The South Egyptian Gallery contains the monuments of the later dynasties, down to the incorporation of Egypt as a province of the Roman Empire in 30 B.C.
West side, Two palm-leaf columns of 19th Dynasty; 616. Seated figure of Seti II.; 818. Uah-Ab-Ra, kneeling. Opposite, 637. Pair of statuettes (coloured); 1187. Portraitstatuette of Utcha-Heru-A, with gold headdress; 565. Seated pair of statuettes (of great delicacy and beauty); 766. Hapi, God of the Nile, holding a table of offerings, is of the 21st or 22nd Dynasty. The 26th Dynasty (666-528 B.C.), founded by Psammetichus, who threw off the rule of Assyria, is fully represented by the large black sarcophagi, by the mummyshaped coffins against the pilasters, and by statues (e.g. No. 1682). 823 (West), 824 (East). Casts of green basalt figures of Rert-Rert, the hippopotamus-goddess, and of the sacred cow of Hathor. The 30th Dynasty (378-358 B.C.) was the last native dynasty before Egypt fell under Persian rule. 926. Slab with inscription and figure of Nectanebus II.; 919, 920 (South end of room), Obelisks dedicated by Nectanebus I. to Thoth, 'scribe of the Gods'; 923. Tomb of Nectanebus I. After the Persian domination came that of Macedon; Egypt fell in 332 B.C. to Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great's generals, whose line expired with Cleopatra in 30 B.C., when Egypt became a Roman province. Ptolemaic monuments here include: 962 (bay XXX). Monolithic granite shrine (of a sacred hawk); 1178. Three figures (marching abreast) of animal-headed gods, as apparently primitive, in spite of their late date, as the large hawk of Horus (No. 898; opposite) is accomplished. In the middle, at the south end, is the Rosetta Stone (No. 960), named from the mouth of the Nile near which it was found by the French in 1798.
It bears a priestly decree, inscribed twice in Egyptian (first in hieroglyphs, the writing of the priests, and second in demotic, or ordinary secular characters) and once in a Greek translation with Greek characters. This triple inscription, and especially the names of kings enclosed in cartouches, or oval frames, gave scholars the key to the Egyptian language and scripts.
