Posted on 07/20/2003 10:18:03 AM PDT by UnklGene
The idea that England should return such a spoil is to me a rather naive idea. Have you any idea of the implications if all of the world’s museums turned over their treasures to the country in which they originated ?
If the French soldiers had not found the large stone embedded in the ruins of a makeshift wall near the town of Rosetta (and appreciated it for the treasure it was), it may have been destroyed or lost forever.
The Rosetta Stone had been carved by order of the Egyptian priesthood in 196 B.C. The inscription praised the good works performed by the Greek king Ptolemy V, who ruled over Egypt from 205-180 B.C. The carved stone was intended to address both the native Egyptian population and the dominant minority led by the Greek king.
If Ptolemy V ruled Egypt during the period the stone was created why is it not the property of the Greek people and not the Egyptian?
I mean if you're going to be politically correct,at least be honest enough to go all the way with it.
For one with such acrimony toward the British I find it curious that you would choose to take your screen name from The Avengers.
Wow, They took the whole mount??
The bastids.
Of course - that is the Human Way.
Larry Lucido: "Tell them they can have Sharon Stone."
Good idea. Sharon wouldn't mind being uncovered and/or touched ;-)
Why doesn't everyone on the planet just make up their list of grievances all at once and get it over with? Give the UN something to do - sort them all out in neat piles, do nothing, and say "we're working on it".
Statute of limitations...
Thought Julius Caesar's Army played a role in the burning of the library. That was some seven or eight hundred years earlier. The library in Mohammed's time was a shadow of its former self.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria
There is a growing consensus among historians that the Library of Alexandria likely suffered from several destructive events, but that the destruction of Alexandria's pagan temples in the late 4th century was probably the most severe and final one. The evidence for that destruction is the most definitive and secure. Caesar's invasion may well have led to the loss of some 40,000-70,000 scrolls in a warehouse adjacent to the port (as Luciano Canfora argues, they were likely copies produced by the Library intended for export), but it is unlikely to have affected the Library or Museum, given that there is ample evidence that both existed later.
Second prize being four passes to EuroDisneyland.
actually the museam has a huge collection of celtic, saxon, roman and ancient briton artifacts so i doubt they wouldnt be found lacking in display items however i went there just to see the Egyptian pieces. one thing i found interesting was the similarities between the Maya and early Egyptian artifacts. even though i consider myself fairly knowledgable about history i would be able to pick out some of them in a line up.
you associate it with babylonia because it is in that same area where the egyptian exhibit ends and the mesopotamian starts, i had to read some of the signs just to figure out which were which.
not really, it was gained through the spoils of war, blame france for the actual theft if one was so inclined to go down this insane path, while we're at it, lets give them all of our dollar bills since they depict a pyramid and thus must belong to Egypt
I say that possession is nine-tenths of the law; he who breaks the code keeps the stone; and finders-keepers, losers weepers.
I know the US wouldn't give it back (unless it was a small Cuban boy during a socialist administration)
First, the British Museum has had the Rosetta Stone for longer than we have had the Southwestern United States, which were also taken by force. Do you insist we give them back?
Second, property rights accrue to individuals, not to collectives (although sovereignty over territory, as in the case of the Southwest, is another matter). The Rosetta Stone was dug up and its ownership transferred--legally or illegally makes no difference, as Egypt would still demand it if a French soldier had purchased it for ten francs at a curio shop. For Egypt to assert property rights over it, just because it was dug out of Egyptian mud, makes as much sense as the South African government asserting ownership over half of the world's gold, just because it was dug out of South African land. If an individual owner for the Rosetta Stone can be identified, let him come forth and file a claim.
Heck, I don't care one way or the other.
It's just a rock with a bunch of scribbling carved into it, for heaven's sake.
Besides, this thread is almost as old as the rock is. How'd it get started up again, anyway?
For F#$@ sake.
Just spent way too much time reading this ancient thread. Half the people I could reply too probably dont even visit FR anymore.
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