Elgin Marbles

Through the London Times came an appeal from Alexandros Philadelphus, onetime "director of the Acropolis and ephorus of the antiquities of Attica," addressed to Great Britain. It read: "As you know, our grand national monument, the great temple of the Goddess Athena, the immortal Parthenon, was deprived more than a century ago of its ornaments, those superb sculptures which constitute the invaluable treasure in your great national museum.

"The usurper of those jewels, Lord Elgin, was not content with many masterpieces alone, but tore away and transported to England one of the six caryatids and one of the six columns of the eastern portico of the Erechtheum." The writer bitterly asks the British Government to restore these two pieces, adding that he knows it would be useless to claim the heart of the collection.

History. In 1800, the Earl of Elgin set forth to make drawings, models, paintings of the Athenian ruins which testify to the immortality of Periclean Greece and the work of Phidias. Greece then was under Ottoman dominion. Being a Christian, Lord Elgin found himself obstructed at every turn. His artist companions were forbidden approach to the ruins, let alone entrance. Later Great Britain's arms prevailed over France, and Egypt (hitherto under French dominion) was dealt to Turkey. So enthusiastic waxed the Ottomans over this token of good will, that Lord Elgin was told to go ahead and make all the drawings, paintings, investigations he liked and to take away with him any stones that appeared to be of interest to him.

Lord Elgin made the most of his good luck. Putting a broad interpretation upon his carte blanche, he proceeded to divest the Parthenon of its rarest ornaments--pediment, friezes, metopes, statuary. He proceeded as a private individual, without authority of parliament, with only private encouragement of public men. Hundreds of natives were employed in excavating, removing. The people of Greece showed no resentment. Indeed the interest attaching to the work brought tourists. The tourists, then as always, spent money. As for the Turks, they had little use for Greek relics, other than as objects upon which to inflict spiteful blows when human victims were wanting. In 1816, a select committee of the House of Commons reported to Parliament in favor of formal purchase of the "Elgin marbles" at a price of -L-36,000. The proposal was accepted. Lord Elgin formally transferred the treasures, thus making Great Britain the grander for the glories of Greece.

The Marbles. Most of the art treasures were taken from the Parthenon. Scholars are inclined to believe them the work of Phidias. If not his, who else could have equaled his genius? seems to be the usual conclusive argument. It is generally granted that Phidias had no equal in his time, that many of the pieces in question are of merit equal to the Apollo Belvidere, the Laocoon, the Torso of the Belvidere.

Foremost in the collection is the reclining Idaean Hercules. His body is graceful rather than Herculean, his face Attic rather than Theban. To him is attributed the glory of founding the Olympian games and it is no wonder that the Athenians represented him as more lithe, less ponderous than the deity venerated by the despised Boeotians. He reposes on lion skins, suggestive of swift strength, leisurely superior to operose muscularity.

Proserpine and Ceres constitute one of the groups belonging to the other pediment. These figures are famed especially for the skill displayed in the execution of the drapery. The metopes are sculptures of centaurs, generally paired with some other figure, such as a man, or animal. Bronze, earthen, marble urns, single pieces of statuary, like the Bacchus from the Theatre are included in the catalogue of the Elgin collection.

Significance. The resentment of Alexandros Philadelphus is appreciated by many Englishmen. It is quite reasonable to suppose that, other considerations being forgotten, the column and the caryatid of the Erectheum would be restored, as being essential to the structure of the building, and not definable as "an interesting stone." Were this precedent established, however, the claim might be made later that the entire collection should be restored. This the Government would find embarrassing to comply with. Furthermore, since the Marbles were given to the British people by act of Parliament, it would require another act of Parliament to take back the gift. It is extremely unlikely that consent could be obtained, wherefore it appears that Lord Elgin's collection will remain intact in Britain while the mutilated body of ruins goes on crumbling in its native Greece.