in the dates they contain. The names of
Kings are always enclosed in an oval called _cartouche_. An oval
contains either the royal title or praenomen, or the proper name or
nomen of the King.

[Illustration: EGYPTIAN PILLAR.]

The dates which are found with these royal legends are also of great
importance in an historical point of view, and monuments which bear
any numerical indications are exceedingly rare. These numerical
indications are either the age of the deceased on a funeral tablet, or
the number of different consecrated objects which he has offered to
the gods, or the date of an event mentioned in the inscription.
Dates, properly so called, are the most interesting to collect; they
are expressed in hieroglyphic cyphers, single lines expressing the
number of units up to nine, when an arbitrary sign represents 10,
another 100, and another 10,000.

The most celebrated Egyptian inscriptions are those of the Rosetta
stone. This stone, a tablet of black basalt, contains three
inscriptions, one in hieroglyphics, another in demotic or enchorial,
and a third in the Greek language. The inscriptions are to the same
purport in each, and are a decree of the priesthood of Memphis, in
honor of Ptolemy Epiphanes, about the year B.C. 196. "Ptolemy is there
styled King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Son of the gods Philopatores,
approved by Pthah, to whom Ra has given victory, a living image of
Amun, son of Ra, Ptolemy Immortal, beloved by Pthah, God Epiphanes,
most gracious. In the date of the decree we are told the names of the
priests of Alexander, of the gods Soteres, of the gods Adelphi, of the
gods Euergetae, of the gods Philopatores, of the god Epiphanes himself,
of Berenice Euergetis, of Arsinoe Philadelphus, and of Arsinoe
Philopator. The preamble mentions with gratitude the services of the
King, or rather of his wise minister, Aristomenes, and the enactment
orders that the statue of the King shall be worshipped in every temple
of Egypt, and be carried out in the processions with those of the gods
of the country, and lastly that the decree is to be carved at the foot
of every statue of the King in sacred, in common and in Greek writing"
(Sharpe). It is now in the British Museum. This stone is remarkable
for having led to the discovery of the system pursued by the Egyptians
in their monumental writing, and for having furnished a key to its
interpretation, Dr. Young giving the first hints by establishing the
phonetic v