Repatriation of the Parthenon Sculptures back to Greece!
The Parthenon had remained untouched, until the Macedonian times. On the contrary, after the Macedonian times and the the battle in the river Granicos, golden shields- the loot of Alexander’s victory- were placed at the Parthenon, as trophies. The first damaging actions took place during the tyrant Lacharis times. Lacharis was appointed tyrant of Athens by Cassandros, according to Pausania’s narration. He took the shields from the Parthenon as well as the gold and the jewellery from the golden and ivory statue of Athena. Damages were also caused in the opisthodomos of the temple, when Demetrius the Conqueror used it as his personal bedroom.
During the Roman times, no changes were registered in the Parthenon temple, preserving its physiognomy and its prestige even during the post-Christian centuries. However, at the emperor Justinian’s era, the Panathenaic procession did not proceed up to the Parthenon and every kind of worship- public or private- had been lost, according to the Latin Orator Claudius Mamertine (4th century).
During the Byzantine times, although the Parthenon was not destroyed, as the edicts of Theodosius 2nd dictated, the temple changed and became the Christian Church of St Sophia. The inauguration of this church was celebrated during the times of the emperor Justinian. In the antetemple, the arch of the sanctuary was added. According to Burnouf, because of these transformations, in 1877, only relics of murals and a few inscriptive engravements on the walls and columns remained.
During the times of Frangokratia,(Greek: Φραγκοκρατία, lit. "Francocracy", "rule of the Franks),the space around the Parthenon became the dwelling place for the first Frank ruler of Athens, Othonas Delaros, whereas the Acropolis became the head of the Frankish baronage and the centre of the historic life of the city, up to such a point that Athens was at the time known as “Castellym Athenarum”.The Parthenon was given to the Roman Church and changed into a Latin temple that was worshiped in the name of the Virgin Mary. On the west side, a bell tower was added, that during the Turkish occupation, it became a minaret.
During the Venetian rule, no changes were observed or registered about the monument. According to the narrations of posterior sight-seers, like the Italian Nikolaos Martonis -who visited the Acropolis in 1395- and Kuriakos Agkonitis, who travelled in Athens in 1436, we have two descriptions of the Christian Parthenon. The first representative of the medieval ideology is wondering how the construction of such a huge building could have been possible, whereas the second representative of the Italian Renaissance focused his attention on the beauty of the ancient monuments.
During the Turkish occupation, the Acropolis fell into the hands of the Turks in 1458, when Mehmet II the Conqueror visited it. The Holy rock was then known as the “Atina Kalesi”, that meant the fortress of Athens. During the 17th century, the Parthenon was a mosque and had a minaret, which was destroyed in 1687. This mosque did not meet the standards of the Islamic religion and that’s the reason why it never became a Muslim worship temple.
Since that moment and till the monument it was given to the hands of archaeology, it was highly looted, mostly by Lord Elgin, while serious damage was caused during the Greek Revolution in 1821 and the Acropolis’s invasion by Kiutahi Bey. Always according to the historic evidence, set out by the British Committee, in the spring of 1802, Elgin came to Athens and congratulated his team, personally supervising the removal of pieces from the eastern frontispiece.
The sculpture’s exportation to London came across several problems. In September, “Mentor”, Elgin’s ship was sunk close to the island of Kithira, bearing some of the most delightful sculpture of the Parthenon. On the Christmas Eve of the year 1802, Hunt managed to ask captain Clarke who governed the HMS “Braakel” for help, so that the sculptures would be saved.
Lord Elgin left with his family from Constantinople on the 16th January 1803, while he was arrested by the French authorities and was under detention for the next three years. At the same period of time, one of his men, back in Athens, removed one of the Caryatids of the Erechtheion and replaced her with a pylon, so that the construction wouldn’t collapse. In 1806, when Elgin was set free from captivity, the second big antiquities collection was still in Athens, supervised by his “loyal” guard Lusieri.
In 1809, the new British Ambassador Robert Adair asked for the marbles’ exportation,while the Ottomans answered that Lord Elgin was never given permission to remove the marbles from the Parthenon. Elgin’s team arrived in Athens on the 20th March. Lusieri didn’t lose time and all the marbles were boated on a ship, that set sail to London on the 26th March.
Since Lord Elgin first removed parts of the Parthenon, many people characterized his attitude as an act of vandalism, which would garble the temple forever. Elgin was accused of looting an archaeological site, of corruption and deceit of the Turks in order to take the marbles away.
As soon as the Greeks gained their independence in 1832, they started to ask for the return of the marbles, removed from their most important national symbol.
In a few years, Elgin managed to collect 33 shipments of antiquities, taken from the Parthenon, by cutting the frontispieces so that they could be easily carried and by removing sculptures, often scarred on the construction itself.
Although Elgin destined his collection for his private residence, he finally sold the so-called “Elgin Marbles” to the British Government in 1816.
The sculptures were appreciated by the House of Commons Committee, which discussed the matter and regarded the method of their corruption, their value and the importance of this purchase as “public property”.
After Lord Byron, there were many more firm supporters of the return, who were British or Greek and who appreciated the importance and value of the Parthenon, for the Greek and world culture too.
There were serious arguments on whether Lord Elgin had legally obtained these treasures, while university professors were fighting, questioning his right to remove them.
These disputes continued with accusations from both sides and were finally led to no conclusions.
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