Victor Hedden 1/24/2012 EG362 Elgin Marbles

The Greek Government is facing a moral issue that seems to be very unjustly and just not right. Thomas Bruce of Great Britain removed the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in 1806, in which they had no right to remove any of the Greek history from its proper grounds. The British Museum still feels they have an obligation to protect these marble sculptures even longer. Greek government to this day still requests to retrieve what was rightfully theirs in yet the British Museum still refuses. These Marble sculptures were dove the name Elgin Marbles, in which terms represent the collections of these stone sculptures. These sculptures were not the only thing that Thomas had taken but also an estimated 247 ft of frieze was also with it. Also mentioned after numerous evaluations and studies were We believe that Elgin took around half of what was surviving at the Parthenon at that time. (Wilde) With that said, Thomas showed no signs of sympathy towards the victims of the ruins or towards the original owners of this property. At the time Thomas Bruce served as an ambassador to the court of the Ottoman Sultan in Istanbul. Thomas in fact had permission from the rulers of Athens at that time to obtain these artifacts, but he obviously showed no moral acknowledgment to what significant value these sculptures have to the Greek people. Once Thomas obtained these sculptures he personally transported them back to Great Britain. His choice of transportation was a vessel known as Mentor which was the ship

that had sunk. Once Thomas and the crew set sail they entered a windy storm near cape Tainaro. The winds were far too strong to keep the vessel secure so the ship ended up crashing into rocks, off the island of Kythyra which is in Avlemonas. Elgin, at his own expense, made great efforts to salvage the stolen treasures from the sunken ship(Pavlou) Once Thomas retrieved what he could from this shipwreck he ended up settling for half of his original inquiry with the British Museum which was 35,000 to be exact. To this day researchers and marine divers find more artifacts from the ruins of Mentor and more Elgin Marble evidence. The evidence is obvious and the statements that were published prove in fact that the British Museum is not returning the property that rightfully belongs to Greece. The Greek people deserve to have their history back because it is not only the British Museum that has Greek artifacts but it is also about 8 other nations that have their artifacts showcased in a museum. By laws in the United States, possession of stolen goods/property is a crime and if the individual is in all knowing attention of the matter then the individual will face such charges. In this scenario I believe the Ottoman Sultan had no right to let foreigners take domestic property away from its community. Therefore I believe that Thomas should be recognized as stealing these sculptures and distributing stolen goods. With that said Great Britain should show moral support by returning what were rightfully the Greeks. If King Vittorio Emanuele II the ruler of Italy during the 1800s had bought artifacts that were taken from Great Britain and held captive in a museum in Rome wouldnt you assume that Great Britain would continuously ask for it to be returned to them? Therefore I feel this Sculptures belong to its people and put in the Greek museum instead of being in foreign hands.

Resources:

Wilde, Robert. The Elgin Marbles. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/historybycountry/a/elginmarbles.htm>.

Pavlou, Lia. Research on the Shipwreck Mentor Which Carried Elgin Marbles. N.p.: n.p., 2011. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://greece.greekreporter.com/2011/08/10/research-on-the-shipwreckmentor-which-carried-elgin-marbles/>.

Hitchens, Christopher. The Elgin Marbles: should they be returned to Greece? New York: chatto and windus, 1987. Print.