It is often a subject of controversy in the fields of historians to determine whether or not artefacts should be returned to their area of origin. The debate on this topic arises on two sides; one side agrees that countries deserve the right to possess artefacts in their museums which are a direct reflection of the history and heritage of the nation, whereas the other side argues two fundamental points, they adopt a “finder’s keepers” mentality by claiming that they were the first nation to discover the artefact, and research it, which in turn contributes to the preservation and integrity of the relic. Another point they argue is that the possession of artefacts brings about monetary gain through funding and influxes of tourists who wish to …show more content…
It holds importance as it showed two languages, Egyptian and Greek, using three scripts, hieroglyphics, demotic, and Ancient Greek. The purpose of this was so that everybody in Egypt was able to read the message; during the Ptolemaic period in which the Rosetta Stone was created, Ancient Egyptians converted to a more simple form of hieroglyphics, demotic. The actual contents of the message of the Rosetta Stone, a decree from the people which outlined all the benefits from their ruler, are interesting to note, however they are not the most prominent feature of the Rosetta Stone, nor the most historically relevant. The Rosetta Stone can be considered as one of the most important archaeological findings in all of history, as without the stone, any investigation of Ancient Egypt would be rendered impossible, and three thousand years worth of history would be lost due to an inability to translate the language. This proved to be especially useful when Christianity began to show a prevalence in Egypt; the Christian influence ousted hieroglyphics out as pagan and taboo. The stone was originally discovered in 1799 by Napoleon Bonaparte and the French army during their conquest of invading the Ottoman Empire. Upon their defeat by British forces in 1801 it relinquished ownership to the British under the terms of the Capitulation of Alexandria, specifically Article 16 which states …show more content…
Dr Zawi Hawass, Egyptologist and the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, initially requested the stone to be returned to Egypt in 2002, however in 2005 the British Museum validated the legality of its ownership by examining the Capitulation of Alexandria, which was signed by Ottoman and Mameluke leaders, the legal representatives of the Egyptian government upon the time of discovery. While not legally bound to relinquish ownership of the Rosetta Stone, the British government faces a moral dilemma, and scrutinisation by other nations whose artefacts are in their possession. Hawass commentates on this issue, being quoted "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,” The government of Egypt has embarked on a campaign to get back relics which are spread internationally, such as the obelisk of Place de la Concorde, Paris, the statues of Hatshepsut in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, and the bust of Nefertiti in the Berlin Museum. Vivian Davies, head of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum expresses his views on the actions of Dr Hawass, while he feels sympathy towards the fact that the Rosetta Stone cannot be returned to Egypt due to the British Museum Act, he states
Imagine that one piece of history that is taken from a town. This piece of history tells l people how this town was built and all the important people that were apart of the community. “Returning Antiquities to Their Countries of Origin” by Joyce Mortimer can many people about how objects are getting taken from Museums. They should be returned immediately. There are so many artifacts out there that could be so important to people, and if someone can just imagine what it would feel to have one of the most important object taken from a museum and to be never returned again. Many people enjoy seeing these objects so why are they being taken?
The controversy began almost one hundred years ago. Between 1801 and 1812, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, removed several sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens and shipped them to England, where he sold them to the British Museum in 1816. 167 years later, Melina Mercouri, Greek Minister of Culture, requested that the “Elgin” Marbles be returned. This request sparked one of the greatest debates the art world has ever known. For the past two decades, people have argued over who has the rights to these Marbles. The Greek position is certainly understandable from a cultural and emotional point of view. However, from the standpoint of legality and logic, it is hard to make a solid case against the Marbles’ continued presence in Britain.
Parts of the sculptures that used to belong to the Parthenon are now residing within Britain’s Museum, and Christopher Hitchens argues that they be returned to Greece through his work entitled “The Lovely Stones.” Hitchens builds his argument by utilizing a short history of the incident and rhetorical questions.
The Rosetta Stone was found in the town of Rosetta and sent to French scholars in Alexandria during the summer of 1799 (Giblin 23). This black, measuring 112 by 76 stone found while the soldiers in the town were destroying a citadel was unprecedented because it had three different languages on it, the only understood one being Greek (Silet 1). The three languages on the stone were, as stated, Greek, the common Egyptian demotic, and 14 lines of hieroglyphics (Giblin 27). Scholars familiar with the Greek language and writing system were able to translate that section, and the final sentence revealed a fact that set the groundwork for future translations of the other parts. The final line reads: “This decree shall be inscribed on a stela of hard stone in sacred and native and Greek characters” (Giblin 27). It came to be understood that the three sections all contained the same message, and scholars promptly set to work on the translations.
Hunt insists that returning the marbles to Greece would create a precedent for other restitution claims. This in turn would rob all museums of their ability to provide a multicultural presentation of history. He declares that “we need the sharing of cultures.” I assert diversity can be achieved with castings, similar to the Romans copying Greek
For years on end, countries have been fighting with big museums from other countries for ancient artifacts that belong to the original countries. The argument of whether or not the museums should be able to keep them still remains. It is the right of the country to have their own artifacts. It is imperative for countries to be able showcase their historical artifacts, therefor museums should return them to their rightful owners.
They were mostly seen as having a purely anthropological value. However, the artefacts brought to England from Benin in 1897 were an anomaly. The craftsmanship and sophistication were such that some were reminiscent of the beautiful figures in the Hofkiche, Innsbruck 1502-1563 (plate 3.1.12. Visited in 2008).... ...
Champollion, in 1822 was reserved a position on deciphering the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta stone.
Duncan’s (1991) analysis of western museums is defined through the theme of “durable objects” as a criterion to judge the heritage of American and European art as a ritual of the modern state. In this manner western art museums are built like “temples” as a symbolic and figurative representation of greatness of western culture throughout the world: “[They] are more like the traditional ceremonial monuments that museum buildings often emulate—classical temples” (Duncan 90). This interpretation of American/European museums defines a dominant source of cultural heritage that ritualizes
Rosetta Stone was a major factor in Egypt’s way of writing ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. The stone was founded by Napoleon’s army in 1799 in the Nile delta. Britain has had the Rosetta Stone for the past 200 years. The British Museum has it as a centerpiece in their Egyptology collection. A man by the name of Zahi Hawass, who is the director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo, has made it a point to negotiate with academics and curators at the British Museum on getting the stone back.
In “Whose Culture Is It, Anyway? ”, Kwame Anthony Appiah begins by pointing out that some of the museums of the world, particularly in the West, have large collections of artefacts and objects which were robbed from developing and poor countries. He then raises a question: who owns these cultural patrimony and properties? Our first answer may be that since they make up the cultural heritage of a people, they belong to the people and culture from whom they were taken. Appiah has doubt about this and argues that if some cultural artefacts are potentially valuable to all human beings, they should belong to all of humanity. He thinks that when they make contribution to world culture, they should be protected by being made available to those who would benefit from experiencing them and put into trusteeship of humanity.
In 1799, when Napoleon’s army was dismantling a wall in Rashid, Egypt, they discovered the Rosetta Stone. Little did they know that this 11-inch thick piece of rock would be one of the greatest discoveries in history! It contained Egyptian scripture, with Greek also on the stone. This was used to decode the once lost Egyptian writing system. Before the 1800’s, attempts at trying to uncover the secrets held by the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics found on walls inside numerous tombs were useless. The pictures were falsely believed to be symbolic, representing some sort of object or idea. Something soon changed all of this misconception. 1799 was the year of a great breakthrough in Egyptology. French troops, under Napoleon’s command, were destroying a wall when they found a black, basalt stone. The stone was inscribed with three different forms of writing: Egyptian hieroglyphics, a shorthand form of hieroglyphs, and Greek written in 196 BC. The Rosetta Stone then became instrumental in decrypting the long forgotten Egyptian writing system. The stone was first discovered near Rosetta, Egypt, by one of Napoleon's soldiers, named variously as Bouchard, during his expedition to Egypt in August of 1799. In no time, this discovery was mentioned to all the top scholars who were immensely interested since there was no way to decode the hieroglyphs. In 1802, Johan David Akerblad was the first to break ground in identifying the first demotic symbols. He identified a few of the proper names in the demotic text, after comparing them with the same names found in the Greek text. (Ogg 78) Next on the scene was Thomas Young, an English physicist, who took an interest to the deciphering the Rosetta Stone as well. After much researching, Young was able to prove that the proper names in the hieroglyphics section of the stone did in fact have phonetic value, and were not made up of symbols. He then introduced the idea of the proper names being written with ovals around them, known as cartouches. In reality, the hieroglyphs only contained six. Of the phonetic values that he assigned to hieroglyphs, five were correct (p, t, i, n, and f). (Budge 54) In 1814, he revealed the way in which the hieroglyphic signs were to be read by studying the direction in which the birds and other animals were all facing. He also was able to correctly identify some single-consonant...
Once the British and Ottoman allied troops defeated the French on Egyptian soil, terms of surrender were written for France by Britain. “The Articles of Capitulation of Alexandria, signed in 1801 was the result: Article 16 stipulated that all treasures recovered by the French in their three-year stay were to be handed over to the British (“Returning the Rosetta..” Downs).” This is how the Rosetta Stone found its way into Britain where it has been held on display since 1802.
...troversy as all countries have lost, to a great or lesser extent, treasures of national renown and significance over time. Wars, theft, treasure seeking, changing boundaries and migration have all in some way contributed to this diaspora of art. There is clear evidence that the historic placing of objects in locations remote from their origin has on occasion afforded protection and preservation, The Elgin Marbles in The British Museum being a case in point. However, given the overarching principle of self determination it is difficult to argue that serendipitous historic placement is sufficient reason for items of true national heritage to be kept indefinitely. A world-wide system of touring exhibitions and cultural exchange, with context being provided by the originating society may provide the natural progression to the accessible widening of people’s experiences.
The toxic leadership in an organization is considered to be the focus of adverse outcomes. The leader spreads negative behavior and decreases motivation for the organization. Toxic leaders manifest negative behavior and promotes problems in the workplace. This is the bad side of workplace behavior. The toxic leadership comes in the workplace by means of self-centered attitudes, motivation and behavior.