W. Marc Gilfillan, CPA, NC, individual and business CPA and Tax expert, shares about the history of taxes…
The Rosetta Stone, unearthed by Napoleon, was perhaps the absolute most seminal Egyptian archaeological find to date. The Stone had duplicated text in 3 different languages: Egyptian hieroglyphs, demotic (Egyptian script) and Greek. Using the Greek translation, archaeologists were able to decipher the demotic and then the hieroglyphics. However, the question remains: Egyptians had paper, known today as papyrus, so why was the writing etched in a rock? Furthermore, why 3 languages? And why Greek?
The Stone has been around since 3000 B.C. The Rosetta Stone was created around 200 B.C. during the reign of Ptolemy V (a king of Greek descent). So where did the Pharaohs go? At this point in history, Egypt had been taken over in 700 B.C. by the Assyrians, after that the Persians, and eventually the Greeks in 330 B.C. After reigning 2000+ years, Egypt was finally declining.
The Ptolemy dynasty were by and large good rulers, but in 200BC, when the Rosetta Stone was etched, Egypt had recently concluded a decade long civil war. The internal struggle started over excessive and oppressing taxation strengthened by tough Greek tax collectors. As the struggle ended there was still much unrest. Ptolemy V mandated a Proclamation of Peace which gave general amnesty for all rebels and tax debtors, reigned in taxation practices, stopped 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 great pharaohs. If you’re feeling the pressure with today’s taxes, call a Raleigh NC CPA for all your tax-related needs!
This turned out to be a great edge and monetary windfall for the priesthood and temples and they desired to be sure first everyone knew it and, also, did not desire 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 acted as warnings to all that tax exemption had been given to the priests and this temple and acted as 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 Cary NC.
This still leaves the question: why written into stone? The answer is because the priesthood wanted to make sure it wouldn’t fade in history or able to be easily disposed. Another question was why write it in three languages? The Stone was created in three languages so that everyone may see and heed the proclamation the priesthood desired to spread to everyone of Egypt. The stone was written in Greek to be especially clear to the king’s tax men that they could not even go inside the gates of the temple.
As a result of the most important Egyptian archaeological find in history, the Rosetta Stone unraveled the weird language of the Egyptians, made us capable of discovering the key to hieroglyphic writing and subsequently the key to unlocking the history 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/