Lord Elgin: Conservator or Thief? Quiz

Answer: Have artists sketch pictures

Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, had served as an ambassador to Austria, Prussia, and Belgium before his appointment as Ambassador to Constantinople, a position he held from November 1799-January 1803. Sir William Hamilton, who had served as British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples for several years, had suggested that he find artists who could sketch realistic pictures of the ancient sites, which Lord Elgin did with some difficulty, as the local officials were not very helpful in giving access to the site. Approximately a year into the project the degree of helpfulness changed.

The Parthenon was built to serve as the Temple of Athena during the Golden Age of Athens from 447-438 BC. Under the leadership of Pericles, the ancient Athenians used tribute money from the Delian League to rebuild their city, which had been destroyed by the Persians. Fifty large statues adorned the pediments of the temple. The upper part of the inner temple was decorated by a 524-foot frieze. Located above the outer columns of the temple were 92 carved plaques called metopes.

Answer: Gunpowder explosion

A fire in the third century AD had destroyed much of the temple's roof and interior, and pirates had also caused much damage to the building. A renovation project during the fourth century repaired the roof. From 1683-1699, however, the Ottoman Empire was involved in the Great Turkish War with Venice. During this time the Acropolis was fortified and the Parthenon was used to store gunpowder and protect the local rulers and other Ottoman Turks who were living in Athens. A Venetian shell - it has been debated whether the strike was purposeful or accidental, although there is evidence that they considered shelling the building to alleviate its usefulness to the Turks - struck the Parthenon, causing severe damage to three of the four walls, columns, and the roof. It has also been estimated that 60% of the marble sculptures on the famous frieze fell at that time.

In 1687 a Venetian, Francesco Morosini, had tried to remove some of the sculptures from the Parthenon to take them to Venice. Evidently, a pulley that he employed to help move the sculpture broke, and many of the exquisite works, including a statue of Poseidon, were shattered into bits and pieces. Some sources say that this did more damage to the Parthenon than its previous 2,000 years in existence. What Lord Elgin found in Athens was ancient monuments in severe disrepair. Local officials were easily bribed, and the stones were being removed by treasure hunters and to build other buildings.

Answer: Mosque

Throughout its long history, the Parthenon has been used for many purposes. It is not exactly known when the temple ceased to be a place of worship to Athena, but the 435 decree by Theodosius (all pagan temples in the Eastern Empire were to be closed) probably did not immediately close the pagan temple. It is known that the statue of Athena, sculpted by the great Phidias, was removed sometime during the fifth century. After that Christians used the building as a church; some believe it was converted into a mosque sometime in the fifteenth century to punish Athenians for an attempted revolt against Turkish rule.

Even though the Parthenon was severely damaged during the Great Turkish War, a smaller mosque was reconstructed out the rubble without further altering the site. What Lord Elgin's project did, however, was to actually saw the friezes and metopes from the existing, standing wall.

Answer: True

It may be difficult to image, considering how the Acropolis looks to us today, but there was a village and a garrison base situated on the hill in the late 1700s-early 1800s. The area was crowded with houses and gardens and the goings on of everyday life for both the people and the military housed there. This situation alone, of course, posed a threat to the ancient monuments. In addition the area was filled with the remnants of structures from various times of history, such as the Byzantine, medieval, and Renaissance eras.

When Greece finally gained independence and Athens was chosen to be the capital, the first King of Greece, Otto, immediately began an archaeological study of the Acropolis. Everything that did not belong to time of the Golden Age of Athens (5th century BC) was removed and the preservation and/or reconstruction of the structures was begun.

Answer: Firman

From the Persian from "decree" or "order", a firman was an official document issued by the Ottoman Empire which was some sort of written permission. The use of the firman was established in order to cover rules and laws that were not religious, and, therefore, already covered in the rules of the Shar'ia. Typically, it was issued to grant permission to travel in an area of the Empire or engage in archaeological study; this permission, however, had to be purchased.

Lord Elgin received two firmans from The Porte, or the Ottoman central government. The first, issued in 1800, gave permission for artists to sketch and draw pictures; the second, issued in 1801, is really the one in question. The difficulty today lies in the fact that the original firman given to Lord Elgin is no longer in existence. What it available, however, is an Italian translation of the document. Its translation to English doesn't really show that Lord Elgin was given permission to take all that was eventually transported to England.

Answer: Admiral Nelson won the Battle of the Nile.

When Lord Elgin accepted the appointment as Ambassador to Constantinople in December of 1798, he already had an above board reputation as a diplomat. He had just married and he hoped the warm weather of Constantinople would help to improve his health. His assignment, to promote trade - especially to open the Black Sea to British trade - and to keep an eye on Napoleon and the French, was made easier by the fact that Napoleon had been defeated in the Battle of the Nile in August of 1798. Napoleon's out from Egypt, which was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time, benefited both parties immensely and made Lord Elgin a very popular man at The Porte. The Ottomans were happy to welcome the British as an ally, which might explain the issuing of the second document that was given to Lord Elgin which apparently broadened the scope of study on the Acropolis. By all accounts, Lord Elgin's diplomatic stay in the Ottoman Empire was viewed as a success, and more trade opportunities were made available.

Specifically, the second document stated that Lord Elgin may, "fix scaffolding round the ancient Temple of the Idols (the Parthenon), and to mould the ornamental sculpture and visible figures thereon in plaster and gypsum." It went on to give permission "to take away any pieces of stone with old inscriptions or figures thereon". Now what exactly does that mean? That is the debate!

Answer: Ships had to be protected from French intervention.

It is no secret that Napoleon was interested in acquiring works of art for the Louvre in France. In fact, England and France were at war at the time, and Lord Elgin ended up being a type of a casualty of war. On his way home to Britain in 1803 he was captured by the French and detained in Pau, France, for three years. During that time Napoleon met with Lord Elgin and suggested that he could "buy his freedom" in exchange for the Parthenon Marbles. Although opinion about the precious artifacts was mixed in Britain, there was one thing that was for certain. They were NOT going to let Napoleon have them! It was on his return home that Elgin learned that his wife had left him and that his Parthenon Marbles were the subject of a heated controversy.

It should be noted that French intervention wasn't the only problem Lord Elgin encountered. One of the ships wrecked on the way home to England and it took three years, the efforts of divers, and a large sum of money to retrieve the cargo.

Answer: John Keats

I daresay that many today feel the same way Keats did when he saw the Parthenon Marbles, describing "the glories of the brain" of "Greecian grandeur" in 1817. There is no doubt, after reading his "Ode on a Grecian Urn", written in 1819, that he, like many others, found inspiration from Greek culture and was completely enamored with it. There were some, however, such as Lord Byron, who criticized Lord Elgin in "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" (1812) for his vandalism:
"Dull is the eye that will not weep to see
Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed
By British hands, which it had best behoved
To guard those relics ne'er to be restored".

The Grand Tour of the 1600s and 1700s helped to lead to the popularity of viewing ancient artifacts. In fact, many aristocrats of the time believed that one's education was not complete without a proper viewing of the ruins in Italy. Many also came to believe, however, that the best examples of classical art and architecture would be found in Greece - let's face the fact that the Romans borrowed very heavily in this respect from the Greeks! - and Lord Elgin might have believed that bringing the artifacts to England would raise the culture of his people.

Answer: False

By the time his tenure as Ambassador to Constantinople was finished, Lord Elgin was definitely in trouble. His health had not improved, his new marriage was kaput, and the money that he had spent on acquiring and transporting the Parthenon Marbles - an estimated total of 74,000 pounds - had put him on the verge of financial ruin. While some believe that he originally had planned to donate the treasure to the English people, in the end Lord Elgin just couldn't afford to do that. After much debate, Parliament agreed to pay him less than half of what he had spent on excavation, bribes, and transport back to England, and even that vote barely passed!

One of the debate issues that is tough to resolve is the fact that it is difficult to ascertain exactly what Lord Elgin's motive was in removing the Parthenon Marbles. Did he plan to use the Parthenon Marbles to decorate his home? Acquiring art for one's home had been in style since the beginning of the Grand Tour in the 1600s. Or was he more concerned about the state in which he found the art? In 1810 he did publish "Memorandum on the subject of the Earl of Elgin's pursuits in Greece", where some say he did attempt to explain his motives by describing the damage that he had found on the Acropolis.

Answer: Greece won its War of Independence.

When the Parthenon Marbles finally began arriving in England, they were displayed for the public, even though Lord Elgin hoped that at some point the missing parts of each piece could be restored. In 1807 they were placed in a house in London that he had leased. The display created an immediate sensation! By 1812, after all the containers of treasure had finally arrived, they were taken to the home of the Duke of Devonshire to hopefully, eventually be resold to Parliament. They were finally moved to the British Museum in 1832; ironically, that was the same year that the Greek War of Independence ended, according to the Treaty of Constantinople.

Many people had believed that the Greek War of Independence was a futile effort and that Greece would not be able to break away from the Ottoman Empire. As already stated, however, the new King of Greek made an immediate effort to begin restoring the Acropolis to its former glory. That same year, Greece asked that Britain return the Parthenon Marbles - the first of many times the request has been made. In fact, the 2009 Acropolis Museum of Athens contains a room that was specifically built to house the returned masterpieces!