A Lesson from History About Taxes, Part 3: Taxes and The Rosetta Stone

W. Marc Gilfillan

W. Marc Gilfillan, CPA, NC, individual and business CPA and Tax expert, shares about the history of taxes…

The Rosetta Stone, discovered by Napoleon, was possibly the absolute most important Egyptian archaeological discovery in history. The Stone had the same writing in 3 different languages: Egyptian hieroglyphs, demotic (Egyptian script) and Greek. Using the Greek translation, we figured out how to understand the Egyptian script and subsequently the hieroglyphs. However, the question remains: Egyptians had a form of paper, known today as papyrus, so why was the writing etched into stone? Also, why 3 languages? And why Greek?

The Stone has been around before 3000 B.C. The Rosetta Stone was etched in 200 B.C. while Ptolemy V was in power (an emperor of Greek origins). So what happened to the Pharaohs? At this time, Egypt had been conquered in 700 B.C. by the Assyrians, after that the Persians, and eventually the Greeks in 330 B.C. After existing for 2000+ years, Egypt was in decline.

The Ptolemy’s were by and large good rulers, but in 200BC, during which the Rosetta Stone was carved, Egypt had just concluded a 10-year long civil war. The internal struggle started over excessive and oppressing taxation strengthened by tough Greek tax collectors. As the war ended there was still much unrest. Ptolemy V put into a effect a Proclamation of Peace which granted general amnesty for all rebels and tax debtors, lowered taxation practices, eliminated forced conscription into the navy, and reinstituted tax exemption to the priests, temples, and their crops and lands, as it had been in the reign of the ancient pharaohs. If you’re feeling the pressure with today’s taxes, call a Raleigh NC CPA for all your tax-related needs!

This was a great advantage and monetary ease for the priesthood and temples and they wanted to make certain first everyone knew it and, second, didn’t desire it to be taken away again at some point in the future.

As a result, “Rosetta Stones” were carved and placed in front of each temple in Egypt. The Rosetta stones acted as warnings to all that tax immunity had been given to the priesthood and this temple and was a “Do Not Enter” sign to cease the lawlessness of the king’s tax men. Go here if you want help with modern-day Tax Preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll in Raleigh NC.

All of this still begs the question: why carved in stone? The answer is because the priesthood desired to make sure it would not fade in history or able to be simply destroyed. Another question was why write it in 3 languages? The Stone was created in three languages because all may see and heed the message the priesthood desired to send to all of the country. It was written in Greek to be very direct to the king’s tax men that they could not even go inside the gates of the temple.

So, the most important Egyptian archaeological find in history, the stone translated the pictographic language of the Egyptians, enabled us to discover the key to hieroglyphic writing and thereby the key to unlocking the mystery of ancient Egypt and the understanding of the Egyptian empire for 3000 years was, in truth, a tax document.

Keep an eye out for W. Marc Gilfillan’s next chapter in his History of Taxes series: Taxes and The Colussus of Rhodes.

http://www.marccpa.com/

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