Read the excerpt from The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone by James Cross Giblin.
From his studies of Coptic, Champollion knew that the Egyptian word for "sun" was pronounced rah. He wrote down the first
two letters of that sound, RA. Next he put a question mark for the unknown middle hieroglyph. Then, at the end, he wrote
SS, the sound of the last two hieroglyphs.
He studied the combination: RA? SS. Suddenly he remembered a famous pharaoh whose name appeared in ancient Greek
chronicles and also in the Biblical Book of Exodus: Rameses, or Ramesses. Could this be a hieroglyphic representation of
Ramesses name?
Based on the excerpt, what detail did Champollion need to conclude that the hieroglyphics might represent Ramesses's
name?
A)the pronunciation of the Egyptian word for sun
B)the meaning of the unknown hieroglyphic
C)the dates that Ramesses ruled Egypt
D)the part of the Bible in which Ramesses appeared