Riddle 2

Read the excerpt from The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone.

The Greek leader, Alexander the Great, had taken control of Egypt in 332 B.C., and after Alexander’s death in 323 B.C. his general, Ptolemy, replaced him. From then until 30 B.C., when Rome conquered Egypt, a long line of pharaohs from the Ptolemy family ruled the country. The Ptolemys kept their Greek culture, including their language, but they also respected the customs and religious beliefs of the native Egyptians.

QUESTION: The details in this excerpt serve as evidence for which fact?

• Some of the Egyptian writings on the Rosetta Stone included hieroglyphs.

• The inscription on the Rosetta Stone was the same in all three languages.

• One of the three inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone was written in Greek.

• French soldiers discovered the Rosetta Stone while tearing down an old fort.

According to The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone, what detail helped scholars determine that the second Egyptian inscription was a simpler form of Egyptian writing that had been created by “the people”?

• The scholars had seen examples of it before written on rolls of papyrus, a writing material used by the Egyptians.

• Since the scholars had already studied Egyptian languages, they recognized both the hieroglyphs and the demotic version

• The Greek inscription, which had already been deciphered, explained how to translate each of the Egyptian passages.

• Since only ancient Egyptians understood hieroglyphs, the scholars knew the second inscription had to be a simpler version of the first.

Which excerpt from The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone describes the effect of the conflict between the British and the French?

• British troops landed near Alexandria.

• [A] Turkish army marched into Egypt from Syria.

• The Greek leader, Alexander the Great, had taken control of Egypt.

• [T]he French were finally forced to surrender to the British.

Which sentence from The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone explains why Napoleon and his men were temporarily trapped in Egypt in 1798?

• Napoleon’s army captured the city of Alexandria by storm on July 1, 1798, and rapidly overran the Nile Delta.

• On August 1 the British surprised the French fleet at anchor near Alexandria and completely destroyed it.

• For the next year, the army fended off [resisted] attacks by the Turks, who had formerly ruled Egypt

• Then, in August 1799, Napoleon evaded [escaped] the British naval blockade and returned with a new companion to France to deal with problems there.

Based on the sequence of events in The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone, what is the first effect of Cairo falling to the Turkish army in the spring of 1801?

• Both the British and Turkish demand the Rosetta Stone.

• The British order the French to hand over their treasures.

• Both the French army and scholars retreat to Alexandria.

• The French scholars hand the Rosetta Stone to the Turks.

Based on the sequence of events described in The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone, what is the first effect of the Rosetta Stone missing three of its four corners?

• The scholars are unable to read the Greek passage.

• The scholars ask the soldiers to locate the other pieces.

• The soldiers begin searching for the remaining pieces.

• The soldiers immediately hand the slab to their officer.

According to the sequence of events described in The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone, what leads the scholars to believe that the three inscriptions say the same thing in different languages?

• the discovery of the Rosetta Stone by soldiers

• the letter sent by the army officer to the scholars

• the appearance of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs

• the translation of the last sentence of the Greek text

Based on details in The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone, what event helped scholars determine that the demotic language was related to the Egyptian language?

• Examples of the demotic language previously appear on rolls of papyrus.

• The scholars call it demotic, meaning "of the people."

• Experts are excited about finding three different languages on one stone.

• It praises the accomplishments of a young pharaoh.