The Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin Marbles, are a collection of statues removed between 1801 and 1805 from the Acropolis, in Athens. The Parthenon, completed in 438 BCE, remained an acme of the beauty of Classical Greek architecture for travellers throughout the centuries, even as time, repurposing, and political strife took their toll on the building and its decoration’s integrity. These dangers persisted while Greece was under the control of the Ottoman Empire, and it was during this time that Thomas Bruce, the seventh Earl of Elgin, ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, hired from 200 to 400 local inhabitants over the years to organize the removal of about half the remaining statues and other various portions of the Parthenon’s decoration. Upon Greek independence in 1832, the Acropolis was recast as a symbol of national pride and unity for the nascent nation, resulting in the destruction of Roman, Ottoman, and other later buildings on the site to restore the site to its former state, and inciting requests, continuing to the present day, for the decorations’ return. Their continued presence in the British Museum in London remains a point of controversy between the United Kingdom and Greece.
The obsession with and valorization of all things of classical antiquity were critical to the formation of J. S. Mill’s education: he began his study of Greek at age three (Mill, Chapter 1). The collection and depatriation of these classical artifacts is an epitomizing event of the attitude shaping the program and values of an English formal education at the time, and was an accessibility boon to those highly educated, but without the resources to undertake the “Grand Tour” of the cultures their education had so extensively dealt with by bringing cultural artifacts to available, public display.
Sources
Lupu, Matt. “The Elgin Marbles.” Panorao, Apple Podcasts app, 26 May, 2020.
“The Parthenon Sculptures.” The British Museum, www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/objects-news/parthenon-sculptures.
“Parthenon.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 26 Mar. 2020, www.britannica.com/topic/Parthenon.
Smith, Helena. “'Product of Theft': Greece Urges UK to Return Parthenon Marbles.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 20 June 2020, www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/20/product-of-theft-greece-urges-uk-….