Inspired by the successful completion of case of return to the country of fragments with wall paintings from the Louvre , Egypt decided to get the famous Rosetta stone, exhibited at the British Museum. Not forever, but at least for the time of exposure.

Rosetta stone - a stone slab, which gave the key to deciphering Egyptian writing. He was found in July 1799 a member of Napoleon's expedition Bouchard in the construction of Fort Saint-Julien in Rosetta (now Rashid) - a city located near the mouth of the western branch of the Nile. When in 1801 the French were defeated, the stone was sent to England along with countless other treasures, the foundation of the Egyptian collections of the British Museum.

basalt Rosetta Stone has a long decree, relating to 196 BC. e., since the reign of Ptolemy Epiphanes, and recorded, first, the hieroglyphics (sacred signs, used by the priests), and secondly, Demotic (widespread in that era cursive) and, thirdly, in Greek. Greek inscription scientists could easily read, and the other two parts of the inscription contained the text of the same decree. Researchers rightly hoped that if the Egyptian writing system will be based on a phonetic system, then, by comparing it with the modern language Coptic language - heir to the Egyptian, they will receive the key to its decipherment.

Secrets of the demotic text to open quickly enough, the French Orientalist S. de Sacy, comparing the numerous titles of Ptolemy in the Greek text with their Egyptian correspondences, in 1802 published his translation. In the same year appeared complete decoding, made by Swedish diplomat D. Okerbladom.

more difficulties brought hieroglyphics. The key to understanding hieroglyphs was lost even in Roman times, and the last attempt to decrypt it was made by Jesuit scholar A. Kircher in the XVII century. The first steps toward deciphering the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone were made by the English physicist T. Young, who managed to decipher some of the characters, once again turning to the various titles of the pharaoh. But fully decipher the texts could only be in 1822, the brilliant French scientist Jean-Francois Champollion (1790-1832), who showed that the system of hieroglyphs is largely composed of letters and other phonetic symbols. Based on discoveries made while working on the texts of the Rosetta Stone, Champollion was able to read and translate the many hieroglyphic texts and by the time of his untimely death, managed to make not only the fundamental vocabulary and grammar dead ancient Egyptian language.

The Role of the Rosetta Stone in the secondary opening of the ancient Egyptian language to some extent, diverted attention from its significance as a historical document. It submitted to the decree issued by the priests of Memphis in honor of Ptolemy Epiphanes (c. 205-181 BC. E.) In gratitude for the generosity shown to them in relation to the churches and priests in his ascension to the throne and the coronation, it contains extracts from messages that the king spoke to the people, trying to change obviously dysfunctional situation prevailing at that time in Egypt. The population was crushed by debt, has suffered from robbery and internecine warfare, the fields were abandoned, the irrigation system, so important for the country, declined. Priests are grateful not only on his own behalf, but as they are repeated several times, and on behalf of "all men" for the actions taken by Ptolemy (apparently, unfortunately, unsuccessful) - such as amnesty, forgiveness of debts and the release from military service. The decree ends the decision that the text should be cut down to "rock solid" and captured "in hieroglyphs, Demotic and Greek letter».

Rosetta stone is exhibited at the British Museum since 1802. Only once he left the museum wall. Toward the end of World War I, in 1917, when London was subjected to heavy bombing, museum workers were taken to a safe place the stone along with other important specimens, which could be transported. The next two years, the stone was laid in the streets of Holborn on one of the stations of the railway to float-mail to a depth of about 15 meters under the ground.

«His present position - in Egypt - said Zahi Hawass (Zahi Hawass), who heads the Department of Antiquities of Egypt. - Instead, we can give to the British Museum some other artifact ... Because I'm not asking for the return of all items from the collections of the British Museum, but only the most unique. Hawass has also promised to return the relic to London after the opening of the Great Egyptian Museum, which is scheduled for 2013.

One of the representatives of the British Museum said that their relations with Egypt went well, and promised to consider the request Zahi Hawass.

article prepared by Catherine Onuchina, AI

Sources: telegraph.co.uk , britishmuseum. org , krugosvet.ru , en. wikipedia.org , artinvestment.ru