Posted on 10/09/2009 4:47:57 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
Egypt wants to borrow the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum after winning a battle with France over ownership of painted rock fragments “stolen” from the Valley of the Kings.
The French culture ministry has decided to return the 3,200-year-old frescoes, which disappeared in the 1980s, Egypt said, and were acquired by the Louvre in Paris in 2000 and 2003.
Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt’s supreme council of antiquities, had threatened to sever relations with the Louvre unless it handed back the relics. That would have forced the French museum to suspend excavation work in the Pharaonic necropolis of Saqarra.
Mr Hawass told The Daily Telegraph that the return of the painted fragments would “warn every museum not to buy stolen artefacts”.
He now wants the British Museum to lend the Rosetta Stone to Cairo. The artefact, dating from 196BC, carries inscriptions in Greek and Egyptian that first enabled hieroglyphics to be deciphered.
“I am not asking for all the objects in the British Museum to come back, only for the unique objects to come back to Egypt,” he said.
The basalt stone was discovered by French soldiers in 1799, but was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801 and moved to the British Museum the following year.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Hawass Ping
I am kind of embarrassed to admit that until recently I thought Rosetta Stone was a woman.
“The basalt stone was discovered by French soldiers in 1799, but was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801...”
Case closed. It stays put.
Egyptians are like goblins: the fact that many of their items have been sold does not dissuade them from thinking that they still own them.
Case NOT so easily closed. Cultural treasures belong to the cultures. A good case can be made for that.
If tomorrow we discover Jesus’s personal wardrobe and clothes and other effects and it now belongs to the Museum of Saudi Arabia, I would be very upset.
I would want those artificats to belong to a Christian museum preferably a Museum based in the Holy Land where Jesus lived
Having the most important artifact of your culture belong to somone else is quite disturbing.
About the only thing that works AGAINST Egypt is this. Current Egyptian rulers are not real egyptians but Arab invaders.
The REAL descendants of the Egyptians are the Coptic Christians. So, if they set up a Museum, I would fully support the Rosetta Stone going there
If it disappeared in the “1980s” I bet there were laws forbidding sales. We have same laws in places regarding Native American artifacts.
I bet blam knows.
I think she’s a nun
The Greeks have a better chance of getting the Elgin Marbles back.
Concisely put. The facts on the ground conclusively demonstrate that moslems are mentally defective and cannot be trusted with antiquities. When and if the muzzies ever become civilized, then we can talk.
The French want their furniture back and that ain’t happening. The English won them fair and square as spoils fo war. They will continue to be stored and displayed near the bloody tower.
The Rosetta stone will stay as well.
Though I can why both countries want their stuff back, they haven’t really needed it for anything particular.
Fine. Give the Hagia Sophia back to the Christians.
Ooh boy you just dated yourself.
I would agree with you if the RS hadn’t been given to Britain via a legal treaty.
I don't think the French selling stolen goods to the British really counts against the Egyptians. There are plenty of arguments that can be made for who has rights to what based on cultural changes and religion, but you have to admit that Egypt has one of the richest and most pillaged archeological histories in the world. Don't they have a right to their history?
Something STOLEN by the French CANNOT be “given” to anyone else.
That is the law even in the US. You cannot steal something from someone and sell it to someone. If you buy stolen goods (whether you knew the provenence of them or not), you CANNOT keep them. That is the law in our land!
Thus an invading army cannot come to Egypt and steal and then sell it.
It would be one thing if a FREE country sold it. A great example are the Van Goghs. They are a cultural treasure of Holland but because they were sold by free will, Holland can never demand them back.
The same holds true when a country freely allows its antiquities to be sold
But the Rosetta Stone is an artifact of the rulers of Egypt, who at that time were the Ptolemaic Greeks, who aren't around to claim it, so possession nine points of the law.
The artifact reflect Egyptian culture. the ruler may have been of Greek descent but they styled themselves as Egyptian Pharaohs
And as for the cliche “Possession is 9/10ths law” I would suggest you NOT try it in any courtroom (even those with Democratic appointed Judges) anywhere in the civilized world, whether they have Common Law, Hindu Law, Moslem Law, Napoleonic Law or any established body of law.
They also need to get the Elgin Marbles back to Greece. The Poms should know that the spoils of empire were often THEFT.
Not quite. Most Muslim Egyptians are a mix of indigenous Egyptians, Arabs, Turks, Albanians (!), and Nubians, amongst others. The Copts tend to have more indigenous ancestry, but many also have Greek ancestry as well.
Yes, you are correct. The Muslim Arabs have some “genuine” Egyptian blood in them. However, culturally speaking they have chosen to call themselves “Arab” and have rejected their Egyptian heritage and culture.
Which is fine. If you want to be Arab, then kudos to you. You have a long and fine history of science etc to be proud of. Arabs have done well in art, history, science etc.
However, the Copts are PROUD to be Egyptians They may have trace bloodlines of other cultures, but they view themselves as sons of the soil of Egypt
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Interesting link. Thanks for posting it.
I always figured that if I ever had to strip for money, “Rosetta Stone” would be my stage name.
“Fine. Give the Hagia Sophia back to the Christians.”
As it is now a museum, its debatable as to whether it even belongs to ‘the muslims’.....
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