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 most seminal Egyptian archaeological find to date. The Stone had duplicated text in three different languages: Egyptian hieroglyphs, demotic (known as Egyptian script) and Greek. Using the Greek version, archaeologists figured out how to decipher the demotic and then the hieroglyphs. However, the query is sustained: Egyptians had a form of paper, called papyrus, so why was the writing carved into stone? Also, why three languages? And why Greek?
The Stone has been in existence since 3000 B.C. The Rosetta Stone was etched around 200 B.C. during the reign of Ptolemy V (a king of Greek origins). So what happened to the Pharaohs? By this time, Egypt was taken over in 700 B.C. by the Assyrians, after that the Persians, and eventually the Greeks in 330 B.C. After an existence of 2000+ years, Egypt was in decline.
The Ptolemy’s were for the most part decent rulers, but around 200BC, when the Rosetta Stone was created, Egypt had just concluded a decade long civil war. The civil struggle broke out over excessive and oppressing taxation strengthened by tough Greek tax collectors. As the war ended there was still much unrest. Ptolemy V issued a Proclamation of Peace which granted general amnesty for any rebel and tax debtors, eased tax laws, stopped forced draft into the navy, and restored tax immunity 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 Accountant for all your tax-related needs!
This was a superb advantage and monetary windfall for the priesthood and temples and they wanted to be sure first all people knew it and, also, did not want it to be thrown away again at a time in the future.
As a result, “Rosetta Stones” were etched and placed at the entrance of each temple in Egypt. The Rosetta stones proclaimed to all that tax immunity had been given to the priesthood and this temple and was a “Do Not Enter” sign to curtail the lawlessness of the king’s tax collectors. Go here if you want help with modern-day Tax Preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll in Raleigh NC.
This still begs the question: why carved in stone? The answer? Because the priesthood wanted to make sure it wouldn’t fade in history or able to be simply destroyed. Another question was why write it in three languages? The Stone was written in 3 languages so that all could see and heed the command the priests wanted to send to all people of the country. It was written in Greek to be especially clear to the king’s tax collectors that they could not even come inside the gates of the temple.
As a result of the most important Egyptian archaeological find in history, the stone translated the mysterious language of the Egyptians, made us capable of discovering the secrets of 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/