Decree of Memphis (Ptolemy IV)

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The Decree of Memphis is an ancient stone tablet which composes the second of the Ptolemaic Decrees issued by Ptolemy IV of the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled Egypt from 305 BC to 30 BC.

Like the Rosetta Stone, the Decree of Memphis is inscribed in three writing systems. It is a bilingual, in ancient Egyptian and Greek, and written in Egyptian hieroglyphs, Egyptian Demotic and Greek. Its estimated date of creation is approximately 218 BC.

The decree appears to have been created during Ptolemy IV's military reign. A partial is on the stone known as the Memphis Stele, and a nearly complete copy is found on the Pithom Stele II.

[edit] See also

• Ptolemaic Decrees
• Decree of Canopus (Stone of Canopus), for Ptolemy III.
• Canopus, Egypt
• Rosetta, Egypt, (City of Rashid), and Decree of Memphis (Ptolemy V), which is the Rosetta Stone, the Decrees in Series.

[edit] References

• Budge. The Rosetta Stone, Sir E.A.Wallis Budge, (Dover Publications), c 1929, Dover edition(unabridged), c 1989.