who discovered the rosetta stone

The Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799 by French army engineer Lieutenant Pierre-François-Xavier Bouchard during Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign, near the town of Rosetta (modern Rashid) in the Nile Delta.

Quick Scoop

• The discovery happened while French soldiers were strengthening Fort Julien, near Rosetta, when they uncovered a large inscribed stone built into an old wall.

• Bouchard recognized the potential importance of the strange triple inscription (hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek) and had the stone sent to scholars in Cairo.

• Found in 1799, the stone later became key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, especially through the work of Thomas Young and Jean‑François Champollion in the early 1800s.

In simple terms: Bouchard found the Rosetta Stone, and Champollion later unlocked its code—together turning a construction-site surprise into one of history’s most important linguistic breakthroughs.

TL;DR: Lieutenant Pierre‑François‑Xavier Bouchard, a French engineer, discovered the Rosetta Stone in 1799 at Fort Julien near Rosetta in Egypt, and that find ultimately opened the door to reading ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

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