Following the discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard (the largest hoard of gold from the Anglo Saxon period ever found) near Lichfield which includes over 1500 items made from 5kg of gold and over 2.5kg of silver, there is a growing movement to keep the treasure in Lichfield.Local museums have set up a campaign to raise funds to keep the hoard as close to where it was found as possible stating quite rightly that it relates to the area.
It’s good to see British people putting a value on locality and as such isn’t it about time we returned the Rosetta Stone and Elgin Marbles to Egypt and Greece respectively which are currently residing in the British Museum that has no legitimate claim to them whatsoever.
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The argument put forward by the British Museum is that they acquired those items legally and protected them for public posterity when they were under threat (ie from Napoleon).
Their argument for continued posession of these items is that their legal status remains in place and they gained a moral right to hold on to them.
The third argument is that there are certain exceptional items which have a universal value to world culture which are enhanced by belonging to a collection of global interest which they would not have alone.
They argue that the historical value of both the Parthenon frieze and the Rosetta stone were only recognised by holding them in a position where they could be studied by as wide an audience as possible.
The Parthenon had been blown up when it was used as an ammunition dump, while the Rosetta stone languished buried in the Nile delta. This neglect was an abrogation of the duty of care inherent in any claim upon them.
In the meantime it is possible to say that the principle of acquiring global collections has contributed to greater understanding of different cultures and more normalised relations. This is the same principle behind the war graves commission and not bringing home the fallen - it is a practical means of ensuring international cooperation.
These are strong arguments and I'm not convinced that the symbolic nationalist emotion the items evoke is powerful enough to overturn the rationale of them. Nor do I think setting them up as a slave of the tourist economy is a dignified way of treating them or one which will enhance their value in the longer term.
So if they are to be returned then the claimant governments have significant tests they have yet to pass.
It all depends whether you wish to directly politicise such historical items (just as the Lewis chessmen have become a rallying point for the SNP) or use them for purely educational purposes. If it's not about politics then there are always means of accomodation.
I think it would be a different matter if they were hidden away in a vault, as then the holding museum would have technically conceded that they were only holding temporary guardianship rights.
Therefore it is difficult to say whether it would be inconsistent or not for a national museum to display this horde without greater study of their cultural significance.
It really depends on all the factors combined where the best and right home for each is to be found.
Hello Oranjepan - we've stolen it. If I was passing your house and I saw it was on fire, would that make it OK for me to run in and take your pictures or else they'd be destroyed?
Weeell, there's some dispute over whether that was what actually happened. Greece wasn't under the same political order then and didn't in fact exist at all except as some sort of ancient concept. So there is a deeper question about ownership at stake here.
The British Museum is making the case for guardianship in the name of all of humanity, whereas the Greek state is arguing for possession in the name of cultural inheritance.
Now, both sides of the matter have some validity but they are still some way apart agreeing the manner of any return. Ultimately a return is inevitable, but it is being delayed by the involvement of political forces which turns it into a dispute about potential diplomatic consequences for both internal and bilateral relations. And it could be delayed forever.
I think the marbles have turned into a bit of a distraction from efforts to deal with continuing social and economic issues in Greece. It must be shown there is progress in those areas before their return because otherwise the marbles will remain a political football and the wider security factor of any leverage will have been lost.
I mean, it was a debate initiated by the ancient Greeks that bad political systems invest meaning in inanimate objects over and above valuing the worth of real people, so really for them to earn their cultural inheritance they must show they are capable of learning the lessons of it.
If Greece wants to justify their claim to moral ownership of the item they must reclaim the ideas represented in the freize itself.
This is itself a problem as the traditional interpretation was that the relief represented a nationalistic victory procession under Pericles, but this has been challenged by the now more common view that they represent the religious ceremony central to the identity of the location in Athenian civic life. My favorite theory is how the significant portion of the frieze is the sacrificial rite representing how individuals get crushed between these opposing forces, but that the damaged body becomes transcendent in death showing a way to resolve conflicts peaceably through the practice of the classical arts - symbolic of what the struggle over the object itself represents.
So underlying this debate about possession is a philosophic dispute between a vision of military domination, a more communal social and economic order and a form of human spiritual egalitarianism. Therefore the manner of any settlement will have huge symbolic significance in determining the political direction of the country into the future.
Just as the period in which the marbles were created was marked by questions of whether Greece would become a more eastern or western civilisation the current debate reflects similar questions about the future of Greek society.
So I would say while emotions continue to run high then it would be wrong to concede to simple covetousness. And politically this means ordinary Greeks need better laws, fairer taxes and economic opportunity, legal protection from social prejudice, corruption, crime, pollution etc and particularly settling the long-term arguments with neighbouring countries, such as over Cyprus.
On an interesting side note, I understand the gallery in the British Museum where the marbles are on display were funded through a bequest from a great grand-uncle of one of the Tilehurst councillors - so maybe it'd be worth lobbying him... maybe I could raise the issue with him?
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