¶ … owns" past? Who define past means today? This assignment
The controversy regarding the Parthenon Marbles began when Elgin, an English ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, removed a number of marble details of figures that originally decorated the famed Greek Parthenon in the final centuries of the last millennium. Elgin did so at his own personal expense; beforehand he had asked the British government if it desired for him to appropriate or even render facsimiles of art found at the monument and it declined. Originally Elgin was supposed to merely produce facsimiles of these works. However, he then found out that portions of the Parthenon were actually being destroyed and converted into material for building, at which point he decided to simply remove the marbles that he had originally intended on replicating. Since the Parthenon was on the grounds of the Ottoman Empire, Elgin required permission from the empire to both go on its grounds to copy the marbles, as well as to remove the marbles. The principle source of the controversy is that proof of this permission is extremely suspect -- implying that Elgin might have taken the works illegally.
I unequivocally believe that these marbles were taken without the proper permission and should be returned to the Greek government which was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time of Elgin's theft. The two main reasons why I have taken this stance are: satisfactory proof of permission granted to Elgin is primarily based on an alleged Italian copy of such a document which the Greeks no longer have -- despite having documents for other pieces removed from buildings on its property -- and the fact that England has famously excavated works of art from numerous civilizations around the world illegally. I have been to one of its museums and seen artifacts from all around the globe that this country has appropriated, which lessens Elgin's credibility.
