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Egypt demands return of Rosetta Stone!
The Sunday Telegraph - UK ^ | July 20, 2003 | Charlotte Edwardes and Catherine Milner

Posted on 07/20/2003 10:18:03 AM PDT by UnklGene

Egypt demands return of the Rosetta Stone By Charlotte Edwardes and Catherine Milner (Filed: 20/07/2003)

Egypt is demanding that the Rosetta Stone, a 2,000-year-old relic and one of the British Museum's most important exhibits, should be returned to Cairo.

The stone, which became the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, was found by Napoleon's army in 1799 in the Nile delta, but has been in Britain for the past 200 years. It forms the centrepiece of the British Museum's Egyptology collection and is seen by millions of visitors each year.

Now, in an echo of the campaign by Athens for the return of the Elgin Marbles, the Egyptian government is calling for the stone to be returned and threatening to pursue its claim "aggressively" if the British Museum does not agree to give it back voluntarily.

Zahi Hawass, the director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo, confirmed to The Telegraph that he had begun negotiations with academics and curators at the museum. He said he hoped that they would agree to "voluntarily return the stone", but gave a warning that, if the request was rejected, he would intensify his campaign to bring it back to Egypt.

"If the British want to be remembered, if they want to restore their reputation, they should volunteer to return the Rosetta Stone because it is the icon of our Egyptian identity," said Dr Hawass.

"Otherwise I will have to approach them using a different strategy. There are various stages to our negotiations. I don't want to fight anyone now, but if the British Museum doesn't act, we will have to employ a more aggressive approach with the Government. I don't care if people know my strategy, the artefacts stolen from Egypt must come back."

Dr Hawass said that he had been discussing a possible three-month loan of the stone with the museum. "More immediately, we are prepared to accept it peacefully on a temporary loan and we are in discussions about that right now. That is a short-term solution, however. Ideally, we would like the stone to come back for good."

Dr Hawass said that the Cairo Museum, where the Rosetta Stone would be kept, had a replica of the relic which it would be willing to give to the British Museum in return for the original.

The Rosetta Stone, which dates from 196 BC, was discovered by French troops in 1799 in the village of Rosette (Raschid) in the western delta of the Nile. The stone's importance was that it provided a key to understanding hieroglyphic text because it was accompanied by a Greek translation.

Although the stone was Napoleon's most coveted war acquisition, the French ceded it to Britain under the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801 and it has been exhibited in the British Museum since 1802.

Vivian Davies, the keeper of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the museum, expressed sympathy with Dr Hawass's claim, but suggested that legislation on the repatriation of artefacts would prevent the relic's permanent return.

"Will the Rosetta Stone be returned? I would say that our priorities are elsewhere at the moment. We are working with our Egyptian colleagues to preserve the heritage of today rather than concentrate on problems - or issues, perhaps I should say - that are very old," he said.

"We would like to co-operate with the Egyptians insofar as we can under the law. It is the same law that guides us on the issue of the Elgin Marbles - the British Museum Act of 1963." This rules that no artefact can be repatriated without the permission of the museum's trustees.

Mr Davies added: "Perhaps, if I were in Dr Hawass's position, I would feel the same way. We are having constructive negotiations over the loan for three months. It's a new idea he has produced and we appreciate very much that Dr Hawass is being constructive on these matters. We enjoy working with him and his staff."

Dr Hawass, one of the world's leading Egyptologists, has pioneered a major new museum development programme and encouraged the Egyptian government to pour considerable funds into archaeological research.

The Egyptian government has asked for the stone as part of a wide-reaching programme to return "stolen" antiquities from all over the world. Among the items it wants to retrieve are the bust of Queen Nefertiti from the Berlin Museum, the statues of Hatshepsut in the Metropolitan Museum of New York and, perhaps most controversially, the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde, one of the most famous landmarks in Paris.

Dr Hawass added: "The obelisk in France is needed because the Luxor temple from which it came is left with only one. The second one should be there with it."

Last night Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum, was unavailable for comment, but in the past he has described the personal significance of the stone. "I remember the first visit I made to the museum was with my father at the age of eight," he said. "I was fascinated by the Rosetta Stone. I was thrilled to be able to touch it - it was uncovered at the time - and physically connect with history."

If the stone were to be moved, it would be seen by far fewer people than is the case today: the Cairo Museum has about 2.5 million visitors a year, compared to the 5.5 million who visit the British Museum annually.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: antiquities; archaeology; britishmuseum; egypt; epigraphyandlanguage; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; history; museums; rosettastone; uk
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To: UnklGene
Two hundred years and they are just getting around to demanding the return of "their" property? O.K., fine.

Return it after passing thru a #200 mesh seive.
21 posted on 07/20/2003 10:48:58 AM PDT by Dr.Zoidberg (I've been making fine jewelry for years, apparently.)
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To: waterstraat
If the british museum returns everything then there wont be anything left in their museum.

Heck, the Brits don't even know how to take care of their own historical treasures.
That's why Robert McCulloch volunteered to buy London Bridge and move it to Arizona.

22 posted on 07/20/2003 10:50:04 AM PDT by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Monty22
There has to be a certain cultural schizophrenia in Egypt. They own one of the greatest cultural legacies in the world, whose true extent and nature is only now in the process of being uncovered by Westerners. Yet they are in thrall to a backward Bedouin superstition imposed by ruthless conquerors a millenium ago, who played a large part in marring and destroying that heritage. (viz., The burning of library at Alexandria.) Certainly Egypt is one of the wellsprings of Western culture, but they have turned their collective backs on it for a repressive atavistic cult.
23 posted on 07/20/2003 10:53:12 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets ("ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS, WE PRINT")
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To: Hank Rearden
She does that leg-crossing thing. There's residual value there.

Got it on video. But I'd gladly ship Phillips over there!

24 posted on 07/20/2003 10:55:40 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: dozer7
"Egypt demands return of Rosetta Stone!"

It will probably suffer the same fate as the budda statues in Afganistan.

25 posted on 07/20/2003 10:56:08 AM PDT by dozer7
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To: Eva
Key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics
26 posted on 07/20/2003 10:58:46 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets ("ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS, WE PRINT")
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To: UnklGene
London to Cairo: Drop dead!
27 posted on 07/20/2003 10:59:32 AM PDT by wimpycat (Down with Kooks and Kookery!)
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To: UnklGene
Give it back.

The secrets are unlocked. Everyone already has a plaster cast of the object. There are no more secrets. Send the Acropolis back to Athens while you're at it.

28 posted on 07/20/2003 11:02:32 AM PDT by RightWhale (Destroy the dark; restore the light)
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To: UnklGene
NO NO NO a thousand times NO!!! You can't have it back!!!!
29 posted on 07/20/2003 11:07:01 AM PDT by Ditter
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To: Larry Lucido

30 posted on 07/20/2003 11:08:53 AM PDT by dighton (NLC™)
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To: RightWhale
Send the Acropolis back to Athens while you're at it.

Glad to see somebody else displaying a little common sense on this issue.
IMHO, such items can only be truly appreciated when viewed in their original location and surrounded by similar artifacts from the same time period.
Much depends, of course, on a nation's capability to properly preserve such items. But I think that both Greece and Egypt are sufficiently developed to assume such responsibity. And to the extent that they do not have the resources to maintain the massive quantities of artifacts that their ancient cultures produced, they should be the ones who decide which artifacts are "loaned" to other museums throughout the world.

31 posted on 07/20/2003 11:16:20 AM PDT by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: UnklGene
>>Egypt demands return of Rosetta Stone!<<

Tell them that Kathleen Freeman is dead.
32 posted on 07/20/2003 11:17:34 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (This tagline has been suspended or banned.)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets
Thanks, Lonesome! Short, concise, and complete!
33 posted on 07/20/2003 11:24:09 AM PDT by UnklGene
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To: UnklGene
Perhaps the example of the Taliban destroying those monolithic towers of the ancient Bhudda is something to consider before anyone seriously contemplates abiding by the Egyptian demands.

The Egyptians have their problems with Muslim extremists. I have no data but I would assume that tourism is down there after they had shot at a busload of visitors to the pyramids a few years ago.
34 posted on 07/20/2003 11:24:38 AM PDT by Radix
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To: BeerSwillr
"If the British want to be remembered, if they want to restore their reputation, they should volunteer to return the Rosetta Stone because it is the icon of our Egyptian identity,"

Funny, I thought the pyramids were the icon of Egyptian identity.

Maybe they can make an even trade, then.

35 posted on 07/20/2003 11:27:13 AM PDT by xm177e2 (Stalinists, Maoists, Ba'athists, Pacifists: Why are they always on the same side?)
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To: Willie Green
We know that the atmosphere in Athens will dissolve the fresco and other decorations to smooth nubs in five years, but send them back anyway. As far as Egypt is concerned, their archaeological department has made great strides and they are ready to care for and preserve the artifacts, even though it is they themselves who have been dismantling their priceless heirlooms over the centuries. Whatever happened to the cap of the pyramid, or the outer covering? How many trainloads of mummies have gone up in smoke from their locomotives? They're ready now, though, and the Islamicists won't suddenly rampage through the museum turning everything to dust and smoke one day.
36 posted on 07/20/2003 11:27:50 AM PDT by RightWhale (Destroy the dark; restore the light)
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To: Larry Lucido
LOL! Can we also include Oliver Stone?

This just in...France wants Louisiana back. Hell, I want my PSINet stock back. The list goes on...
37 posted on 07/20/2003 11:31:07 AM PDT by Akira (5 in a row for Big Tex!)
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To: UnklGene
This is probably one of the FEW things that I agree with the "new-think" of the present.

These "World Historical" objects should be kept in the area where they were created. But not until AFTER extensive analysis and exact replicas are made.

I'm sorry, but Egypt doesn't have the facilities for research that are available in the US or UK.

The ownership though is Egypt's.
38 posted on 07/20/2003 11:40:24 AM PDT by steplock (www.FOCUS.GOHOTSPRINGS.com)
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To: dighton; Akira

39 posted on 07/20/2003 11:42:41 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: RightWhale
We know that the atmosphere in Athens will dissolve the fresco and other decorations to smooth nubs in five years, but send them back anyway.

I would think that the curators in both the British and Greek museums understand that as well.
Perhaps they've already agreed to continue the charade of a "dispute" for publicity purposes. It gives them some leverage over public opinion to address air quality issues.

40 posted on 07/20/2003 11:46:47 AM PDT by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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