Egypt’s Rosetta stone, which is believed to unravel secrets of the pyramids and mummies, and is approximately 2200 years old and was taken by the British to England 222 years ago, has now been asked to be returned by Egypt.
The Rosetta stone, which is displayed at the British Museum, is the most visited artefact by the visitors of the museum. It is because of this Rosetta stone, weighing 760 KG that the world was able to decipher the hieroglyphic script of Egypt. The stone contains the same message in three different scripts, out of which one is hieroglyphic.
The stone mentions a royal edict from the year 196 BC, which mentions the coronation of a new king.
Hieroglyphics were used by the priests of ancient Egypt and most of their religious writings have been written using this script, and due to the discovery of this Rosetta stone, the hieroglyphic script, which got obsolete 1400 years ago, could be deciphered. The stone was found for the first time by Napoleon’s army in the year 1799, in the city of Al-Rashid.
The British called the city ‘Rosetta town’ and that is why, the stone is named after it.
Next month, Egypt’s former Archaeological Minister, Zahi Hawaas, will submit a petition to the British Museum seeking the return of the Rosetta stone.
