[MSN] Return Elgin Marbles and lay 'curse of Minerva' to rest

[MSN]

Return Elgin Marbles and lay 'curse of Minerva' to rest

Unsurprisingly, you did not report the recent debate (20 February) at the
Cambridge University Union on the repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles to
the new Acropolis Museum in Athens. One more volley in a 200-year-old spat
is hardly "news". However, it did deserve mention in Scotland - indeed, the
debate should have been held in a Scottish, rather than an English seat of
learning.
Regardless of the outcome in Cambridge (overwhelmingly in favour of the
return of the Marbles), for several reasons it is Scotland's view on this
subject that really matters.

First, the seventh Earl of Elgin, the man who removed the sculptures, was a
Scot. He was, at the time, British ambassador in Constantinople; but in
removing the sculptures from the Acropolis buildings he, through his agents
in Athens, was acting in a personal capacity. His intention was to transport
them to Scotl
and, to embellish the mansion he was building at Broomhall, Fife. The
decision to offer the Parthenon sculptures for sale to the British Museum
was made subsequent to their removal and transportation. Lord Elgin was,
until his death, a domiciled Scot and his activities were and should still
be a matter of concern to his compatriots, if not Scots law.

The fundamental question is, as a matter of Scots law, to be determined
ultimately by the Scottish courts, did Lord Elgin have the right to "sell"
the sculptures in his possession? As Byron reminds us in The Curse of
Minerva, "Frown not on England; England knows him not: Athena, no! thy
plunderer was a Scot." It is time for Scotland to help lay the ghosts of the
sculptures and with them "the curse of Minerva" to rest. There's a new home
waiting for them back in their own country.

JOHN A KAPRANOS HUNTLEY, Rubislaw Drive, Glasgow