History
Heard something very interesting on the Discovery channel yesterday. Discovery had three hours of programming centred around Egypt, its rich history and present day problems faced by historians. Like other countries that faced external oppression and colonialism, some of Egypts most valuable historical treasures are now housed in museums in Europe. In particular there is the Rosetta stone in London and the bust of queen Nefertiti in Berlin.
The Rosetta Stone is a stone with writing on it in two languages (Egyptian and Greek), using three scripts (hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek). While the hieroglyphic script was used by priests, the demotic script was used by the common people. Greek was the language of the rulers of Egypt in 196 BC which was when the stone is said to have been carved. The text on the stone was written by a group of priests to honour the pharaoh (Ptolemy V) and details the things he did for the betterment of the priests and people of Egypt. The French scholar Jean-François Champollion is credited with being the one who realised that the stone records the sounds of the Egyptian hieroglyphical language. The Rosetta stone was found by French soldiers (Napolean's army) in 1799 near the town of el-Rashid. It fell into the hands of the English on Napoleans defeat and can today be found in the British musuem.
The Nefertiti bust portrait, from Ancient Egypt's 18th Dynasty, was created sometime between 1348 and 1336 B.C. and now resides in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Nefertiti and her husband Amenhotep IV are said to have challenged the priests and religious order of their time by elevating gods other than those favoured by the priests. They made many enemies and this is though to be the reason why the temples that they built at Karnak were destroyed after their death. Nefertiti's mummy still remains enshrouded in mystery. Some historians believe that it was found in a tomb along with two other mummies (her mother-in-law and brother-in-law) but the final word on this matter is far from having been said. The bust was found by a German archaeologist in the sculptor's studio. He was able to take the bust out of Egypt by convincing the authorities that this was not a very significant find.
The Egyptians are asking for both these, and other artefacts illegaly removed from Egypt, to be returned. Defending their right to keep the Rosetta stone, a historian from the British Museum said something that I found very interesting. She basically said that history is not tied down by Geography. The Egyptian Pharaohs and their times are very far removed from present day Egypt. Humankind as a whole has a claim over these historical treasures and she disagrees with one set of people having a stronger claim because of geography. Human history essentially belongs to all humankind.
The whole matter is ofcourse much more complicated, but on its own this thought is interesting to me.
The Rosetta Stone is a stone with writing on it in two languages (Egyptian and Greek), using three scripts (hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek). While the hieroglyphic script was used by priests, the demotic script was used by the common people. Greek was the language of the rulers of Egypt in 196 BC which was when the stone is said to have been carved. The text on the stone was written by a group of priests to honour the pharaoh (Ptolemy V) and details the things he did for the betterment of the priests and people of Egypt. The French scholar Jean-François Champollion is credited with being the one who realised that the stone records the sounds of the Egyptian hieroglyphical language. The Rosetta stone was found by French soldiers (Napolean's army) in 1799 near the town of el-Rashid. It fell into the hands of the English on Napoleans defeat and can today be found in the British musuem.
The Nefertiti bust portrait, from Ancient Egypt's 18th Dynasty, was created sometime between 1348 and 1336 B.C. and now resides in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Nefertiti and her husband Amenhotep IV are said to have challenged the priests and religious order of their time by elevating gods other than those favoured by the priests. They made many enemies and this is though to be the reason why the temples that they built at Karnak were destroyed after their death. Nefertiti's mummy still remains enshrouded in mystery. Some historians believe that it was found in a tomb along with two other mummies (her mother-in-law and brother-in-law) but the final word on this matter is far from having been said. The bust was found by a German archaeologist in the sculptor's studio. He was able to take the bust out of Egypt by convincing the authorities that this was not a very significant find.
The Egyptians are asking for both these, and other artefacts illegaly removed from Egypt, to be returned. Defending their right to keep the Rosetta stone, a historian from the British Museum said something that I found very interesting. She basically said that history is not tied down by Geography. The Egyptian Pharaohs and their times are very far removed from present day Egypt. Humankind as a whole has a claim over these historical treasures and she disagrees with one set of people having a stronger claim because of geography. Human history essentially belongs to all humankind.
The whole matter is ofcourse much more complicated, but on its own this thought is interesting to me.