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Originally Posted by Aenlic
I posted a link to the English translation, which does NOT show that Elgin had permission to remove the marbles. It shows that in context he was given permission to make castings and drawings of the inscriptions on temples, specifically mentioning the painters to be allowed access, and to remove any modern constructions to better view the inscriptions and artwork and to remove and fallen materials, and stones. The implication being he was given permission to remove fallen stones in the way of his work, not that he was given permission to remove them entirely and abscond off to England with them.
Did you read the bit in your link? In italics was a handy bit:-
"and that when they wish to take away any pieces of stone with old inscriptions or figures thereon, that no opposition be made thereto"
Also:-
"or in excavating, when they find it necessary, the foundations, in search of inscriptions among the rubbish; that they be not molested by the said Disdar (or commandant of the citadel) not by any other persons"
There is no such implication. They are allowed to excavate and are allowed to remove.
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He then bribed port authorities to allow him to sail off with them, after they initially refused. If he had a firman allowing him to take them as his own and saunter off to England, then why did he have trouble at the port?
He had trouble at the port because, as I previously stipulated, the Port authorities were unsure if he was allowed to remove the Marbles. Correspondence between the Ottoman Government and the Port of Piraeus (referred to in your link, no less) rectified the matter and the 7th Earl sailed.
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It's appalling. The arguments all boil down to the same simplistic idea. We stole them fair and square, so they're ours! Nyah, nyah!
Not really, the argument boils down to "We took them fair and square".
The Counter-argument boils down to "We live where they came from, thus we should have them".
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This is all just British imperialist, colonial BS. The remnants of an empire grasping desperately at the last vestiges of faded glory. And it's being perpetuated by jingoists parroting the same tired old falsehoods and half-truths originally spun by the Earl of Elgin to cover his crime. The only thing missing in this display of rah-rah nationalism is brown shirts, black ties and jack boots to make the national pride image complete.
My, my, you do like these odd ideas, don't you? There was me thinking the remnants of the British Empire had gone along time ago. Ah, but we never had Greece, nor Turkey... Imperialism? Colonialism? Yes, Athens was a Crown Colony, wasn't it? Lord Elgin was vying for the post of Governor of Athens?
More opportunism than colonialism...
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The British should just get over their last tidbits of imperial pride and admit that they puchased stolen goods; and that far from keeping the marbles safe, they actually damaged them further by trying to "clean" them up and make them prettier with copper chisels and caustic washes.
Kept them in better nick than they would have been if they stayed in the Acropolis. And I don't suppose being in the open in Athens would be too good for them, either.
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And, of course, there is the opinion expressed by some of the countrymen of the Earl of Elgin at the time. Just so we don't suppose that everyone in the UK at the time was a petty fence for a cheap thief.
Of course there were critics of him, just as their are critics of him now. Just because a handful of his contemporaries had the same view as you does not make what he did illegal.
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Wikipedia turned out to be useful for once
One hardly needs Wikipaedia to find out that there were critics of him. It is nice that you can copy and paste thence.