The crucial thing about the Rosetta Stone is that it bears the same inscription, a decree affirming the cult of Ptolemy V, in three different scripts: hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek. This enabled scholars to use the Greek to decipher the hieroglyphs, giving Egyptologists the scope to interpret the script on so many ancient artefacts and tombs. By the time of the Rosetta Stone's inscription, the power of the pharoahs was waning, as the need to convey their decrees in diverse scripts demonstrates.
