Who said old items had a use-by date?

historicity-was-already-taken:

For those who are new to this blog, you may find the background to this post right here. That will explain what I’m doing, and why I’m writing this as more of a journalist than a history blogger.

The Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone is an Ancient Egyptian artifact which provided the key to a modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs. It is inscribed with a decree issued by King Ptolemy V in 196 BCE.

The decree is inscribed in three languages: Hieroglyphs, Demotic script (a post-Late Egyptian, pre-Greek language spoken in Egypt beginning in 650 BCE), and Ancient Greek. The same text is presented in all three languages, thus scholars were able to decipher the Hieroglyph text through their knowledge of Ancient Greek.

close-up of panels inscribed in each of the three languages

As time went on, the stele, which was probably a fairly ordinary one at the time of its issue, eventually ended up in use as a building material in the construction of Fort Julien on the Nile River Delta. A French soldier found the stele in 1799, and recognized its value to Western scholarship. As it was not being used in any academic or official propensity, and there were no plans to use it as anything but a building material, he took it.

Word spread quite rapidly of this find, and lithographic copies and plaster casts of the stele began to circulate around the European scholarly community.

However, as this was taking place to the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars, in 1801, British troops attacked and defeated the French troops stationed in Egypt.

The British took the Rosetta Stone from the French in a move sanctioned by the Treaty of Alexandria, and its subsequent removal from Egyptian soil was approved by the Ottoman government. It has been on display at the British Museum since 1802.

In July of 2003, Egypt made its first request for the repatriation of the Rosetta Stone.

“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 Zahi Hawass, the chief of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

He repeated the request two years later. In 2005 the British Museum presented Egypt with a full size replica of a stele, however, by November of that year Hawass was suggesting a three month loan of the Rosetta Stone to Egypt, with the eventual goal of repatriation.

The British Museum, not trusting that the Stone would be returned after the three month time period, declined this proposal. Hawass is currently trying to convince the British Museum to loan it to Egypt for three months in time for the opening in the Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza.

The British Museum has expressed concerns over the security of the Rosetta Stone in transit if it were to be put on loan in an Egyptian Museum, as, in the past, objects have been damaged or stolen in transit.

They also worry that it would set a precedent which, in their view, would negatively affect the collections of other major museums. In fact, in 2002, thirty of the world’s leading museums issued a collective statement on this topic.

“Objects acquired in earlier times must be viewed in the light of different sensitivities and values reflective of that earlier era. Museums serve not just the citizens of one nation but the people of every nation,” said these museums in the aforementioned statement.

The British Museum—which presents itself as a museum for the world—has also stated that, in order to fulfill the museum’s stated purpose, its collection as it stands must remain intact. It also stated that it would consider the loan request.

Next up: the Bust of Nefertiti