When one visits any one of the top museums of antiquities today, he or she will see ancient relics from all over the world. Visitors don't usually dwell on how these objects were acquired or how they ended up in the museum. However, a debate has been raging for over a century over some of these objects that have been taken from their home countries and displayed in foreign museums.
Last year, a few of my colleagues and I, who are involved in the Global Studies Program at Darlington, were fortunate enough to receive the Wood Faculty Endowment Professional Development Award, which has allowed us to travel in order to grow our knowledge in our particular areas of study. I chose to travel to England during Darlington's spring break to study its art and architecture. One of the goals of our Wood Award proposal is to emphasize the way other societies have influenced the native culture, a term historians sometimes call “cultural diffusion.”
One place where a variety of ancient cultures can be found in London is at the British Museum. I actually got a chance to study in London for a semester in college and spent most of my Saturdays there. This top archaeological institution holds such treasures as the Rosetta Stone, stone carvings from the ancient Mesopotamian cities of Nimrud and Persepolis, and the famous Elgin Marbles of Athens.
On our last Saturday in London, I was determined to return to the famous museum and revisit the artifacts from so many years ago. Getting there early, I discovered that the Great Hall was open but the doors to the exhibits had not been opened yet. As time grew closer, a crowd gathered outside the doors to the Egyptian exhibit, and when they opened, I once again saw the main attraction. There, encased in glass, was the Rosetta Stone, the tablet of translation found by Napoleon and brought back to France to be deciphered by the French linguist Jacque de Champollion. His work is the reason why Egyptologists can read hieroglyphics like they are reading a bedtime story to their children. The rest of the hall was full of statues of famous New Kingdom Pharaohs such as Thutmose III and the famous Ramses II.
Next to the Egyptian section was the equally impressive Assyrian section. This collection had long hallways filled with relief carvings from the ancient city of Nimrud. The carvings showed the armies of the great King Ashurbanipal on campaign. His soldiers were shown building bridges to span rivers, besieging cities, slaughtering their enemies. The carvings also showed the erection of large monuments and religious rituals. Large carvings of gods and kings are shown with cuneiform, the ancient writing of Mesopotamia, inscribed across their images.
All of these works are invaluable as a testament to the history and the artistic talent of one of the oldest civilizations on Earth. The most impressive objects in the exhibit, however, were the Lamassu. These are giant protective figures measuring 12 to 15 feet tall. They have the head of a man, large wings and the body of a lion. I have been fortunate enough to see them not only in the British Museum, but also in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Most recently, the public may have seen the Lamassu on the news in the ancient city of Nineveh, located in modern-day Iraq. Sadly, the images broadcast on the news showed these statues being defaced and destroyed by radical Islamic group ISIS. (According to their beliefs, any images that portray gods are an anathema and, therefore, must be destroyed.)
A short walk from the Assyrian sections puts one in the most famous part of the museum. The Elgin Marbles are statues found on the pediment as well as the walls of the Parthenon, the famous temple dedicated to the goddess Athena on the acropolis in Athens. These statues were acquired by the 7th Earl of Elgin in the early 19th Century, brought back to England, and have been on display in the British Museum since that time.
The collection consists of relief carvings that decorated the inner and outer friezes that went around the top of the temple. The inner frieze shows a procession of Athenians climbing to the top of the acropolis to celebrate the founding of the city. The outer frieze, known as the “Lapith Wedding,” showcases a battle between men who are attending the wedding and centaurs who have come to steal the women. The carvings show the twisting bodies of men and mythical creatures locked in a mortal struggle.
At the end of the hall are the pediment statues that once adorned the triangular-shaped roof of the great temple. The scene relates the birth of Athena, which was no ordinary affair. Because of a prophetic warning, Zeus had swallowed his child only to suffer from a headache so terrible that he ordered Vulcan, the blacksmith of the gods, to split his head open with a hammer in order alleviate the pain. When Zeus’ head with opened, out jumped Athena fully grown, in full battle armor, and screaming at the top of her lungs. Thus was the source of the headache. The surviving statues show a collection of gods in disbelief as they witness the scene.
These statues have been the source of the most controversy concerning the return of artifacts to their native homes. The Greek government – as well as famous names such as George Clooney and Matt Damon, inspired by their recent movie “Monuments Men” about the return of art stolen by the Nazis – have called for the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece.
While it is true many of these works of art were taken during the Imperial Age under sketchy legal circumstances at best, the real question may not be one of nationalism but of preservation. It would be difficult, in light of recent events, to argue that the safest place for any artifacts from Mesopotamia would be in present-day Iraq rather than in the British Museum. Many were horrified at the recent public images of 3,000-year-old statues being sandblasted by ISIS militants.
However, Greece is not Iraq.
Those who want to see the Elgin Marbles returned to Greece are quick to point out that Lord Elgin was given permission to remove the statues not by the Greeks but by the Ottomans, who controlled the territory at the time and had no reason to preserve a culture that was not their own.
Those opposed to seeing the Marbles returned point out the political, economic and social instability in this area of the world. The country of Greece suffered more than most in the recent world recession. It is one of the weakest countries in the EU and has had to borrow billions of Euros from the World Bank in order to keep its economy afloat. Recently, the government has had to renegotiate that loan because of its inability to keep up with the payments. Opponents also point out that the Greek government is facing massive cuts to civil services to pay back the loans and that will probably include funding for the arts.
The return of artifacts to their homes is a complex dilemma, but I do hope that one day, an agreement can be reached that will satisfy both countries concerning these ancient works of art.
For more information about Darlington School's Global Studies Program, please click here or feel free to contact me with questions.
