Currently the Parthenon Marbles, previously called Eglin’s Marbles, are located in the British Museum. These marbles have quite the history behind them. The marbles were “hacked off the Parthenon” by Eglin who was the ambassador of the Ottoman Empire. Eglin was obsessed with historical and classical antiques, so it makes sense the marbles landed up in his possession. And because of this obsession he began creating and operating missions to find these classical antiques from vast amounts of areas.
People say that the gods caught up to Eglin for his doings and karma took its toll on him. Eglin got a bad infection that ended up causing him to have to cut off half of his nose. Even worse than that, he was so caught up in finding classical antiques that he ended up losing his wife to his best friend, which I am sure means he also lost his best friend. Then to top all of that off, Eglin found himself drowning in debt from things like his divorce that he had to sell the marbles to the British government around 1816. He sold the marbles for what would be four million dollars today. And for that fact the British government argues that the marbles are legally owned by them.
Once Greece gained their independence from the Ottoman Empire they decided to argue for their marbles back. Greece believe they should be able to have the marbles because they were theirs originally and stolen from them by Eglin during his control over them. In my opinion Eglin’s control over the people makes it so he has the ability to determine what is his and so the marbles could technically be his purely through his stance in power. I personally think setting up the missions is a selfish act and inconsiderate. Eglin seems to just want everything to himself in his control, which is common among what I have learned about characteristics of past rulers in general.
I feel that both sides of the argument are back-able and make sense. It is hard to choose sides. From the British viewpoint I can see that they feel they own them because they paid for them. And we all know that when something is paid for it considered that you bought it and it now belongs to you. And I can see that Greece feels it is theirs because originally it was a piece of their property and represents their history so why would it not be in a museum in Greece? But if the British were to have to just hand over the marbles then it would become a world wide dispute about millions of items being given back to the original land that they came from, because they are in museums in another area. I feel that a possible solution to the problem is that British should just sell Greece the marbles for either the price they originally bought it for, converted into today’s dollars, or for a reasonable amount. This way the dispute would be settled and it would not lead to other disputes.
I like your idea about selling the marbles. Then the British would have some compensation, and the Greeks would be satisfied. If only the British would agree to such a transaction!
ReplyDelete-Prof. Bowen
I think you make some very valued points! I never really thought of it that way. It makes sense that the British would keep them, but since it has such historical meaning I think it would be cool if Greece bought it back from them. That way it would be fair game and history can remain in the marble's homeland.
ReplyDeleteI like how you show the counter-arguments for both sides. If I was in their position, it would be so hard to decide on where and when to place these marbles. Greece does have a good point on how it should be theirs due to their history.The solution about who keeps money and profit is a good idea if the British does agree. I think you have good on how to resolve this. You for sure took time to think and write a solution for both the British and for the people in Greece. Very well written.
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