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.
He is, however, loved by the left (and the liberal college professors now infesting modern English departments) for his hedonism, rejection of authority, irresponsibility, and general avocation of narcissism. Heck, with his hand in the drowning of Shelley, you might consider him the Ted Kennedy of the Romantic period.
I suppose you'll quote Oscar Wilde on marriage and child-rearing next, right?
Of course, I tend to think that English poetry when down hill when it went from alliterating to rhyming, but that is an admittedly extreme opinion.
Twaddle!
Isn't it interesting that we are so often told how the Muslims were the ones who preserved Greek culture for us. But when they had the Rosetta Stone sitting under the Islamic watch for over a thousand years they hadn't a clue.
This is reminiscent, to me, of Gamla. It was a place described by Josephus, but no one knew whether it really existed until after the '67 war when Israel captured the Golan Heights. And soon thereafter, archeologists discovered the place. (See 4th and 5th photos indexed at this link.) The Muslims care nothing for any history that isn't theirs.
The idea of returning the Rosetta Stone to Islamic Swine is absurd. Were it done, I have little doubt that within 20 years someone would recommend smashing it because it was a dangerous alien influence.
ML/NJ
I'll trade you one hint for another. There are far more English people who can read what's on the Stone than there are Egyptians. And I bet a lot of Freepers can read the Greek text.
Doc
I sincerely doubt it.
How can you possibly justify the theft of a article as "cultutal hertitage" when the culture that stole it didn't even exist at the time when the artifact was created? Don't given me any bull about the British are just "caring" for the object, blah, blah, blah and because of this, they have a right to their loot?
The British has no more right to the Rosetta stone than the Egyptians or Greeks have to the Mary Rose.
… England's only claim to ownership is through thievery…
The French stole it from the Egyptians fair and square. The English stole it from the French fair and square.
The precedence for the acquisition of antiquities has been set, the Egyptians know how it has to be done if they want it back.
Ha! Do you know how those precious marbles got to England in thge first place? They were hacked up to fit inside the crates... Then 23 crates sunk to the bottom of the sea where they remained for 2 years, while for 16 years the entire lot of them were sitting on the grounds in a damp north english climate while Lord Elgin is trying to haggle a price. Then after they were "sold" (note committee of 1816 recognized that they were stolen property), they had to be subjected to an acid bath... etc etc ...
If the Brits just left the marbles alone they would have been in a far better shape today.
So your argument is thievery justifies anything - even the myth of "protection".
They're doing a darn site better than the ones that were hacked up to make the journey to England. (See previous post.)
So did members of Wiston Churchill's government and Tony Blair. What's your point? The 1816 report acknowledged that the marbles were acquired through theft.
They would be etched smooth by now.
Dream on. They would still be in one piece, (they wouldn't have been hacked up), they wouldn't have had 2 years under water - or a further 16 years in the damp, or subjected to an acid wash ... Such is the "care" they received ...
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