Blame this.
The Rosetta Stone Murders
The Rosetta Stone. It was the key to our understanding of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, a shining symbol in the history of linguistics – and it’s killed at least three men that we know of, and probably more. Turns out that a secret doesn’t have to be new to be deadly, particularly when there are immortals involved.
It all goes back to what the Rosetta Stone was actually used for, back in the day: it was a fairly standard embodiment of the ongoing deal made between the Ptolemaic foreign dynasty ruling Egypt, and the native priesthoods. The king supported the temples, and the temples supported the king. The Rosetta Stone reviews the details of one such deal: grain and silver shipments, diversion of excess water from a particularly good flooding, allowing the priests a greater share of byssus cloth, legal protections for Alexandrian boatmen… actually, back up a bit.