Cultural Repatriation Proposal

To Director of the Museum

In regards to the Rosetta Stone

I am writing to you regarding the Rosetta Stone. I hope you will read my proposal to

return the artifact.

First, let me begin by telling you the history of the Rosetta Stone. On July 19, 1799, the

Rosetta Stone was discovered by French soldiers who were digging the foundations of an

addition to a fort near the town of el-Rashid (Rosetta) in Egypt. It got its to name from the

location it was found, near the town of Rosetta, about 35 miles east of Alexandria. The Rosetta

Stone was a fragment shaped stone contained fragments of passages written in three different

scripts: Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian demotic. There were three different scripts

on the Rosetta Stone because the ancient Greek was inscribed by priests honoring the king of

Egypt, Ptolemy V, in the second century B.C. The Egyptian demotic language was the common

script of Egypt and Egyptian hieroglyphics which was the script used for important or religious

documents. The Rosetta Stone was written in all three scripts so that the priests, government

officials and rulers of Egypt could read what it said. The meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphics had

been lost since the dying days of the Roman Empire, but with its triple inscription, the stone

offered scholars a chance to decipher the ancient symbols once and for all, making this the key to

understanding the remarkable period in history. With the ancient Greek on the Rosetta Stone,
archaeologists figure out that all three scripts were writing about the same things having the

same meaning.

In 1798, Napoleon with a group of scholars invaded Egypt, telling them to seize all

important cultural artifacts for France. But in 1801, when the British defeated Napoleon, they

took possession of the Rosetta Stone. Ever since 1802, the Rosetta Stone is housed in the British

Museum in London.

Please kindly consider the following two arguments on why Rosetta Stone should be

returned to the origin place: the artifact represent the culture and the artifact was looted by

Napoleon.

First, reasons the Rosetta Stone should be returned to their origin because these artifacts

represent the art, culture, and the technological processes throughout Egypt history. These are

objects made by their ancestors as it connects into the past as a symbol for many events that

happen in the countries.what are these events? Be specific. Talk about the Ptolemaic dynasty

With the British taking these artifacts away from Egypt, Egyptian cannot use or admire them, so

the British are injuring the Egypt culture. The Rosetta Stone contains fragments of passages

written in three different scripts: Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian demotic. As these

scripts are part of the culture and are symbols that represent Egypt's important culture, Egypt

should have the right to own the artifact and display it in the Museum of Egypt for their people

to admire the history of their countries. The second part of the explanation does not match the

point you are trying to make. You need to move it up to use as an example to prove that this

artifact does have a connection with the ancient people. Also expand on how this artifact was the
key to unlocking all the meaning of all the other written works from ancient Egypt so you can

expand on the process of art and cultural developments

Another reason the Rosetta Stone should be returned is Egypt did not have a say in what

happened to the artifacta. After the French troops were defeated by British and Ottoman forces,

they had retreated to Alexandria where they were offered to surrender and negotiated the treaty.

As the treaty was named after the place, Alexandria, where the treaty was done. The Treaty of

Alexandria consists that "the Arabian manuscripts, the statues, and the other collections which

have been made for the French Republic, shall be considered as public property, and subject to

the disposal of the generals of the combined army." This led to the transfer to British possession

of the Rosetta Stone and other Egyptian antiquities collected by the French. This treaty was done

with French and the British whileEgypt was not a part of it as a result of the treaty do not apply

for Egypt where the artifact was looted from by Napoleon.

Now I realized in the past, your museum has argued that Egypt does not have the

technology and ability to take care of and protect the artifact. As the artifact won’t be able to

prolong for a long time and that there is no good museum to handle the artifact. However, I think

your argument might not be valid because that is way back into the past, now Egypt has

developed and finally, we can protect the artifact. Dr. Tarek Tawfik, director-general of the

Grand Egyptian Museum, has said that “his museum, which is to open outside Cairo in 2020

with 50,000 exhibits, would have the technology to “protect” them and “prolong [the artifact]

life”.” This demonstrates how Egypt is capable to handle the artifact allowing the artifact to be

displayed in their original places.

 I hope you read my proposal with care. I hope you will come to the decision of returning

the artifact to the proper place because of how important the artifact represent the Egyptian

culture, it should be returned to the origin place it was looted from and finally, Egypt has the

technology to protect the artifact.

Reference

(n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2019, from ​http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/writing/rosetta.html​.

The Rosetta Stone. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2019, from

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/egypt-art/ptolemaic/a/

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Rosetta Stone found. (2009, November 24). Retrieved from

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/rosetta-stone-found​.

Thomas, N. (2018, December 7). Should colonial art be returned home? Retrieved from

https://www.ft.com/content/6c61c6e6-f7ed-11e8-af46-2022a0b02a6c​.
Soussi, A. (2019, September 10). The repatriation debate: should museums return colonial

artefacts? Retrieved from

https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/art/the-repatriation-debate-should-museums-retur

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Capitulation of Alexandria (1801). (2019, September 22). Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitulation_of_Alexandria_(1801)​.

Dex, R. (2018, November 6). A Giza museum wants the British Museums Rosetta Stone back in

Egypt. Retrieved from

https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/arts/british-museum-rosetta-stone-egypt-a3981736

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tml​.