The Rosetta Stone was inscribed during the reign of which pharaoh?

The Rosetta Stone was inscribed during the reign of Pharaoh Ptolemy V Epiphanes.

The stone preserves a decree issued in 196 BCE, identified as the ninth year of Ptolemy V’s reign. Ptolemy V ruled Egypt from 204 to 181 BCE, succeeding as a child during a period of court intrigue, rebellion, and pressure from rival Hellenistic kingdoms. The decree was approved by a council of priests at Memphis after his coronation.

Its importance comes from the decree’s three scripts: hieroglyphs, Demotic Egyptian, and Ancient Greek. Because the Greek text could be read by scholars, comparisons among the three versions helped Jean-François Champollion decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs in the early nineteenth century. The stone was discovered near Rosetta in the Nile Delta in 1799.

Ptolemy V belonged to the Macedonian-Greek Ptolemaic dynasty established after Alexander the Great’s conquest of Egypt. That background is why the inscription combines Greek royal politics with Egyptian priestly traditions. The answer is Ptolemy V, not Ptolemy I or Cleopatra VII, who ruled in different generations.