Egypt pushes hard for repatriation of artifacts

In recent years, Egypt has taken what may be the most aggressive national effort to reclaim antiquities -- even those that have been out of Egypt for a long, long time:

The Rosetta 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 continues to be Egypt's point man in this effort.

"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. . .

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.

Pace Dr Hawass, I'm not sure if the Rosetta Stone is an icon of Egypt so much as an icon of Egyptology.

Although the stone was Napoleon's most coveted war acquisition [More coveted than all of Italy? I think not -- D.], 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. . .

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.

From the Telegraph.

ADDENDUM: Another Egyptian target, Frederick Schultz, has had his appeal rejected, and is now facing 33 months in prison for conspiracy to receive stolen property -- that is, Egyptian antiquities that had left Egypt after 1983. A harsh sentence: most first-time offenders convicted of profiting from illegal excavations don't do any prison time at all, at least as long as the stuff being dug up is American. And even the most brazen thefts of art and antiques typically earn the perpetrators only a slap on the wrist. Unluckily for Schultz, however, Egypt wanted to send a message to the antiquities trade, and needed someone to make an example of.

Posted by David on July 21, 2003 9:37 AM