Should the Rosetta Stone go home?
Wednesday July 30, 2003
According to reports on the BBC News World Edition the Rosetta Stone is at the centre of a disagreement between the British Museum, London, and Cairo's Egypt Museum.
The person behind the call for the Rosetta Stone's return the Egypt Museum is Zahi Hawass, Egypt's general-secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, who best known for his excavation of the Worker's cemetery at Giza in 1990. He wants to "recover all the antiquities stolen from Egypt."
However, the Rosetta Stone's history puts a different slant on the story that it was 'stolen' from Egypt.
Before the arrival of Napoleon Bonapart's Egyptian Expedition in June 1798 the country had been something of a mystery to Europeans. The last major European expedition to the region had occurred during the Crusades. For almost 300 years the country had been part of the Ottoman Empire, and for almost 900 years before that it was under Islamic Arab rule (invaded Egypt in 640 CE). A few Europeans lived as traders in large cities, but they required an armed escort when ever they went outside and exploration was discouraged.
Although Napoleon's expedition was in essence a military one, he wanted to disrupt Britain's trade route to India and provide a military base for further conquest, the 40,000 troops were accompanied by 167 savants, members of the National Institute – effectively France's intellectual elite.
On 19 July 1799 Napoleon's soldiers were working to improve sea defences north-west of Rosetta, near an ancient fortress called Fort Rashid (renamed Fort Julien by the French), in preparation for the arrival of the British. As they demolished a ruined wall to provide foundation material for extensions to the fort, a four foot long, dark grey stone slab was discovered. Brought to the attention of the officer in charge, Lieutenant Pierre François Xavier Bouchard, its importance was immediately noted because of the unusual presence of three different styles of script.
Copies of the texts were taken, one of which eventually reached Jean-François Champollion, the French scientist credited with the deciphering of hieroglyphic writing. Unfortunately for Napoleon, his military forces were defeated by the British, and under the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801 the larger of the expeditions archaeological finds were handed over. Within a year they were forming the foundation of the British Museum's Egyptian collection.
It is believed that the Rosetta Stone, created in 196 BCE, was originally displayed at Sais, an ancient Egyptian town in the western Delta (now called Sa el-Hagar). It was transported to el-Rachid as ship's ballast during medieval times, and then used as 'builders rubble' during the construction of the fortress. Other archaeological specimens included in the French 'surrender list' had similar histories: two fragmentary obelisks of Nectanebo II were used as structural supports in an Islamic period building in Cairo, and Nectanebo II's sarcophagus was used for storage in a Cairo mosque.
Considering the amount of 'tomb raiding' carried out in ancient Egyptian time the accusation of theft is rather extreme. The Rosette Stone was not considered an important archaeological object by the Egyptians at the time - it had been used as building material. Its significance was only recognised when French scientists examined it, and eventually used the comparative texts to decode the ancient Egyptian writing system of hieroglyphs. One could even suggest that it is the French, rather than the British or Egyptians, who should have the Rosetta Stone for display.
The person behind the call for the Rosetta Stone's return the Egypt Museum is Zahi Hawass, Egypt's general-secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, who best known for his excavation of the Worker's cemetery at Giza in 1990. He wants to "recover all the antiquities stolen from Egypt."
However, the Rosetta Stone's history puts a different slant on the story that it was 'stolen' from Egypt.
Before the arrival of Napoleon Bonapart's Egyptian Expedition in June 1798 the country had been something of a mystery to Europeans. The last major European expedition to the region had occurred during the Crusades. For almost 300 years the country had been part of the Ottoman Empire, and for almost 900 years before that it was under Islamic Arab rule (invaded Egypt in 640 CE). A few Europeans lived as traders in large cities, but they required an armed escort when ever they went outside and exploration was discouraged.
Although Napoleon's expedition was in essence a military one, he wanted to disrupt Britain's trade route to India and provide a military base for further conquest, the 40,000 troops were accompanied by 167 savants, members of the National Institute – effectively France's intellectual elite.
On 19 July 1799 Napoleon's soldiers were working to improve sea defences north-west of Rosetta, near an ancient fortress called Fort Rashid (renamed Fort Julien by the French), in preparation for the arrival of the British. As they demolished a ruined wall to provide foundation material for extensions to the fort, a four foot long, dark grey stone slab was discovered. Brought to the attention of the officer in charge, Lieutenant Pierre François Xavier Bouchard, its importance was immediately noted because of the unusual presence of three different styles of script.
Copies of the texts were taken, one of which eventually reached Jean-François Champollion, the French scientist credited with the deciphering of hieroglyphic writing. Unfortunately for Napoleon, his military forces were defeated by the British, and under the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801 the larger of the expeditions archaeological finds were handed over. Within a year they were forming the foundation of the British Museum's Egyptian collection.
It is believed that the Rosetta Stone, created in 196 BCE, was originally displayed at Sais, an ancient Egyptian town in the western Delta (now called Sa el-Hagar). It was transported to el-Rachid as ship's ballast during medieval times, and then used as 'builders rubble' during the construction of the fortress. Other archaeological specimens included in the French 'surrender list' had similar histories: two fragmentary obelisks of Nectanebo II were used as structural supports in an Islamic period building in Cairo, and Nectanebo II's sarcophagus was used for storage in a Cairo mosque.
Considering the amount of 'tomb raiding' carried out in ancient Egyptian time the accusation of theft is rather extreme. The Rosette Stone was not considered an important archaeological object by the Egyptians at the time - it had been used as building material. Its significance was only recognised when French scientists examined it, and eventually used the comparative texts to decode the ancient Egyptian writing system of hieroglyphs. One could even suggest that it is the French, rather than the British or Egyptians, who should have the Rosetta Stone for display.
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