“The Rape of Athena: The Captive Parthenon Marbles & The Campaign For Their Return”

Waking Point

by Helen Noakes

“We say to the British government: you have kept those sculptures for almost two centuries. You have cared for them as well as you could, for which we thank you. But now in the name of fairness and morality, please give them back.” —Melina Mercouri

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—(Weekly Hubris)—5/24/10—In 1801, Thomas Bruce, 7^th Earl of Elgin, British Ambassador to the Sultan of Turkey, decided to abort his plan of simply taking plaster casts and making drawings of the sculptural elements of the Parthenon, and embarked on a very different sort of endeavor.

Deciding that the exquisitely carved Marbles would be quite an interesting addition to the now growing collection of antiquities at the British Museum, he made arrangements to remove sculptures from the Parthenon, the Propylaia, and the Erechtheum.

Completing his task of removing approximately half of the sculptures, Elgin transported the Marbles to England via ships, some of which reportedly sank en route.

The story goes that he made a mutually profitable arrangement with the representatives of the Sultanate in Athens: the Turks got their bakshish (bribe) and Elgin got the Marbles. Greece, at the time, was under brutal Ottoman occupation, and no Greek was consulted in the matter.

We are told that Elgin was driven by the need to preserve the Marbles. He was so deeply concerned with their preservation that he sliced them up for easier transport and overloaded a ship, which sank. Although the latter was the contention of one of his crew, it cannot be proved. Nor do we know how many pieces sank. If the story is true, I suppose we should thank Elgin for preserving those sunken treasures—although I believe salt is not particularly friendly to marble.

We are told that Elgin spent a fortune in acquiring the Marbles: this fact is disputed. (See http://www.parthenonuk.com/article.php?id=226 or look up The Committee for The Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, a group organized by British people who support the return of the Marbles.) The interesting fact remains that we are not told how much he was paid for them by the British government. At least I couldn’t find any substantive document which disclosed that information, but presumably, Elgin recouped some if not all of his expenditure and then some.

To add insult to injury, the Marbles were and continue to be referred to as the “Elgin Marbles.” Never mind that Elgin’s only involvement with them was their removal and transportation to England.

This isn’t a new story. Many countries in Europe had policies of acquiring the antiquities of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the Middle East, with a sense of entitlement that was born of a territorial imperative, driven by colonialism. Americans, too, acquired artifacts with dubious provenance for their museums and private collections

Greece first began its campaign to reinstate the Marbles in 1835, but has, for 175 years of repeated efforts at negotiation, been rebuffed by the British government, who cite everything from the Greeks’ inability to properly  house the Marbles, to their inability to care for and preserve them.

The appalling arrogance and insult implied in the objections proffered by the Brits is infuriating and worthy of a well-aimed retort: Would the British Museum kindly issue a report on what was done to the Marbles in 1937? Why the secrecy? Some of their own employees have admitted that it was a scandal.

If the Director of the British Museum, who now has the task of dealing with the international effort to have the Marbles returned to Greece, would deign to visit Athens, he and his staff might learn a thing or two about the preservation, care and display of antiquities there.

The New Acropolis Museum, opened in 2007, is ready to house the Marbles, some of which will be joined with the segments of the Parthenon Frieze currently on display. Perhaps the Greek restorers might correct the errors made by their counterparts in Britain. Let’s hope so.

Greece could have asked for the return of the Marbles from the Temple of Apollo Epikuorios in Bassae. Those were stolen outright by a British adventurer, and he apparently did this without the Turkish government either knowing or approving of the theft. However, they are not making an issue of that bit of looting.

The Greeks want the Parthenon Marbles back because of the fact that the Acropolis and, specifically, the Parthenon are icons representative of Greece’s national identity.

How would Americans feel if the Brits decided to take the Statue of Liberty, citing the fact that Americans were unable to preserve and maintain the monument? What would the Brits do if Greece decided to hack from their tower the clocks of Big Ben, to preserve them from London’s smog? The latter is the amusing premise of “Bring Them Back,” a site to which I’ll refer you at the end of this column.

And please, don’t write to me about “preservation.” Greece has the other half of the frieze on display. It wasn’t destroyed by the Turks.

As for setting a dangerous precedent, it has already been set by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and The University Art Museum, at Princeton, to name a few. These museums and many private galleries have taken an ethical stance and returned antiquities acquired through looting to their countries of origin.

Britain’s refusal to return the Parthenon Marbles smacks of something not so nice in its attitude towards its European neighbors. It is my belief that England has its own ancient artifacts, which would easily fill the Duveen Gallery when the Parthenon Marbles are returned to Greece, where they belong.

Please visit the following site, and add your voice to the growing demand that the British Museum do the right and honorable thing. Click on the following link to participate:

http://www.bringthemback.org/default.aspx

(In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that I am of Greek origin. And, yes, this is an issue very dear to my Greek heart!)