The Elgin Marbles. . . . .Again.

In 1801, Thomas Bruce, Lord Elgin, ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, began the removal of the ancient Greek sculptures that adorned the Parthenon. He claimed to have permission to remove them from the Ottoman authorities governing Greece at the time. Of course these Ottomans were fervent Muslims and had no particular interest in the possession of human imagery from a pre-Mohammedan era.

After much tribulation the marbles arrived in Britain in 1803, became British national property and an exhibit in the British Museum. After the Greek revolution in the years 1821-1832 and consequent Greek independence, there was a movement for return of the marbles. So far, this effort has been futile. The British refuse to consider returning them. 

There is some hope that the recent Brexit resolution might and conditions applied by the European Union might aid the Greeks' cause, as speculated here.

  
ancientorigins.net

We keep hearing this story, that some artifact from the past actually belongs to a nation-state or, as a more palatable option, belongs to the people of that nation. In that sense, the people have the right to look at it in their own land, if that constitutes ownership. 

The Obelisk of Luxor, which was once situated in Egypt, was traded to the French by Muhammad Ali Pasha, Ottoman ruler of Egypt, for a mechanical clock. Today it decorates the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Nobody seems to be too devoted to its return to the banks of the Nile.

This type of situation has been explored in Pulverized Concepts before. We still don't know what to make of it. 

After all, the current crop of Greeks can hardly be the legitimate heirs of ancestors from 2500 years ago, if they are indeed their descendants. 

Just the same, any effort that can complicate the lives of the descendants of the citizens of the colonial empires seems like a good thing.