English Translations of the Greek Text of the Rosetta Stone

¹The present minor King (Ptolemy Philometer), now reigning, and having received the kingdom from his father, the ruler of these realms, greatly glorious; who (that is, which father) established the welfare of Egypt, and showed his² piety towards the gods; was superior to his enemies; regulated the lives of his subjects; lord, or chief of the τριακοθτα єτηριδєς [quaere, whether this word relates to any “spaces of thirty years,” or to any society or order of “thirty companions,” or has any reference to the word AET, as commented upon in Mr. Bryant's “Ancient Mythology,” vol. i., p. 378, an old name of Egypt, and perhaps a sacred term implying here priests, and which -probably is the root of the word which occurs twice in the fourth line] like the great Hephaistus (or Vulcan), king, like the great³ Helius, king of the countries both in the upper and lower districts; descended from the gods Philopators, whom Hephaistus approved, to whom Helius (the Sun) gave victory, the living image of Dis (or Jupiter) the son of Helius; (namely), Ptolemy the⁴ immortal, beloved by Phtha (a title of Vulcan), whose influence is over the priest of the Eagle, in his ninth year, the Eagle (Isay) of Alexander [alluding if not to the word AET, as above, then to the two eagles who were said to have lodged upon the house of Philip at the birth of Alexander, from whence possibly an order of priesthood might have been denominated] whose influence is over the priests of the gods Soters, and the gods Adelphi, and the gods Euergetae, and the gods Philopators, and of himself also, being now the god⁵ Epiphanes, well-beloved, who received many mortal honours; (whose influence is also over) Berenice Pyrrha, wife of Euergetes, and a sacred charger-bearer, the daughter of Philinus; (whose influence is also over) Arsinoe Areia, the wife of Philadelphus, the well descended priestess; (also over) Arsinoe Philopator Eirene, the wife of Ptolemy.⁶ on the fourth day of the month Xanthicus, [2 Maccab. xi. 30], the 18th of the month Machir of the Egyptians; the high priests and prophets, and those who were usually admitted into the interior of the temple for the robing of the⁷ gods, and the female [attendants] bearers of wings [feathers or fans] and the hieroglyphic writers, and all the other priests, who from the other temples throughout the land met the King at Memphis at the great celebrity of the assumption of the⁸ crown of Ptolemy the immortal, beloved by Phtha, the god Epiphanes, which (crown) he also received from his father [the high priest, &c.], being thus assembled in the temple at Memphis on this day, have thus decreed:⁹ whereas King Ptolemy the immortal, beloved by Phtha, the god Epiphanes, highly favoured, the son of Ptolemy and queen Arsinoe, the gods Philopators, in many respects hath conducted himself well towards the temples and those¹⁰ who reside in them; and to all who were placed under his government; being a god from a god and goddess, even as Orus the son of Isis and Osiris, who assisted his father Osiris, being well disposed¹¹ towards the gods, brought supplies to the temples both in money and corn, and sustained many expenses in order to place Egypt in tranquillity, and to establish all sacred concerns; and hath done service to mankind by all his powers;¹² and, of the contributions and taxes arising in Egypt, hath put an end to some, and hath lightened the weight of others, in order that the people and all others throughout his kingdom might be put in a state of¹³ plenty and prosperity; and hath remitted to the people at large the payments due to the King, being considerable, which were owed by those in Egypt, and others in the rest of his dominions; and hath set at liberty those who were confine.d in the prisons,¹⁴ and had lain under charges there for a long time; and hath moreover appointed, that the revenues for the temples, both the contributions yearly made to them in corn¹⁵ and money, and also the proper allotments to the gods from the vineyards and gardens, and other things belonging to the gods in the time of his father should remain¹⁶ established throughout the country; and did appoint also, that with regard to the priests, they should pay nothing towards the treasury beyond what they were appointed to pay until the first year of his father; and hath released those who are of the¹⁷ sacred orders from the charge of an annual voyage to Alexandria; and did appoint that they should not make a contribution towards the voyage; and hath remitted two parts (of three suppose) of what was charged upon the temples for the royal treasury, of flaxen linnen;¹⁸ and hath restored all that hath been neglected in former times; providing, however, that the accustomed rites towards the gods should be performed with decency;¹⁹ and hath also distributed justice to all men, being great himself even as the great Hermes; enjoining that those who should return from banishment both from among the military, and from all other whose minds were set upon the property of their neighbours in²⁰ troublesome times, (that these) returning should abide upon their own spot and settlements, (not wandering about as Gypsey vagabonds,) παρερπων Αιγνπτιϭτι, as Theocritus says)—and provided also that forces both of horse and foot and ships should be sent against those who should invade²¹ Egypt by sea or land; having sustained great charges both in money and corn, in order that both the sacred concerns of the country and all persons that were in it might be placed in safety; and going to²² Lycopolis in the district of Busiris, which was garrisoned and fortified for a blockade (against him) by a suitable provision of arms and of all other supplies, as a spirit of change and²³ innovation for some time had existed among the worthless men who were assembled in it, who had done much harm to the temples and to those who dwelt in Egypt, (he) sitting²⁴ down against it surrounded it with mounds and trenches and walls of considerable magnitude; and (whereas) the Nile had made a great advance now for the eighth year, and was accustomed to flow over the²⁵ level grounds, he checked it in many places, stopping up the mouths of rivers, and having expended upon them a large sum of money, and having appointed horsemen and infantry to watch his works²⁶ in a short time he both entirely reduced the city and punished the impious inhabitants, even as Hermes, and as Orus also, the son of Isis and Osiris, conquered those who in the time of his own father had revolted before in those very²⁷ places, and had injured the country, and the temples, (so he) coming to Memphis, while assisting²⁸ his father's government, punished all (the revolters) very properly, at such time as he came (to Memphis) in order to fulfil the accustomed ceremonies for the assumption of the government; and (whereas) he remitted what was due from the²⁹ temples to the royal treasury up to the eighth year, consisting of no small quantity of corn and money; in like manner remitting the value of flaxen linnen³⁰ due to the treasury which had not been paid, and the difference (unless διαøορα means taxes, or gifts, as in 2 Maccab. i. 35) also of what had been paid (in part) for tolls in the markets (see Suidas in voce Δειγμα) for the same time; and (whereas) he released the temples from the payment of the (accustomed) bushel, (or quantity) per acre (or fixed portion) of the church property, and also remitted the measure (or gallon) for every fixed³¹ portion of their vineyards; and gave large contributions for Apis and Mnevis, and for the other sacred animals in Egypt, much more than during the reigns before him; always and in all things aiming at what was becoming; and³² giving largely and honourably what was proper for their interments; and what was to be expended upon their several temples; together with sacrifices and solemn assemblies and other customary circumstances; and hath preserved all the precious³³ things (relics, plate &c.) both of the temples, and of Egypt throughout all the country, in pursuance of the laws; and hath repaired the temple of Apis with costly work, expending on it no small quantity of gold and silver³⁴ and precious stones; and hath erected temples and shrines and altars, and provided also all proper requisites, having the godlike inclination of a benevolent deity towards mankind, in all proper cases;³⁵ and having moreover enquired after what was the most valuable among the other temples, he made new that of his own palace, as was becoming,—on which accounts the gods bestowed upon him health, victory, strength and all other blessings attendant on a kingdom³⁶ that was perpetuated to himself and to his children for ever, in the name of good fortune. It seems good to the priests of all the temples throughout the country [here much uncertainty begins in the copy from the broken state of the original inscription] mightily to increase the fame of the³⁷ immortal king Ptolemy, beloved by Phtha, the god Epiphanes, and in like manner also (to do honour to) his parents the gods Philopators, and his ancestors the gods Euergetae,³⁸ and the gods Adelphi and the gods Soters; and to cause to be set up an image of the immortal king Ptolemy, the god Epiphanes, highly favoured, in every temple, in the most conspicuous part of it,³⁹ which image shall be surnamed the image of Ptolemy the Defender of Egypt; near to which the peculiar god of the temple shall be fixed, presenting to him a victorious suit of armour, which shall be prepared in due form,⁴⁰ and that the priests shall religiously attend upon these images thrice every day, and shall provide for them sacred vestments, and shall perform the other customary rites as for the other gods, both by⁴¹ feasts and solemn assemblies of the people, and shall set up a small (moveable) image of the king Ptolemy, the god Epiphanes, well beloved, the son of Ptolemy and queen Arsinoe, the gods Philopators, and a golden shrine (containing the image),⁴² and shall place this in the innermost parts of the temples among the other shrines, to lead forth also in processions the shrine of the god Epiphanes, ever amiable, on all solemn assemblies of the people, in which processions of the shrines take place;⁴³ and that it may be conspicuous now and hereafter, that there be laid upon the shrine ten golden crowns of the kings, to which the asp shall be added⁴⁴ according to the pattern of the aspformed crowns upon the other shrines; in the midst of which shall be the crown called ψοϰεντ (an Egyptian word probably) which he having on entered into Memphis……⁴⁵ when the ceremonies were performed at his inauguration; and that there be placed upon the square ornament about the crowns, according to the aforesaid kingly style, golden amulets……⁴⁶ (in due honour) to a king who has done eminent services both to the upper and lower districts; and that on the 30th day of the month Mesra, on which the birthday of the king is held, and also on……⁴⁷ that day in which he received the kingdom from his father, and which days men have called after their names in the sacred calendar, which days indeed were the beginnings of many blessings to all men, (it shall be decreed) to observe a feast and a publick celebrity in the temples throughout all Egypt for the⁴⁸ month, and to perform in the temples sacrifices, and libations, and all other customary observances, as in the other celebrities, and that the offerings which are made,⁴⁹ …… (unintelligible) …. in the temples, and to hold a feast and an assembly of the people to the immortal king Ptolemy, the god Epiphanes, beloved by Phtha, highly favoured every year⁵⁰ …‥ throughout the country, from the new moon of the month Thoth, for five days, in which they shall wear chaplets, performing at the same time sacrifices and libations and other fitting observances,⁵¹ …. and the priests in addition to the other titles of the gods to whom they pay sacerdotal honours, shall also separate a priesthood for him, for the purposes of oracular responses and all other (sacred offices)⁵² …. and that it be permitted to the common people at large, not initiated in the mysteries, to hold a feast, and to set up (in their houses a resemblance of) the aforesaid shrine and to hold among them⁵³ three times a year; that it may be known wherefore the inhabitants of Egypt respect and honour the god Epiphanes, king, as is decreed by law,⁵⁴ …… (and the priests have thought fit to inscribe this decree upon), hard stone, in hieroglyphics, the vulgar tongue (the Coptic) and in Greek characters, and to place it in each district, both of the first and second (great divisions or districts of the country).