The Parthenon and the Matter of the Marbles

The fate of the Elgin Marbles has long been an acrimonious diplomatic dispute, largely because it poses deeper civilisational questions than we might initially think...

Sculptures from the East Pediment of the Parthenon

This past week, the media reported that the British and Greek governments are 'close' to reaching a deal regarding the future of the Elgin Marbles, the Ancient Greek sculptures which once adorned the Parthenon of Athens.

With that announcement, the longstanding dispute reopened — do the Marbles belong in Greece, on whose territory they were once carved, or in Britain, where they have now been housed for over two centuries, since before the establishment of the modern Greek nation state?

Once you strip the debate of the unhelpful rancour on both sides, it actually reveals a host of fascinating follow-up questions:

Who really ‘owns’ antiquities, when the sovereign state which produced them is long since extinct? Is ownership of territory sufficient to claim ownership of the cultural achievements of that territory’s historic inhabitants? Does law come first, or sentiment?

Today, we consider the opposing viewpoints on the Elgin Marbles, and the surprising insights they reveal about the nature of civilisation itself...

What do the Marbles really represent?

The Athenian Empire/Delian League in 431 BC

Given the ever deeper polarisation clouding the issue, it is increasingly difficult to separate concrete truth from claim when it comes to the question of ownership. On the nature of the Marbles themselves, however, there is thankfully broad agreement.

The Parthenon, as the ultimate expression of classical Greek monumental architecture, set atop the dramatic hill of the Acropolis, has quite understandably been an icon of Western civilisation for rather a long time. This has been particularly so since the Enlightenment, when European intellectuals expressed increasing admiration for ancient Athenian democracy. Still today, the Parthenon is habitually referred to as a ‘symbol of democracy’ by academics and statesmen alike.

Ironically, Ancient Greeks from beyond Attica would just as likely have associated this building with ruthless Athenian imperialism…