Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone was a document written on stone in both Egyptian hieroglyphics and Greek. Although at the time it was not a very important document, it became invaluable centuries later when it aided archaeologists that understood Greek, but not the hieroglyphics, in translating the hieroglyphics. (PROSE: Love and War)

In 1798, Bernice Summerfield, while investigating an Egyptian tomb, recalled that Napoleon Bonaparte wouldn't find the Rosetta Stone until the following year, (PROSE: Set Piece) after which the British discovered that one of Napoleon's generals had been using it as a coffee table. (AUDIO: Pride of the Lampian)

In the 1970s, the Third Doctor told the Brigadier that he had deciphered the Rosetta Stone. (AUDIO: The Rings of Ikiria)

In 2007, the Rosetta Stone was on display in the Egyptian gallery of the British Museum. The Tenth Doctor, while examining it, claimed that at the time that Napoleon's soldiers found it, he was about to publish his own English-hieroglyphic dictionary. (PROSE: The Stone Rose)

In 2570, Bernice Summerfield compared a book of Heavenite poetry which had been translated into Gallifreyan to the Rosetta Stone, as it meant that the Heavenite writings could now be understood. (PROSE: Love and War)