The Parthenon marbles are plants of art taken from the Acropolis of Athens by Lord Elgin and brought to England while Greece was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. . Lord Elgin received permission from the Sultan to take the statues at a monetary value less than what it takes to transport them. Money was non the chief motivation for Elgin in geting them. there were affluent bidders who attempted to purchase them from him but he refused. Once in England many found a great involvement in them every bit good as contention. Elgin was tried for larceny even though Greece’s modern-day jurisprudence had allowed him to take them. The charges could non keep up in tribunal and he was finally and truly exonerated. After falling into dept Elgin had small pick in but to the British authorities. I steadfastly believe the statues should stay in Britain. the resistance might claim that the Greeks have a cultural right to them. But as Appiah argued in chapter 7. the Greeks of the twenty-first century are no culturally similar to the antediluvian Greeks than person in the U. S. They are the descendants of the antediluvian Greeks after all. but that does non take history into history.
The people of Greece merely exist today as a consequence of the past good or bad. Ancient Greece is known for its activist and philosophical manner of life ; they gained big sums of wealth from war ; should the current Greeks return whatever they can place as holding been gained from war? I don’t think they should. alternatively of populating with the effects of yesterday they should concentrate on the yet to be determined tomorrow. We can non merely travel around returning everything we see as a incorrect in the yesteryear. The United States or many states for that affair would non be able to be with that policy. One of the grounds the statues should stay in England is due to the fact they were legitimately taken out of Greece. Once your land has been conquered all the accoutrements on it travel to the master or masters as good. They have a full right to make up one’s mind on the hereafter of anything that is on the land. After Germany surrendered at the terminal of World War 2. the Alliess owned and took control of everything. they believed this because they split the state into two since non all of them agreed on how to regulate the also-ran. When the Ottoman occupied Greece they did the same and by regulations of war owned everything in Greece.
The jurisprudence at the clip allowed Elgin to take the Marbles to England at his petition and even so he was still charged in England. Both Torahs maintained he did no wrong in taking them. The current criterion of war regulations is the Geneva Convention ; it states” no personal belongings may be taken from civilian and if it is taken it will be confiscated until the rightful proprietor can be located” . The marbles belong to no individual individual ; they belong to a civilization which lived by the Torahs that the vanquisher gets the spoils. And under current jurisprudence they have no right to them at all and if we were to do new Torahs it would be antique station facto. most would hold that is unethical. A 2nd ground I am in favour of them staying in England is the legislative act of restriction has passed on the return of the points. It has been manner excessively long as I’ve said earlier. There would be no great ground for them to be returned now. Appia argued that the lone ground that could trump over where something belongs is if it has more significance such as faith.
Most people in Greece today are Catholic. Muslim or Christian. There are less than Three 1000 members who pattern the closest thing to the ancient faith. it’s called Hellenism. The Hellenists who would hold the best statement when reasoning on Apia’s footings have no more than a selfish ground for the statues. Certain things merely should non be returned after adequate clip has passed. and to return would connote it was stolen and it was non. The Auschwitz mark was stolen in 2009 and found within two months. Had it been found two hundred old ages subsequently. I could reason it should be returned because it is stolen under the current jurisprudence and future Torahs could utilize this jurisprudence as a footing for why it should hold been returned or non.
Finally. the concluding ground I believe it should non be returned because aesthetically we are all equal. Since we all have an equal right aesthetically harmonizing to Apia. it is my full right to reason it remains in England. If all people have the same right to one thing. I’d usage measure to find who gets it. Greece has a population of 11 million while England has a population of 63 million. if one fifth of the English population can bask it. it would be to Greece as a whole enjoying it. As for those outside of the state. England has 28. 1 million tourers per twelvemonth. many of which might desire to see the British museum and Greece has approximately 19 million visitants. In the terminal if we go by single equality. Britain would win in most classs because they grossly outnumber Greece in the instance of people who have a opportunity to see the work. The other side might reason it is better for the set to be together. while that is true they are trying to rewrite history.
Nature took its class and as a consequence the marbles are in England. If we return the pieces than we are rewriting history because we are determining it in the manner we want to and non the manner it played itself out. Passive action would be the best class because we are non messing with things in which we have no control over how they got here. If we could rationally experience guilt over holding the statues than I would reason we return them. But any guilt feeling from the statues being in England are extremely irrational because we had no control over how history before ourselves played out. And those in England might be descendants of the one’s those whose actions led to the marbles ; they should non hold to populate with the load of a household member who is long dead. As an American. you can’t stand for person being punished because of their ascendants ; the 8th amendment specifically prohibits that. In decision. I believe these grounds are adequate to convert one that they should remain in Greece. The lone defence they might hold might be it feels incorrect. if they are cognizant of Millss they would cognize “That a feeling is bestowed on us by Nature. does non needfully legalize all its suggestions. ” Feelingss are non ever the best manner to do an statement and a rational head is necessary in most instances.
Citations:
1. hypertext transfer protocol: //news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/8420053. short-term memory
– Autzwitz mark stolen Apia – Chapter 7
2. Wikipedia on history of Greece
