written by Dana Crum illustrated by Frank Morrison 4

Calliope was the only one in her family who wasn’t

unpacking. Her parents and her younger brother, Julian,

were taking things out of their suitcases in the hotel

room, but Calliope chose to lie stretched out on her bed.

Cairo, Egypt, was not where Calliope wanted to be.

She watched as her mother placed one of her usual

tomes beside the phone on the end table. “I had a

chance to read Omar’s e-mail,” her mother told her

father, “and I can’t wait to hear more about this latest

discovery.”

“If I know Omar, it’s amazing,” replied her

father, hanging a gray suit in the closet.

“Old rocks,” muttered Calliope. “What could

possibly be amazing about old rocks?”

Calliope’s father—who, like his wife, was an

archaeologist—frowned and said, “Geologists study

old rocks, Calliope. Archaeologists study past

cultures and the objects they left behind.”

A sour look quickly spread across Calliope’s face.

“Why should I care about a bunch of dead people? It’s

not like I’ll ever have dinner with them or anything.”

“Still upset about this trip, huh?” her mother

observed.

“Why did we even have to come here?” Calliope

groaned and folded her arms across her chest. “You

could have just left Julian and me with Grandpa.”

“We just thought it was a great opportunity for

you both to experience another culture,” said her

mother.

Julian grinned, revealing a missing front tooth. “I

like trips!”

Calliope glared at her brother and then rolled her

eyes. Some vacation this is going to be, she said to

herself for the hundredth time.

5

Later, as her parents sat at the desk and leafed through a catalog

for the conference that had prompted their trip to Cairo, Calliope

noticed a scrap of what looked like parchment on the freshly

vacuumed carpet.

“What’s that?” Julian inquired as he tottered up to her.

“I think it’s a page ripped from a journal,” she told him.

“Whose is it?” he asked, his eyes widening.

“Shhh! That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” She silently read

the handwriting.

“What’s it say?” he asked.

“I’ll read it to you. Mom, Dad, listen to this.” Calliope

started reading the message aloud.

a

discoveredRosetta I have the

fragment

I may from fragment

the for

think find

missing hidden to

Museum I’ve riddle

.

Egyptian

this

Stone

in Solve throne;

.

the

. golden a

alone on

sat box I

wooden

pharaoh

a

As in

lie I

now

When she got to the part about the Rosetta Stone,

her brother interrupted and asked, “What’s the Rosetta

Stone?”

Their mother, always happy to dispense her

knowledge, explained. “It’s an important artifact from

ancient Egypt that was discovered in 1799 by French

soldiers working on a fort. It’s known as the Rosetta Stone

because it was unearthed near a town called Rosetta, or

Rasheed. The discovery greatly helped scholars to learn

how to interpret hieroglyphics.”

6

“High-row what?” Julian laughed.

“Hieroglyphics,” Calliope pronounced carefully.

“What’s that?” he asked, climbing up onto the bed.

“That’s the writing system made up of pictures and symbols used

by the ancient Egyptians,” their mother continued. “Once scholars

learned how to decipher hieroglyphics, we were able to deepen our

knowledge of the ancient Egyptian civilization.”

Not to be outdone, their father chimed in, “And learning more about

Egypt was a big deal because Egypt was a big deal. Egyptian civilization

is one of the greatest the world has ever known.”

“When those soldiers found the stone,” Calliope asked, “it

wasn’t the first time people saw hieroglyphics, was it?”

Her mother shook her head.

“Then why couldn’t people learn how to read hieroglyphics

before the soldier found it?”

“Great question,” her father said. “The Rosetta Stone has the same

message inscribed on it not only in hieroglyphics, but also in Greek and

something called demotic, which was another writing system used in

ancient Egypt. Scholars already knew how to read Greek, and by

comparing the Greek to the hieroglyphics, they figured out how to read

hieroglyphics.”

“Oh,” Calliope remarked nonchalantly, and then looked at her

brother. “Did you get that?”

Julian nodded vigorously, but Calliope knew he must be

confused. It didn’t matter because he pretty much enjoyed

everything—whether he understood what was going on or not.

“There’s something else you should know,” her mother said.

“When the soldier found the Rosetta Stone, parts of it were missing.

It sounds like whoever wrote this note may have discovered one of

the missing fragments.”

Calliope continued reading, and when she finished, she repeated the

riddle: “As pharaoh I sat on a golden throne; now I lie in a wooden box

alone.” She looked up. “Hey, this note says the missing piece of the

Rosetta Stone is at the Egyptian Museum. Isn’t that where we’re going

today?”

“It is,” her father replied, “and if you kids find the fragment, then

it will help confirm that people got it right when they deciphered the

hieroglyphics.”

7

“But what about this guy?” Calliope asked, holding up the page. “He’s

the one who found it.”

“I don’t think he would have left a clue like that if he didn’t want

someone to find it,” her mother said. “Whoever wrote this must know that

something as important as a missing fragment of the Rosetta Stone should

be shared with the world and not secreted away. You and your brother

should go for it.”

“If the two of you find the fragment,” her father said, “then you’ll

make history!”

“Really?” Calliope ventured, her voice curling up at the end.

“Really!”

Calliope had serious doubts about all of this, but then she looked down

and saw her brother’s wide, excited eyes. She bent and hugged him. “If we

find it, then it means we’ll be famous.”

Julian enthusiastically jumped up and down. “I want to be

famous! Can we go now?”

“I don’t see why not,” their father said. “If we go now, we’ll

definitely have time to meet up with Omar afterward since he works

at the museum.”

After Calliope and her family entered the museum, they came into a

large room where a colossal statue of Amenhotep III and his queen, Tiye,

commanded Calliope’s gaze. Looking up at them, she began to feel that

maybe she understood why people were so interested in ancient things.

The soft roar of voices echoing in the entryway filled her ears, putting her

in a sort of trance. When the spell wore off, she took her brother’s hand.

With their parents right behind them, they headed for the nearest exhibit.

Soft light poured down from the enormous skylights as Calliope and

Julian strolled wide-eyed among enormous statues of stone and objects

made of gleaming gold.

Calliope let out a whistle and said, “These people were rich!” “Well,

the pharaohs and their wives were,” her father explained. “What’s the

riddle again?” Julian asked, tugging at her arm. Calliope ferreted out

the folded sheet of paper from her jeans

pocket and read the riddle aloud. “As pharaoh I sat on a golden

throne; now I lie in a wooden box alone.”

8

9

The family had been searching for a wood coffin for some time when

one finally loomed into view. The coffin was inside a large glass case, and

carved into the coffin’s exterior was a pharaoh in his royal headdress, his

arms crossed in an X across his chest.

Calliope’s mother explained, “This is the sarcophagus of Ramesses II.

He was born a commoner. But he became one of Egypt’s most powerful

pharaohs and used propaganda to make himself seem even greater. He

started construction projects bigger than anything Egypt had ever seen.

In his time, most people died

before they reached 40,

but he lived into

his nineties.”

10

“This is definitely what the clue is talking about, Julian!”

Calliope said. “Help me look for the missing piece of the stone!” Her

brother followed her thoughtfully as she scoured the floor

around the sarcophagus.

“So, are we famous yet?” Julian inquired.

“No, but if we find this piece of stone, we sure will be,” she

explained as she shared a sly smile with her parents.

Despite their exhaustive search, Calliope and Julian found no stone

fragment. Julian, however, found another sheet of paper. It was the same

color as the first, made of the same material, and contained the same

green scrawl. He handed it to his sister.

“What do you have there?” asked her father.

She looked down at the second journal page. “I think it’s from the

person who wrote the first note,” she said, stealing a glance at her father.

Then she read it aloud.

Find the boy king’s golden box

that holds four precious jars.

The box is watched by goddesses:

four mighty female guards.

“Can a boy really be a king?” Julian asked.

“Well, if the heir to the throne was a child when the pharaoh died,”

their father explained, “then the child automatically became the new

pharaoh. But the child pharaoh would get plenty of advice from family

and other adults in the palace.”

Calliope turned to her brother. “You hear that, Julian? You could

be a king!”

Julian tilted his head all the way back and grinned at his sister.

“OK. And you can help me do stuff!”

“First,” she said, grabbing his hand again, “we need to find this golden

box!”

11

The family bore deeper into the museum. Whenever Calliope and Julian

wandered off, their mother was always a few steps behind them. The

siblings searched everywhere, but they found no golden box nor any

powerful women standing guard.

They were just about to head across the hall when their father threaded

his way through the crowd to reach them, pointing to a spot farther ahead.

“There’s the King Tut section,” he said, adding in a near whisper, “and

he was a boy king.”

“Boy king!” Julian cried, leading the charge toward King Tut’s

shrine with his sister, father, and mother in tow.

“King Tut,” Calliope repeated. “I know I’ve heard of him.”

“King Tut’s father tried to change Egyptian religion and

caused a lot of controversy,” her mother explained.

“Under King Tut, the priests decreed a return to the old

beliefs so that the gods would smile on Egypt again. He

became king at an early age, but he also died young.”

The four of them reached a large

cube of gilded wood, capped with

a frieze of cobras balancing solar

disks upon their heads. At each

of the four sides, a gold statue of

a woman stood with her arms

outstretched in a gesture of

protection.

“This might be it, Julian!”

Calliope said. “And it’s got

four women on guard duty.

But,” reminding herself

about the second riddle,

“are there precious

jars inside?”

12

“There certainly are,” her father told her. “This is a canopic shrine.

Canopic means there are four special jars inside, and each jar holds a

different organ from King Tut’s body. The four women guarding the

shrine are goddesses, which means they are quite powerful.”

Julian couldn’t contain himself. “Organs? Like a heart? Ewww!”

“Then this is it!” Calliope said, her face beaming as she gave her

brother a fist bump. “But what about the piece of the Rosetta Stone?” She

marched around the shrine, scanning the floor for the missing fragment.

Her brother walked behind her, mimicking her movements. “See

anything?” she asked, and he shook his head to indicate he didn’t.

All of a sudden, Calliope’s eyes were caught by a piece of paper on

the floor that looked exactly like the ones folded up in her pocket. As she

picked it up, she saw the familiar green writing and let out a resigned

sigh.

“Another clue? I don’t think we’re ever going to find the missing

piece, Julian.”

“But you and your brother already solved two riddles,” her father

said, “and I think you’re doing great.”

“I guess so,” Calliope sighed, before reading the third riddle in a

monotone voice.

I’m the mightiest cat you’ve ever seen, with

ferocious strength and the face

of a queen.

“Hey, I don’t see any cats,” Julian remarked and walked on.

Calliope followed him, unsure what it was they were even looking for.

13

Soon they wandered into the Late Kingdom section of the museum.

Inside the entryway squatted a stone creature with the body of a giant

cat and the head of a human being.

“There’s a cat!” Julian said, pointing and grinning.

“It’s a mythical creature called a sphinx,” explained their mother. “The

Egyptians believed that sphinxes were fierce guardians and protectors. This

one is a portrait of Queen Hatshepsut, one of Egypt's greatest pharaohs.”

“But this can’t be right,” Calliope said as she shook her head,

“because the sphinx has a beard.”

Her father chuckled and explained, “She didn’t have one in real life.

Almost all pharaohs had been men, and Egyptians associated power and

authority with male rulers. So Hatshepsut is represented with masculine

elements. She’s also wearing a royal headdress.”

Sometimes Calliope felt her parents’ constant history

lessons were exhausting. But, even though she was often

confused by what they were saying and wasn’t sure if she

would always remember it all, she was pretty impressed with

how much they knew.

“OK, Julian,” she said. Keep your eyes peeled for

that rock because it has to be around here

somewhere.”

The siblings searched and searched

again. When they didn’t find anything

resembling a stone fragment, Calliope

folded her arms across her chest

and tried not to pout.

14

Then she spotted it! Just behind the leg of a display case, she saw what

looked like a jagged piece of broken rock. She bent down and picked it up.

Then she examined it and saw the tiny markings etched on one side. “Are

you kidding me? We found it, Julian!”

“We found it, we found it!” Julian echoed. “Can I see what we

found?”

As she handed the small, dark rock to her brother, she heard her father

say, “Kids, there’s someone we’d like you to meet.”

Calliope looked up to see a man standing with her parents. The three

of them were smiling like old friends. “Calliope, Julian,” their mother said,

“meet Omar, our friend and colleague.”

“Hi,” Calliope said. “You’re the friend my parents are here to see,

right?”

“Yes,” Omar said with a smile. “I’m very pleased to meet you both. But

there is something I must confess. What you found is not a missing

fragment of the Rosetta Stone. It’s actually a miniature copy of the Rosetta

Stone that I want you to have.”

“So where’s the missing

piece of the real Rosetta

Stone?” Calliope asked

with a raised eyebrow.

15

“No one has found any of the missing fragments yet,” he said. “But

maybe you and your brother will be the ones to do so, considering you

did such a good job today.”

“So you were the one who wrote all of those notes for us to find,”

Calliope said.

“I was indeed,” said Omar, smiling down at her. “I wrote those notes

to look like pages from my journal.” Omar opened a leather-bound

journal, held it with the covers facing him, and leafed through to reveal

note-crammed pages of the same color and material as the sheets of paper

Calliope still held in her pocket.

Calliope shared this news with her brother and noticed that, as

usual, it did not alter his good mood.

Omar continued, “Your parents told me you weren’t too happy about

this trip, so I thought a little treasure hunt might liven up things. I hope

you’re not too disappointed, because I think it’s wonderful that you and

your brother showed real commitment and wanted so badly to find the

missing fragment.”

“And you both asked all the right questions,” her

mother added.

Omar nodded. “That’s what scientists do. They ask

questions and show commitment even when the search is

long and arduous. I think the two of you are more like your

parents than you realize, even if you don’t end up becoming

scientists when you grow up.”

Calliope glanced at her brother and was not

surprised to see him grinning. If studying archaeology

could make her brother this happy, how could it be

boring? She turned to her parents and said, “I’m sorry

for what I said earlier about old rocks.”

Her father placed a warm hand on her shoulder.

“It was fun to be at the museum today,” Calliope

told everyone, “even if we didn’t find the missing

piece.” She remembered how she’d dismissed ancient

dead people as unimportant. She realized she had, in a

way, met many of them today. “Where are we going

next?”

16

The Rosetta Stone is a dark rock

inscribed with a decree that dates

back to 196 b.c.e.

The decree inscribed on the stone

was written by royal priests. It states

that the pharaoh was a good, just ruler

and to list his many accomplishments.

The decree is inscribed using three

different writing systems: hieroglyphics,

demotic, and ancient Greek.

Hieroglyphics is an ancient Egyptian

writing system that uses pictures to

represent words and sounds. Generally,

royal priests wrote with hieroglyphics.

Demotic script was a simpler writing

system used by ordinary Egyptians.

Knowledge of hieroglyphics disappeared

with the decline and end of the ancient

Egyptian empire. The meaning of these

symbols remained a complete mystery to

scholars until the discovery of the Rosetta

Stone in 1799, when French soldiers were

restoring a fort in the Egyptian village of

Rosetta (Rasheed).

Scholars were amazed when they

realized that the same message had

been inscribed using hieroglyphics and

ancient Greek.

The Rosetta Stone measures about 3 feet 9

inches by 2 feet 4 inches.

Because scholars already understood

ancient Greek, they used the Greek text

to decipher the meaning of the

hieroglyphics. Although sections of the

stone are missing (especially at the top

where the hieroglyphics are located), a

few scholars were able to break the code

in a little more than 20 years.

The Rosetta Stone currently resides

in the British Museum in London,

England, where it has been on exhibition

for more than 200 years.

No surviving fragment from the

Rosetta Stone has ever been found.

17

written by Susan Altman and Susan Lechner

illustrated by Judy Stead

The fair Cleopatra was just seventeen

When she came to the throne and became Egypt’s queen.

According to law, she was to rule with her brother,

But she and her brother kept fighting each other.

She needed strong allies. She found them in Rome.

They came with their armies to help her at home.

Clever and daring, she used her charms well.

Two great Roman leaders fell under her spell.

She threw lavish banquets, drank pearls in her wine,

And dressed as a goddess when guests came to dine.

Her influence grew, getting Rome all upset.

They thought Cleopatra was really a threat.

So they sent out a fleet and a battle ensued.

Cleopatra’s brave sailors were quickly subdued.

When she saw that escape was out of her grasp,

She decided to die by the bite of an asp.

“I will not be captured and humbled,” she said.

“I will not surrender, I’d rather be dead.”

So she called in her servant, “Just one thing, I ask it.

Go bring me a snake, concealed in a basket.”

She made her last plans and got carefully dressed,

Then reached for the snake, clutched it close to her breast.

The asp raised its head; its cruel fangs sank deep.

18 Cleopatra fell into a last, fatal sleep.

19