Forget the Elgin Marbles. There's a new ancient-monument-causing-International-brouhaha in town. The British Museum is under pressure from Egypt to return the Rosetta Stone. The Museum has held the stone for over 200 years after acquiring it from the defeated armies of Napoleon. Like a lithic Babelfish, the stone contains the same piece of text in three languages, and gave scholars their first insights into Egyptian hieroglyphs. Now, Egypt wants it back on loan, along with a wishlist of other ancient treasures scattered throughout the world's museums. The repatriated artifacts would take centre stage at the new Grand Museum at Giza, opening in 2013, but be returned after three months' loan. The British Museum's board of trustees will now meet to discuss the request.
