This paper presents the results of research realized within the project “Deciphering the Middle Text of the Rosetta Stone”, supported by Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2003 – 2005.

In the paper, it is assumed that a syllabic script of the type consonant-vowel was used for the middle text of the Rosetta Stone. Symbols for 27 consonants were identified.  By using the procedure of mirroring and rotation in the writing surface (plain), a monosemic (unambiguous) way was determined for connecting the symbol of consonant with 4 or 8 vowels. Although rarely used, the symbols for writing isolated vowels and some consonants were identified.  In the analyzed text, the syllabic signs were not only written next to each other, but also they were often written one above the other in the form of what are known as ligatures. A small number of pictographic symbols were also identified.

The wiring for sound of the identified syllable signs, isolated consonants or vowels and ligatures was achieved by using archaisms from the dialects of the contemporary Macedonian language.  In the text, which was written from right to left, without space between the words and without separation of sentences in an infinite series, more than 200 different words were identified which have kept their meaning in some dialects of the contemporary Macedonian language. A certain number of grammatical rules were also identified which are discerned  in the contemporary Macedonian language, such as the formation of superlative of the adjectives with the prefix  нај_ [nai] (equivalent to the English   the  …… _est/ the most ……);  the plural of nouns by adding  и[i] (equivalent to the English  _s); the occurrence of definite and indefinite form of nouns, the frequent use of the preposition на[na] (equivalent to the English prepositions on, at,), as well as passive and active form of verbs.  With these identified syllables and their wiring for sound and the definite rules for writing, a monosemic (unambiguous) methodology was generated in order to make out certain words and to read what was written.

The results of deciphering the middle text of the Rosetta Stone point to the fact that there are many details which cannot be found in the text inscribed in uncial (ancient Greek) alphabet. This conclusion proves the science awareness from the time of Thomas Young (1822) that the middle text was the original.  On the basis of our research we can make this knowledge more precise with the conclusion that the pharaoh’s decree from the middle text of the Rosetta Stone in original is inscribed in the language of the ancient Macedonians with letters of the alive (living) masters of that time, i.e. with the official letters and language of the state that had been ruled by them for more than a century.

Keywords: Ancient Macedonians, script, language, Rosetta Stone, Egypt, hieroglyphs, Demotic, Greek