics. Hieratic was used to record some governmental
decrees and business transactions, but it wasn't used for sacred
purposes. By the Ptolemaic period, when the Rosetta Stone was
inscribed, Egyptians had turned to Demotic -- an even more
simplifi ed version of hieroglyphics.
@Trustees of the British Museum
gssa:
r:
iiii'er riliqfi atu* n' fu
fi,!
&i
Use this code to decipher the phrases below, iust like scholars used Ancient Greek to translate the hieroglyphics.
e
g#r H . + k-s- HhePrytr.:&r & JL
a p 0 d, ? f tfdrj ( au'-r s[ I Id + t < V rJL
-s- tr #'
A BC
&Ea
*,'
D EFGHIJ
KLMNOPARs
TU
V
:
.tr- -s-
5
x
JZ
YZ
(zJ
ffi**-s&&*-'=-ffifu@nu&
& ffi-*Fr
W
lI=
tE
5s
& . rrr fru z lil8t aJ [guA+
.\I
ii.l
educotton.corn
Copyright€ 20r2.208 by Education.conr
More workheets at wwrv.educationrom/y.rorksheets