John Ray's previous book [[Reflections of Osiris: Lives from Ancient Egypt]] provided a learned but accessible introduction to the civilisation of Ancient Egypt. In ''The Rosetta Stone'' he turns to the most famous artefact of this civilisation and uses it as a starting point for a tale of discovery and interpretation: how the hieroglyphic alphabet was deciphered and how this ''most glamorous of civilisations'' was given voice again, after being mute for more than a thousand years.