Q 01/05

The stone was found near the delta of which river?

A) The Jordan

B) The Nile

C) The Euphrates

D) The Tigris

Answer · why

B) The Nile

It came from a fort on the river's Bolbitine branch, near the port town of Rashid.

Q 02/05

Soldiers of which country's army uncovered the stone while rebuilding a fort?

A) Britain

B) Austria

C) France

D) The Ottoman Empire

Answer · why

C) France

They were rebuilding a fort during their invasion of Egypt; the British took the stone from them two years later.

Q 03/05

The stone is famous above all as the key to reading which script?

A) Egyptian hieroglyphs

B) Mayan glyphs

C) Mesopotamian cuneiform

D) Linear B of Crete

Answer · why

A) Egyptian hieroglyphs

Nobody had been able to read it since shortly before the fall of the Roman Empire.

Q 04/05

Which institution has housed the stone since 1802?

A) The Egyptian Museum

B) The Neues Museum

C) The British Museum

D) The Louvre

Answer · why

C) The British Museum

It was too heavy for the floors of the original Montagu House and moved to the sculpture gallery in 1834.

Q 05/05

Which French leader's 1798 invasion of Egypt led to the stone's discovery?

A) Robespierre

B) Napoleon

C) Charles X

D) Louis XVI

Answer · why

B) Napoleon

He returned to Europe the following August, abandoning his troops and the stone in Egypt.