English embezzlement

If you visit the British Museum you can see that many of the historic artifacts and monuments are really not theirs: The Portland vase is from Rome, The Parthenon Sculptures from Greece and the world famous Rosetta Stone from Egypt. Yes, the English might have won a war, or invaded a country to get these artifacts, but, honestly, it's more like they stole it, because they won't give it back! They publicize the artifacts in their museum, get the money and tourism from people around the world, and decline all pleas to return the artifacts to their original country. Take the Rosetta stone: the key to deciphering hieroglyphics, the stone that sparked a fiery conversation between the Egyptians and the English. This stone was excavated in Rashid by a soldier of Napoleon Bonaparte and when France was invaded by the English they took the basalt slab with them. By this time, the Rosetta Stone was taken from its home to France and now it was seized by England. The stone was inscribed in the languages: Egyptian hieroglyphics, Egyptian demotic and in Greek. The Greek writing was what unlocked the language of hieroglyphics and lifted the fog of mystery shrouding over Egypt. Thanks to the Rosetta stone we learnt about Egyptian cultures, its dynasties and kings, their gods and how they buried the dead. The Rosetta stone was the key to Egypt’s identification. You might think that the writings inscribed on the stone were really ingenious and important too, and that the writing unlocked ancient mysteries, and was documented proof that people communicated with extraterrestrial life. But the disappointing and slightly harsh truth was the fact that it was nothing but a scholar goading about a pharaoh's (Pharaoh Ptolemy V’s) achievements and how the people were going to honor him by fixing shrines and building monuments for his birthday. Nothing so enlightening and at the end. The only thing the writing on the Rosetta proves is that politicians love to boast, even back then. Yet, this basalt stone helped us discover the history of Egypt and that is a very, very, important and life changing event for the people, especially the people of Egypt. To finally understand what their ancestors did, and the culture of the Egyptians centuries ago have had a huge impact on the Egyptians. Obviously, the Egyptians wanted their identification, their Rosetta stone back. But England refused. Which sparked controversy between the two countries: the English said that they were the ones who found it when invading France and that the stone has a two century history in the England Museum, the Egyptians said it was the icon of identification for their country and arguably the most important artifact of the Egyptians. The heated conversation between the countries have been going on for years, Egypt's sticking to their one, simple and hard fact: the Rosetta stone is the Egypt’s, it was made in Egypt, it is meant for the Egyptians. The English go on telling about the two hundred and fifty year old history the stone had in their museum and how it took hard work and talent from the English people to decipher hieroglyphics. The thing is, the English deciphered it and they really don’t need it anymore: England is not Egypt, they don’t have pharaohs, they don’t have ancestors who fixed shrines to celebrate a pharaoh's birthday, it doesn’t mean anything to them. On the other hand, it means everything for the Egyptians and it only brings them pain and sadness when they think of their identification sitting in a glass box in England. If it were in a museum in Egypt, not only would the people's tireless work have been worth it, the Egyptians would obtain money from tourism to visit the stone that was made in Egypt and had a ten thousand year old history there. And, if given the chance, the Egyptian linguistics and other professionals would have deciphered the Rosetta stone, the icon of Egypt's identification. But yet, the stone sits in its glass case in England about two thousand miles from its hometown, very, very far from home. But many people from all over the world have now joined the Egyptians to bring historical artifacts sitting in museums all over the world back home.

But, as of now, the Rosetta Stone sits with the other misplaced monuments, in England.

England ⬆️