I know it is. The Parthenon marbles are part of Greek history, the Rosetta stone part of Egyptian. (It was found in the Nile delta by the French). Yet there are many here on this list that don't want the marbles returned to Greece or the Rosetta stone returned to Egypt. So many people have been stating things like the Greeks don't deserve to have the return of their marbles because the Brits can look after them better.
In my hypotethical scenario, the Declaration of Independence gets stolen in 1812, is acknowledge stolen by 1816 but still not returned. We all know that the marbles were stolen and acknowledged stolen in 1816 and still have not been returned.
Why is it OK for Greece not to have her property back, but it would be OK for us to demand the return of ours?
You seem to imply that because that civilzation is no longer in existence, then its artifacts are fair game. I would disagree. Those that have inherited the land, inherit the artifacts from that land. For example, modern Iraq no more resembles ancient Babylonia than Italy resembles ancient Rome. But Iraqi artifacts belong to the Iraqi people, and not to anyone who wants to steal them. Ancient Roman artifacts, on Italian soil belong to the Italian people. Ancient Roman artifacts on Spanish soil belong to the Spanish, etc.
When asked what to do with the library after the capture of Alexandria, Caliph Umar [advisor to and father-in-law of The Prophet Muhammad] replied: "If the books are in accordance with the book of Allah, we may do without them, for the book of Allah more than suffices. If they are not in accordance, then there is no need to preserve them."
In much the same way, all but a handful of the Mayan Codices and the accumulated written record of Easter Island were consigned to the bonfire of history. Luckily, the West has learned a hard lesson and has copied a great deal of historic writings. The great value of the stone is in the door it opened and not the stone itself. If it is moved to Egypt, in time it would suffer the same fate as the Afghan buddhist statuary and the face of the sphinx.
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.