What is History? Why do we study it?

Suppose you are a historian who found this stone etched with a statement.

What questions would you ask about this stone?

How would you use it to interpret the past?

For centuries, scholars puzzled over the hieroglyphs they found carved onto ancient Egyptian ruins, tablets, and papyri. But in 1799, a unique discovery would finally help unlock their meaning. It was a stone inscribed with three different texts: Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Demotic Egyptian, and Ancient Greek. 

Read the introduction in the text, then watch this video in which Franziska Naether shares how scholars decoded the ancient message of the Rosetta Stone.

Ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphs to communicate ideas through pictures and symbols. Today, you're going to create a personal hieroglyph—a symbol that represents YOU.