How The Parthenon Marbles Ended Up In The British Museum

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SOURCES
William St. Clair, "Lord Elgin and The Marbles"
www.amazon.com/Lord-Elgin-Mar...
MUSIC (via Epidemic Sound)
Mary Riddle, "Trade and Fortune"
George Prokopiou, "Olympus Mountain
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The Nerdwriter is a series of video essays about art, culture, politics, philosophy and more.

Пікірлер: 725

  • @Dev._.
    @Dev._. Жыл бұрын

    “Why are there Pyramids in Giza?” “Because they’re too big to put in a British museum”

  • @imnotgoodwithnamesbruh6018

    @imnotgoodwithnamesbruh6018

    Жыл бұрын

    Saladin (or his son, can't exactly remember which) did try to have them torn down but it was too arduous a process.

  • @shaygarden9831

    @shaygarden9831

    Жыл бұрын

    🤣

  • @macgonzo

    @macgonzo

    Жыл бұрын

    😂😂😂

  • @hargibson18

    @hargibson18

    Жыл бұрын

    Lmao exactly.

  • @MrThatguyaaron

    @MrThatguyaaron

    Жыл бұрын

    Would you rather they be kept where they are if they degrade over time, or perhaps in the hands of a Country who can preserve them for anyone to see in the future?

  • @illneas
    @illneas Жыл бұрын

    Hi, I'm Greek so I'm kinda biased. Despite the barbarous nature of the removal, an argument can be made that the British museum was a great place for safekeeping an international treasure through the years of European and Greek instability. Right now Athens has a state of the art museum next to the Parthenon and Greece is as stable as any other European country. The marbles have to come back, there is no excuse other than pride and profit, the Greek citizens want them back and have the means to preserve and showcase them in their natural environment. It's about time...

  • @ClarksonNo1

    @ClarksonNo1

    Жыл бұрын

    As a brit, while it would suck to not be able to see them they really should go back now.

  • @matieking

    @matieking

    Жыл бұрын

    How about you get some crown jewels, much more interesting for everyone to have pieces from different cultures no?

  • @illneas

    @illneas

    Жыл бұрын

    @@matieking I want the clock face of Big Ben showing midnight and you have a deal!

  • @calj2405

    @calj2405

    Жыл бұрын

    @@matieking That's some Civ 6 logic

  • @nikossideris5245

    @nikossideris5245

    Жыл бұрын

    Also a greek, definetly agree with you. The acropolis museum was built exactly for this reason and is held up to extremely high standards. The room where the marbles are supposed to be as well as the missing caryatid are really sad to see

  • @Syco198
    @Syco198 Жыл бұрын

    Imagine the Parthenon still standing today. The initial mortar round is a tragedy of its own.

  • @mostlyholy6301

    @mostlyholy6301

    Жыл бұрын

    The mortar round (and the utter barbarism of the Turks, using a sacred site like this to store gunpowder) is indeed the real tragedy and the cause of all the rest. Had the Parthenon not been lying in neglected ruins, there is no possibility Elgin or anyone else could have salvaged these marbles.

  • @jawharz9759

    @jawharz9759

    Жыл бұрын

    @@mostlyholy6301 "barbarism of the turks" nobody gave a shit about historical ruins until recently. They werent considered sacred or human heritage until the late 20th century. The ottomans, as well as anybody else probably, just saw it as an empty old building on a strategic location.

  • @rollo8459

    @rollo8459

    Жыл бұрын

    @@jawharz9759 roach cope, ruins all over Europe were maintained for over a thousand years at that point and somehow they all avoided being used as black powder silos, only turks would be so scornful of a heritage they were stewards over, perhaps because they have no heritage of their own worth preserving

  • @HelenParsons

    @HelenParsons

    Жыл бұрын

    Lots of peoples looted ancient ruins. Many peices of marble from the Roman Forum went into the building of St Peter's Basilica. Despite the renaissanse interest in Roman arts the usefulness of nearby, ready dressed marble was too good of an oppurinity for the chruch builders to miss.

  • @mostlyholy6301

    @mostlyholy6301

    Жыл бұрын

    @@jawharz9759 But the British are "looters" and "thieves" for taking sculptures from this "empty old building" they were given full permission to take?

  • @Resuarus
    @Resuarus Жыл бұрын

    How did these priceless cultural artifacts end up in a British museum? Join us on this 194 part series.

  • @coreygolpheneee

    @coreygolpheneee

    Жыл бұрын

    Pomp and circumstance is the classical fortunate son.

  • @washipuppy
    @washipuppy Жыл бұрын

    I know it's not normally the 'done thing' for old art, but the fact that the Museum hasn't made themselves replicas of the Parthenon Marbles to keep in situ and sent the originals back is so weird to me. You can keep the exhibit, you can keep the story - you just add another chapter now, stating when and how the originals were returned. Same with a lot of the carvings that the British Museum has nicked - You can make replicas, return the originals and tell the story / provenience of them. We do casts all the time for prehistoric animal skeletons, even filling in the bones that are missing with sculpted replicas from other known skeletons. You have the known history to say "Yes, we sure did have the original carvings at one time, and we made these highly detailed casts / replicas of them while we did. They are exact copies. We acquired the originals though some jiggery pokery though, and we've since returned them to their home country." and still keep the exhibit up as long as you'd like, with all the information it originally contained.

  • @maxdavis7722

    @maxdavis7722

    Жыл бұрын

    Shit take, countries don’t return everything to where it was built, that’s silly.

  • @JoannaFalkowska

    @JoannaFalkowska

    Жыл бұрын

    @@maxdavis7722 You are silly.

  • @violettaguess4408

    @violettaguess4408

    Жыл бұрын

    Money.If they return everything they won't have a museum

  • @slax4884

    @slax4884

    Жыл бұрын

    You're right actually good point. Problem is people wouldn't go for fakes

  • @milesrout

    @milesrout

    Жыл бұрын

    Why would they return them? They don't belong to Greece. They've never belonged to Greece. The modern Greek state doesn't maintain any real continuous connection to the city state of Athens that built the Parthenon. These sculptures were disappearing *fast* when they were rescued by the Earl of Elgin. They weren't acquired 'through some jiggery pokery'. They would not still be around if they hadn't been taken. They weren't 'nicked'.

  • @TheZabadabadoo
    @TheZabadabadoo Жыл бұрын

    For those making the argument that the Marbles should still not go back because the BM can take care of them now, it should be noted that only 50 years ago, the British Museum conservation team decided to "clean" the marbles by chiseling and scraping the marble itself so as to make the white marble more brilliant, thus damaging the marbles themselves.

  • @maxdavis7722

    @maxdavis7722

    Жыл бұрын

    Interesting point but without comparison. What was the standards of the museums in Greece or the rest of the world?

  • @maxdavis7722

    @maxdavis7722

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Outstanding_Gal I thought we were talking about 50 years ago?

  • @renatopereira2315

    @renatopereira2315

    Жыл бұрын

    @@maxdavis7722 The greeks never did that to their own artifacts. In the Acropolis Museum you see statues as they are ... many still showing pigments from the original paint - yes the statues were painted not white marble. That is a renaissance thing

  • @dubudubudan

    @dubudubudan

    Жыл бұрын

    if by fifty years ago you actually mean 84 years ago lol

  • @billpetrak

    @billpetrak

    8 ай бұрын

    Fast forward 6 months. The British Museum lost more than 1500 ancient artefacts, that weren't even catalogued, including Greek artefacts. Just type "the guardian" "nobody was expecting it" and read a pretty enlightening article.

  • @xisumavoid
    @xisumavoid Жыл бұрын

    I was there just last week! These things and many others should absolutely be returned. Although wonderful to visit, the Museum is sadly a testament to the ways of times gone by and we should figure out a new way to enjoy history and cultural without uprooting it for display elsewhere.

  • @gavranarh

    @gavranarh

    Жыл бұрын

    there's a controversial opinion. kumbaya my lord.

  • @MrThatguyaaron

    @MrThatguyaaron

    Жыл бұрын

    Nah most of the stuff in there wouldn't even exist today if the British didnt preserve them. They only care about them because they let their own stuff get destroyed.

  • @gavranarh

    @gavranarh

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Outstanding_Gal It's common, I grant you that, but it's not common sense, more common sentiment, common feeling, and a very _du jour_ feeling at that. It's a sentiment born from the false, Fukuyamist sense that we've entered an age discontinuous from all things prior, that we've turned some corner in time and from now on the upheavals and upsets that have plagued human history so far will henceforth cease. So we can let go of our rigid old pose and open up to everything: our hatches will never again need battening so why keep them? In fact it's far more likely that we've been living in a lull, whose end is even now visible on the aproaching horizon.

  • @XxCorvette1xX

    @XxCorvette1xX

    Жыл бұрын

    @@gavranarhthis is the most masturbatory shit I’ve ever seen man people must hate spending any time around you lmfao

  • @gavranarh

    @gavranarh

    Жыл бұрын

    @@XxCorvette1xX thank you, er.. what is it...Xx..Corvette (?), 1..xX. I will think deeply on your comment.

  • @littlston5319
    @littlston5319 Жыл бұрын

    There is an australian podcast called "Stuff the british stole" which tells stories of a lot more stuff the british stole, there is an episode on the marbles, but also two season worth of other stories, that I can recommend

  • @samfong4658

    @samfong4658

    Жыл бұрын

    Lol it's crazy that the British stole enough for a whole podcast to be centered around the topic

  • @JoannaFalkowska

    @JoannaFalkowska

    Жыл бұрын

    @@samfong4658 Seriously. Centuries of stealing, looting, exploiting, enslaving, raping and razing, and then some Brits still have the audacity to say they "deserve" to keep all this stolen stuff. What about actually *creating* your own cultural heritage that isn't based on continuous stealing from everyone else???

  • @mankytoes

    @mankytoes

    Жыл бұрын

    Is "the island of Australia" one of the episodes?

  • @fatemehshahmohammad8191

    @fatemehshahmohammad8191

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks:))))))))

  • @triniscout

    @triniscout

    Жыл бұрын

    They didn't steal the marble.

  • @JaffaCakeGecko
    @JaffaCakeGecko Жыл бұрын

    I personally feel that the marbles are not well-served by their current environment. The Duveen Gallery feels dingy and cramped. By comparison, the Acropolis Museum looks spectacular - in the parthenon gallery the friezes are displayed around a central core which has the same dimensions of the original building, and the entire gallery has glass walls, out of which you can directly see the monument from which the marbles came. You can't get better than that for placing historical artefacts within context!

  • @LongBonbon
    @LongBonbon Жыл бұрын

    As a historian those anachronistic maps give me the chills.

  • @persapientiam3818

    @persapientiam3818

    Жыл бұрын

    why?

  • @FelicitasSews
    @FelicitasSews Жыл бұрын

    The Elgin's really made a business of looting historical architecture didn't they? his son destroyed the old summer palace in Beijing. this video sent me down a bit of a wiki hole because I recognized his name from like a million streets and towns here. it turns out his son was governor general of Canada for a while and also loved looting

  • @HNCS2006

    @HNCS2006

    Жыл бұрын

    As someone from a Chinese background, this detail just makes the whole endeavour that much more personal

  • @yuyutubee8435

    @yuyutubee8435

    Жыл бұрын

    @@HNCS2006 It shouldn't take a personal stake to feel strongly that all of this is wrong. Be a human.

  • @omarmyousry
    @omarmyousry Жыл бұрын

    Add to the list the Rosetta Stone from the same museum, and the Bust of Nefertiti from Berlin to Egypt, a couple among many taken too.

  • @therocketboost

    @therocketboost

    Жыл бұрын

    The Rosetta stone was being used as a makeshift brick in a wall without any care when it was purchased.

  • @OhSome1HasThisName

    @OhSome1HasThisName

    Жыл бұрын

    @@therocketboost exactly the rosetta stone is only significant because of it's discovery by Europeans

  • @willek1335

    @willek1335

    Жыл бұрын

    As far as I know, the French ruled the land when they excavated what you call the Rosetta stone.. At the time it wasn't called that, it was called a building block of a house. It was turned into the Rosetta Stone by the French and British. They made it what it is today. Should the English return it to the French? Should the French return it to the Ottomans? Should the Ottomans return it to the Arabs? Should the Arabs return it to the Roman Christians? Should the Romans return it to the Macedonian dynasty who ruled Egypt, wasn't indigenous, but they made the stone. In other words, you want the Rosetta Stone to return to Northen Macedonia? Or Greece? I'm not sure. Let's have these two have a civil debate about who owns a block of granite. 😇 Alternatively, we can pretend we care about history, more than we are nationalistic revisionists and irrendentists. There are few thing I find more detestable then when some leverage others limited understanding of history for their personal gain and hate of others.

  • @renatopereira2315

    @renatopereira2315

    Жыл бұрын

    @@willek1335 Yes exactly that is the kind of thinking that benefits the British Museum: "Now that the looting is done lets not think about how/where/when to return stuff"

  • @willek1335

    @willek1335

    Жыл бұрын

    @@renatopereira2315 This isn't a football game. I'm not rooting for the British Museum. History is what matter. That's the core issue. The object is safe and preserved. If UK descended into civil war, then you could make a strong argument that it shouldn't be there. If you come into this discussion with that type of "my team vs their team" framing, then you don't belong. You don't care about history.

  • @chris52622
    @chris52622 Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the support Nerdwriter ❤️ Every bit of pressure upon the British Museum is much needed. Also im going to add the argument that a permission from a country's foreign conquerors as were the ottomans does not hold much value ethically

  • @ohwellwhateverr

    @ohwellwhateverr

    Жыл бұрын

    They’re ours now. Tough luck.

  • @shen-qf9mc

    @shen-qf9mc

    9 ай бұрын

    ​@@ohwellwhateverrthe idea of spending so much effort on boosting the algorithm for a channel you hate is incomprehensible to me. why bother commenting if your argument adds nothing?

  • Жыл бұрын

    6:53 I tried to find more about Broomhall, but I couldn’t find anything in that area on Wikipedia. Turns out, it’s Broomhall castle, and it does not have a Wikipedia page.

  • @basilb4524
    @basilb4524 Жыл бұрын

    the making plaster molds for architectural research to ransacking cultural symbols pipeline

  • @benmoore5325
    @benmoore5325 Жыл бұрын

    They say of the Acropolis where the Parthenon is…

  • @therocketboost

    @therocketboost

    Жыл бұрын

    This better be bloody good Stephen

  • @grizzlygreenwood2989

    @grizzlygreenwood2989

    Жыл бұрын

    What do they say, what do they say?

  • @alexiaspil
    @alexiaspil Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for the support!

  • @skylerleonard8966
    @skylerleonard8966 Жыл бұрын

    The music in your video has some vibes from the video game Hades, and I am so here for it.

  • @hugocampbell9209
    @hugocampbell9209 Жыл бұрын

    Hi there, I am very keen on the Parthenon sculptures on remaining at the British museum. But I can understand why some want to return them, I really like your win-win attitude for both the British and acropolis museums. I was Wondering if complete replicas of the sculptures be made from the same marble as the originals could occupy the Parthenon gallery in London whilst the originals go to Athens. This is a win-win for everyone the Parthenon sculptures can be compared with other cultures in the British museum, whilst the originals are sent to Athens. Both the British and Greeks can admire the marble. Another solution that can benefits both museums is sharing the Parthenon marbles between the museums. The marbles should be shared between the British museum and the Acropolis museum in Athens I believe the British Museum should loan Them to Greece for a decade then they come back the uk for a decade and repeat the process, a decade in Greece and a decade in Britain. Both the Greeks and the British people can admire the marbles. 🇬🇧🤝🇬🇷

  • @Ioanna.1313

    @Ioanna.1313

    Жыл бұрын

    There is absolutely no reason for our marbles to be in Britain. We don't want to share them. You've had them long enough.

  • @djfottiredhot7157

    @djfottiredhot7157

    5 ай бұрын

    Great thought but dont you think that most fair is british people to admire the marbels as a tourists?

  • @yunleung2631
    @yunleung26314 ай бұрын

    Kind of insane that the 7th Earl of Elgin was basically bankrupt but left SUCH a lasting legacy... Also, his son ordered for the looting of the Old Summer Palace in the 2nd Opium War.

  • @siddus19
    @siddus19 Жыл бұрын

    Great video and, as a Brit, I agree that they ought to go back. Any chance of a follow-up that explains anything that may be blocking such a thing occuring?

  • @uno23sleep
    @uno23sleep Жыл бұрын

    Welcome back! 😃 Thank you for making great content as always. 👍

  • @Alliefrownie
    @Alliefrownie Жыл бұрын

    not just are they there. They're in a weird section of the British Museum where not a lot of people end up. Nearly a third of the people are in the room looking at the marble than the other rooms because it's just an empty room with a bunch of rocks if you don't know what you are looking at. I don't think they will be missed.

  • @lizmoss
    @lizmoss Жыл бұрын

    great video and interesting story!

  • @PNEfc001
    @PNEfc0015 ай бұрын

    As a Brit, I absolutely agree that they should be returned to their rightful home. The Acropolis museum in Athens that's been built specifically to house them is the perfect place and I'm sure as a swap the Greeks will allow us to have their plaster mould replicas that currently are in that museum. It's a crime that we even try to justify us keeping them. It's embarrassing, and to make it worse we have the audacity to call them the 'Elgin marbles', truly cringeworthy. They should be returned. So should every Egyptian artifact, and everything else we've robbed from countries we've previously invaded and plundered.

  • @lucasnunes6033

    @lucasnunes6033

    Ай бұрын

    Nah, it's safer in Britain. Not all peoples care for history and architecture. That's a very very western concept. Just see what ISIS has been doing to the artefacts in the Middle East. Museums are a very western thing and not all cultures care for that. Many non western folk valued archeology so much that much of the archeological stuff was hidden and forgotten until the westerners decided it'd be cool to have them preserved. Now, if those things are valued it's because it's a western cultural construct that has influenced a few other peoples around the world. (Not all, sadly, though.)

  • @StaticArt
    @StaticArt6 ай бұрын

    I wrote an essay on this in college back in 2020, wished I had this video for reference.

  • @cruciferum
    @cruciferum8 ай бұрын

    Being Greek I just wish these monuments of human artistry will stay wherever they are best preserved. And having experienced the latest Greek government CEMENTING a part of the Parthenon's rock to make it accesible to people in wheelchairs (noble cause, stupid method), i believe these marbles are safest the further away they are from Greece!

  • @petercharles8799

    @petercharles8799

    5 ай бұрын

    The Greek government did what? It doesn’t sound like an appropriate thing to do to a 2,500 year old site

  • @prenticeclark1454
    @prenticeclark1454 Жыл бұрын

    My mother was a classicist (professor of ancient history) and always referred to them as the “Elgin Marbles” (and pronounced it “Eljin” with a soft G). That was probably the old way of referencing them but of course they’re more properly called the Parthenon Marbles, rather than naming them after the guy that stole them. My American mom certainly agreed that they should be returned. I never knew the whole story before so thanks for this video!

  • @persapientiam3818

    @persapientiam3818

    Жыл бұрын

    Eljin? (Primordial/Noahic) Kin, referring to the devil > Jin, referring to the devil > Gin > Gen > (Latin) Genius, referring to the devil -> Gen -> Jen -> Jin -> (Arabic) Jinn, referring to the devil -> al-Jinn -> alJinn -> Aljinn -> Aljin -> Eljin -> Elgin, referring to the Elgin marbles, or the Stone of the Devil.

  • @TheDukeOfWaltham

    @TheDukeOfWaltham

    Жыл бұрын

    I don't like memorialising Elgin either, but there's also the matter of accuracy: not all the marbles are from the Parthenon. (There is a caryatid from the Erechtheion, for example.)

  • @christoschatoglou8642
    @christoschatoglou8642 Жыл бұрын

    Excellent video as always. Greetings from Athens, Greece!

  • @TonyK_13
    @TonyK_13 Жыл бұрын

    Parthenon Sculptures!

  • @therocketboost

    @therocketboost

    Жыл бұрын

    *Elgin Marbles

  • @TonyK_13

    @TonyK_13

    Жыл бұрын

    @@therocketboost Parthenon Sculptures!

  • @therocketboost

    @therocketboost

    Жыл бұрын

    @@TonyK_13 Nah

  • @handsfree1000
    @handsfree10005 ай бұрын

    Would be interesting to see the acropolis sympathetically restored

  • @Ishwolv
    @Ishwolv Жыл бұрын

    Why did you take down your Ghost In The Shell video? I loved that one.

  • @subinmdr
    @subinmdr Жыл бұрын

    What do they say of the Acropolis where the Parthenon is?

  • @mileslewis461
    @mileslewis461 Жыл бұрын

    I loved your book! Been a subscriber for a couple years, watched your videos for longer. I really enjoy the video essays you create. Hope all is well :)

  • @valq10
    @valq10 Жыл бұрын

    Interesting sidenote: Napoleon's army in Egypt discovered the Rosetta Stone at the same time as this, allowing Egyptian hieroglyphs to be deciphered for the first time since the fall of the Ancient Egyptian Civilisation. When the British defeated the French, naturally it fell into British hands. The Rosetta Stone is also in the British Museum.

  • @JiveTrkey

    @JiveTrkey

    8 ай бұрын

    The Rosetta Stone was being used as a random bit of stone in the foundations of an old fort. The French literally rescued it from obscurity and indifference

  • @nothingposted9056
    @nothingposted9056 Жыл бұрын

    The fact that the Turks were storing explosives in the Parthenon and it exploded makes a part of me die inside

  • @persapientiam3818

    @persapientiam3818

    Жыл бұрын

    Old Persian derived the clear Persian dialect Classical Greek derived the Celtized Greek dialect Ciceronian Latin derived the Germanized Latin dialect Medieval Latin derived the Saracen Barbarian (Bourbon) Gaullicized Latin dialect of French as spoken by the Saracen 🤫 and Barbarian (Bourbon) House of Frankia in Paris, maternally Germanogaullic and paternally 🤫 conqueror. And that is why the essence of the Frankish (French) city of Pars (Paris) is Parsyan (Persian). Pars and Paris and Parsyan and Persian and Perseus and Parsia and Parthia and Parthenon and part and party and particular 🤷. LOOK DEEP ENOUGH INTO NOSTRA DOMINA (the Notre Dame) AND YOU WILL SEE THE HEART OF PERSIA IN THE HORRID AND GROTESQUE DESIGNS OF THE CATHEDRAL OF GOTHICA (Gothica is the proper name for Western pseudocivilization).

  • @kassios

    @kassios

    Жыл бұрын

    the barbarism is truly astounding

  • @persapientiam3818

    @persapientiam3818

    Жыл бұрын

    @@kassios ok. it's 2023. the money the resources the workers the knowledge is all available. so why not rebuild? because its ultimate function was once sacred and no longer relevant?

  • @kassios

    @kassios

    Жыл бұрын

    @@persapientiam3818 there are restorations happening on the building for decades. They aim on using the scattered parts in the same location. But all that is for the structure, not the marble statues. You cannot really recreate the ones stollen. If that's the case then it is far more ethical for the British museum to recreate copies of the originals and exhibit those and ship the originals back to where they belong.

  • @persapientiam3818

    @persapientiam3818

    Жыл бұрын

    @@kassios What was it for? What do you need it for? Anything sacred?

  • @stroows6806
    @stroows68067 ай бұрын

    The thing is that if the British museum returns the marbles to Greece then they’ll have to return every other stolen artifact leaving it pretty much empty. So sadly I don’t think it’ll happen any time soon

  • @brett123
    @brett123 Жыл бұрын

    Is that google earth or some other program for those location clips??!!

  • @onemorechris

    @onemorechris

    Жыл бұрын

    i think it was a mix Google Earth and Google Maps 3D view (Apple maps has the same feature so it could have been that). inside the British Museum shot was likely the interior 360 view that Google Maps can do or from the British Museum website itself

  • @gameking501
    @gameking501 Жыл бұрын

    Fascinating video as always, but “Ottoman” would be a far more appropriate ethnonym within this context. Much of the empire’s chief governing officials and administrators were not ethnically Turkish, and the majority of the empire’s population was not Turkish. “Ottoman” more effectively articulates the multicultural and heterogeneous population that comprised the empire.

  • @MeowjinBoo

    @MeowjinBoo

    Жыл бұрын

    Yeah and what religion where they? 🙄

  • @mostlyholy6301

    @mostlyholy6301

    Жыл бұрын

    @@MeowjinBoo Mostly Christian, but what does that have to do with the Empire's name?

  • @bombaytalkie.

    @bombaytalkie.

    Жыл бұрын

    Ditto.

  • @mostlyholy6301

    @mostlyholy6301

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Outstanding_Gal And modern Greeks are Christians, while the Parthenon is a pagan building. Also while the Ottomans themselves were Muslims, the vast majority of their subjects were not, even into the 19th and 20th centuries Islam was a minority religion in large parts of the Middle East.

  • @mostlyholy6301

    @mostlyholy6301

    Жыл бұрын

    @@vlasisv3415 Exactly, the notion that only PuRe BlOoDeD GrEeKs can ever legitimately rule Greece is nothing but racism. The Turks ruled Greece on the exact same basis that the Romans did: By right of conquest.

  • @jackiechan8840
    @jackiechan8840 Жыл бұрын

    Because we knicked em!

  • @lizhasasthma
    @lizhasasthma Жыл бұрын

    I don't remember where I read this, but apparently there is evidence that part of the reason that the Parthenon was so badly damaged during the world wars was because it had suffered so much structural damage from Elgin stealing the marbles. Through his theft Elgin actually helped cause more damage to a historical site than he may have actually preserved.

  • @eldritchpalmerable

    @eldritchpalmerable

    Жыл бұрын

    He used heavy saws to cut out what he considered dead weight from the frieze which however was necessary for the structural support

  • @JustABoy
    @JustABoy Жыл бұрын

    Great video as always. One critique is the background music was a bit distracting while you were speaking.

  • @KMakrozahopoulos
    @KMakrozahopoulos Жыл бұрын

    Lord Elgin clearly stole the sculptures and severely damaged the Parthenon.

  • @persapientiam3818

    @persapientiam3818

    Жыл бұрын

    Interesting to say. Eljin? (Primordial/Noahic) Kin, referring to the devil -> Jin, referring to the devil -> Gin -> Gen -> (Latin) Genius, referring to the devil -> Gen- -> Jen- -> Jin -> (Arabic) Jinn, referring to the devil -> al-Jinn -> alJinn -> Aljinn -> Aljin -> Eljin -> Elgin, referring to the Elgin marbles, or the Stone of the Devil.

  • @cryhavoc999
    @cryhavoc999 Жыл бұрын

    But we have the receipts?

  • @DSQueenie

    @DSQueenie

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes as the video explains. There is clear evidence that Elgin got permission to take pieces from the site. Now in retrospect the Ottomans most likely didn’t mean to give him permission to break sculptures off the actual structure but because the permission was so vague legally speaking Elgin is in the clear. Morally the argument to return them is clear - they should be returned to Greece. However legally in international court Greece would never win.

  • @cryhavoc999

    @cryhavoc999

    Жыл бұрын

    @@DSQueenie It was like a joke only smaller. However I agree - but in all seriousness much of the 'loot' in the Museums in London and elsewhere would almost certainly have not survived otherwise. But their 'retrospective' task of keeping all this stuff safe is complete.

  • @Erickrojastang
    @Erickrojastang11 ай бұрын

    Great vídeo, no surprise there about England, but great vídeo ❤❤❤

  • @LoukasAitherovamon
    @LoukasAitherovamon Жыл бұрын

    Immagine that the UK was occupied by a foreign power, and that power gave permission for the Stonehenge to be dismembered and shipped to Greece. That's what happened with the Parthenon Marbles; the fact that some people rely on the Ottoman firman to claim that the removal was legal is hurtful and and infuriating. Furthermore, we have to keep in mind that monuments are not created in vacuo; Parthenon was made to be seen overlooking the city of Athens, in close contact with the city's hills, under the bright light of Attica's sun. This is why the Parthenon Gallery in the Acropolis Museum is designed to be covered in sunlight and why seing the Marbles in the British Museum is diminished experience. Finally, keep in mind that the Parthenon Friezes are a continuous visual naration. Elgin stealing pieces of the Frieze was like taking off some crucial letters from a text, because they look shiny and beautiful. The narative continuity of the Parthenon is broken, and the only way for it to be restored is for the Sculptures to return home.

  • @CESSKAR

    @CESSKAR

    Жыл бұрын

    Imagine that Athens was occupied by a foreign power called the Republic of Greece, and that power believed to be the moral owner of thigns they never did. That's what happened with the Parthenon Marbles [...] By the way, if those marbles are given away (not returned), they will certainly be put in a museum and not in the temple, I guarantee you.

  • @LoukasAitherovamon

    @LoukasAitherovamon

    Жыл бұрын

    @@CESSKAR Sorry if I didn't make it as clear as I would like, but according to me the "owner" of these pieces of art is not Greece (that clearly doesn't "occupy" Athens nonetheless) but Athens itself, as the place of origin and the context of Parthenon. And surely the marbles are going to be put in the Museum, this is why I insisted on the importance of the architecture of the Acropolis Museum, that takes advantage of its location in order to create a direct and vision connection with the Parthenon. Thanks for the reply though :)

  • @onemorechris

    @onemorechris

    Жыл бұрын

    so much of the behaviour in the the past is justified, both at the time and now, by saying it was legal. However, if you are the one with all the power, and you’re the one making up the rules, and the rules benefit you, that’s hardly a justifiable point of you.

  • @rakanishumai
    @rakanishumai Жыл бұрын

    Temple gets bombed. British: its free real estate

  • @yorkieandthecat
    @yorkieandthecat Жыл бұрын

    It is about time to bring them back home!

  • @nicklaskos6779
    @nicklaskos6779 Жыл бұрын

    I'm Greek and I appreciate you making this video. I was very surprised to see this in my subscription feed and I think it's great that videos like this exist to raise awareness about this situation.

  • @blackbird1413
    @blackbird1413 Жыл бұрын

    Friend, I came back to your channel to watch one of my favorite videos, the deconstructed of Rihanna’s song Work. But the video is gone 😢 Any chance you can upload it again? It’s such a great video and I really want to watch it

  • @nuffzed2001
    @nuffzed2001 Жыл бұрын

    hey Evan, I'd love to see a write-up for Jeanne Dielmann -directed by Chantal Akerman, which Sight and Sound magazine made the baller move of listing it top of great cinematic works, although you've already kinda covered slow cinema, it in the video about Tarkovsky

  • @juma__
    @juma__ Жыл бұрын

    Exactly like Nashville

  • @Ritza.Elefteria.Michaki
    @Ritza.Elefteria.Michaki7 ай бұрын

    The most important ancient artefact 1:09 is in Crete Greece. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

  • @AnimeRookie
    @AnimeRookie Жыл бұрын

    A lot of national treasures lie in the British museum 🖼️🎨

  • @onemorechris

    @onemorechris

    Жыл бұрын

    treasures of nations that aren’t British 🤷‍♀️

  • @nickhawdon9139
    @nickhawdon9139 Жыл бұрын

    Nice touch using the proper version of the British flag without the added Irish cross

  • @thekidfromcanada
    @thekidfromcanada Жыл бұрын

    How big is the British museum that every country has a national treasure there?

  • @onemorechris

    @onemorechris

    Жыл бұрын

    it’s really big. What’s wild is almost all the stuff they have isn’t on display.

  • @anaz5918

    @anaz5918

    Жыл бұрын

    There’s a couple walk in tours of the museum in KZread, they have sections of many different countries fill with artifacts .

  • @DroggeIbecher
    @DroggeIbecher Жыл бұрын

    i heared an interview with a historian on the radio. it was about the genocide of the nama and herero commited by the germans, and how germany still has statues of bismark and others anyways. he says that he acknowledges that bismark has done great things in germany, but that the bad sides shouldn't be forgotten either. his idea for a solution would be to change the monuments a bit. for example add barb wire around the monuments or put the statues in cages, just like what they did with the nama and herero. or maybe flip the monument upside down if possible, so it still looks pretty, but rather off, so that people ask why this monument is upside down. i like this idea. i wondered if the parthenon isn't rebuild because it's current state is part of it's history. so my idea was to rebuild it, but with diffrent colored stones. white marble is the original part, black marble is the new stuff, in memory of it's history. just like some artworks are so broken when they get restored, that they only get restored in a diffrent style.

  • @sriramjaju
    @sriramjaju Жыл бұрын

    What is name of the painting at mark 3:40 kzread.info/dash/bejne/a2Sc0tmGdteuprg.html

  • @everest2842
    @everest2842 Жыл бұрын

    Went to Greece a few summers ago with my mom and we visited the Parthenon and Parthenon Museum. Nothing was funnier than how salty we could tell the tour guides were about the British Museum.

  • @spyz1448

    @spyz1448

    9 ай бұрын

    What did you expect...?Congratulate the British museum...?Not your fault of course...

  • @mechailreydon3784
    @mechailreydon3784 Жыл бұрын

    Hard to believe that a building can be so valuable that it’s ruins can be stolen and stored in a museum.

  • @petercharles8799

    @petercharles8799

    5 ай бұрын

    You should look up what the Parthenon was being used before some of the sculptures were removed by Elgin. A mosque, church, explosive storage, and a source of building materials by the locals.

  • @joshuasimons9887
    @joshuasimons9887 Жыл бұрын

    I'm British and ngl up until today I thought the "Parthenon Marbles" were like, marbles the toy glass balls you'd play with as a kid, not like, sculptures made of marble. 🤦‍♂🤦‍♂ Never learned how or when they were taken. Our Govt should give them back already FFS...

  • @Don_Catan
    @Don_Catan Жыл бұрын

    John Oliver does a good bit about how museums have basically stolen artifacts from these other countries, but I love the detail that went into this piece with Britain and Greece.

  • @onemorechris

    @onemorechris

    Жыл бұрын

    so does James Acaster in his Netflix show 👍

  • @brostelio
    @brostelio4 ай бұрын

    Brilliant.

  • @xyoxus
    @xyoxus Жыл бұрын

    Was so confused when there was a british flag but only the center red cros was there 2:29 Turns out it's the Flag of the Kingdom of Great Britain used from 1707-1801.

  • @onemorechris

    @onemorechris

    Жыл бұрын

    We have a long history…most of it involving stealing other peoples stuff; when someone else joined in, we added them to the flag ☺️

  • @WoodyBanter
    @WoodyBanter Жыл бұрын

    I know this isn't reddit but does anyone know how they would they have salvaged the marble pieces that sunk off the coast of Kythira? Edit: I'm not confident this is the right answer but I'm content enough to believe it was completed through similar techniques as this. From Wikipedia: "a diver went overboard to get it. Freediving, he was usually naked and carried a 15 kilograms (33 lb) skandalopetra, a rounded stone tied on a rope to the boat, to take him down to the bottom quickly. The diver then cut the sponge loose from the bottom and put it into a net bag. Depth and bottom time depended on the diver's lung capacity. They often went down about 30 metres (100 ft) for up to 5 minutes".

  • @aaronleigh8296

    @aaronleigh8296

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks, that was interesting

  • @CaCriGuz
    @CaCriGuz Жыл бұрын

    Thank you. Amazing video. :)

  • @KasSommers
    @KasSommers Жыл бұрын

    I agree that Britain should give back the Parthenon marbles. The first time I saw them was about a week after I had holidayed in Greece. I cried to think they were so far from home.

  • @superzigzagoon
    @superzigzagoon Жыл бұрын

    As a Brit, all I can say is that sounds like one of our better excuses for taking stuff to the British Museum. I still think we shouldn't have taken them to begin with.

  • @charlieparkeris
    @charlieparkeris Жыл бұрын

    Ottoman empire? What was this, a whole empire based on putting your feet up?

  • @Chadhogan111
    @Chadhogan1115 ай бұрын

    They can come and visit them whenever they like

  • @QuinceStudios
    @QuinceStudios Жыл бұрын

    Great video!

  • @paisan8766
    @paisan87669 ай бұрын

    This music gives real White Lotus vibes

  • @namu5583
    @namu5583 Жыл бұрын

    The book is mahal lah

  • @Animefreak242
    @Animefreak242 Жыл бұрын

    Notification gang!

  • @auntvesuvi3872
    @auntvesuvi3872 Жыл бұрын

    Thanks, Evan! 🏛 #Nerdwriter1 #EvanPuschak #Parthenon #ParthenonMarbles #BritishMuseum

  • @kenleyabaka7242
    @kenleyabaka7242Ай бұрын

    5:42

  • @ianpowder3187
    @ianpowder3187 Жыл бұрын

    Bond company stooge as a representative of the British museum: "Well... We fucking stole it, man." *shrugs*

  • @DetectiveTrupo203
    @DetectiveTrupo203 Жыл бұрын

    Yay

  • @awatercolourist

    @awatercolourist

    Жыл бұрын

    Yay indeed 😂👍🏼

  • @joaofarias6473
    @joaofarias6473 Жыл бұрын

    Perfidious Albion

  • @pikaficha
    @pikaficha Жыл бұрын

    Ubirajara Jubatus!

  • @Muhammed_Gb
    @Muhammed_Gb Жыл бұрын

    pleasr do a video on Nathan new show "The Rehearsal"

  • @evathebanana1958
    @evathebanana1958 Жыл бұрын

    As a greek person thank you !

  • @emanfey
    @emanfey Жыл бұрын

    Europe has loads of treasures from other places

  • @applegal3058
    @applegal3058 Жыл бұрын

    You should check out the series "Stuff the British Stole". The British empire took all kinds of artifacts from all of their colonies.

  • @hairyneil

    @hairyneil

    Жыл бұрын

    And while you're at it, ponder how many of these things wouldn't exist now if they hadn't been stored in the museum.

  • @hosseinkiani2415

    @hosseinkiani2415

    Жыл бұрын

    @@hairyneil all of them would have existed like the thousands of years they did. Don’t justify the actions of a bunch of thieves.

  • @hairyneil

    @hairyneil

    Жыл бұрын

    @@hosseinkiani2415 the Pantheon lasted well enough, except for the mortar that blew the roof off and destroyed gos knows how much of it, other than that it was doing absolutely fine....

  • @hairyneil

    @hairyneil

    Жыл бұрын

    @@hosseinkiani2415 also, "thieves". Did you watch the video? At what point did Elgin steal anything?

  • @hairyneil

    @hairyneil

    Жыл бұрын

    *Parthenon. Thanks autocor-wrong.

  • @ad2000
    @ad2000 Жыл бұрын

    I am glad that someone has done a post on this, as a British resident that has seem these sculptures on many occasions, it always amazed me that they were always called the “Elgin Marbles” obfuscating their real origin. I have even been told that this was done to preserve them, the crack in the frieze proves this to be just an excuse to pillage the treasures of another nation. Most people that go to see them are oblivious of the fact of where they come from.

  • @TheSanityInspector
    @TheSanityInspector Жыл бұрын

    What happened to the statues that Lord Elgin observed being carried off by others? Are they safe? Have they been studied? Have they or will they be returned to Greece? Or were they destroyed long ago for their lime or used as spolia, by indifferent people who cared nothing at all for the Greco-Roman heritage?

  • @tylnd20
    @tylnd20 Жыл бұрын

    Once again for the people in the back, it is not Constantinople… the city got renamed in 1453, and it is called Istanbul

  • @odysseas_kratsas

    @odysseas_kratsas

    Жыл бұрын

    The city was called constantinople until 1453 after that the ottomans and of course the local greeks, jews, armenians and bulgarians living in the city and close by kept calling in it that in their respective language. Istanbul comes from the greek phrase "eis tin polin" or "to the city" because constantinople was the capital and the most important and splendid city for miles (this pattern appears in other place names of greek origin such as istanköy for the island of kos [eis tin ko]). The city wasn't officially renamed to istanbul until 1923 after the collapse of the ottoman empire and the rise of the modern turkish republic. Greeks continue to refer it as constantinople becauseof pride and habit, even though turkish mail authorities tried to promote the new name by not delivering letters and packages marked for "constantinople".

  • @memoryofsalem4474

    @memoryofsalem4474

    Ай бұрын

    Constantinople

  • @AtheistEve
    @AtheistEve Жыл бұрын

    I’d also heard that the Elgin team scrubbed all the marble clean and white, where some or all had been painted in glorious technicolour.

  • @AntonioPeralesdelHierro
    @AntonioPeralesdelHierro2 ай бұрын

    Give back the Belgian Marbles! 🍷😮

  • @abhijithasok4314
    @abhijithasok4314 Жыл бұрын

    This is how Renaissance diplomacy worked. Not much has changed. Blood, brutality and people who take advantage of the situation.

  • @sonicboom20078
    @sonicboom20078 Жыл бұрын

    This is way better than the video praising Top Gun

  • @AnniversaryRoad

    @AnniversaryRoad

    Жыл бұрын

    The Top Gun video is Nerdwriter's most irrelevant and poorly written episode, followed closely by this one. There are hundreds of nearly identical history videos out there that cover the exact same content. Not up to Nerdwriter's usual quality.

  • @lucasnunes6033
    @lucasnunes6033Ай бұрын

    So the brilliant Ottoman, and their love and care for history (irony) stored gunpowder inside it and they ended up exploding the entire building. It's still safer in London at the British Museum.

  • @NikitaSamourai
    @NikitaSamourai Жыл бұрын

    35 thousand pounds is less than an art student's debt nowadays

  • @thijsmosterman
    @thijsmosterman Жыл бұрын

    What is going on with this map?

  • @yeungeddie
    @yeungeddie Жыл бұрын

    WOW

  • @canorth
    @canorth Жыл бұрын

    Haven’t watched the video yet, but I suspect the secret ingredient is crime.

  • @Mixcoatl
    @Mixcoatl Жыл бұрын

    Moral of the story: if you have the chance to save priceless artifacts that have been abanadoned, don't bother. You'll only be called a thief for doing so.

  • @tinykender1341

    @tinykender1341

    Жыл бұрын

    I guess you missed the part where they bribed and threatened officials to let them remove sculptures that were still attached, doing great damage to the structure. But hey, at least they "saved" priceless artifacts, that were definitely kept super safe and well preserved and were not, let's say, irreparably damaged with chisels and wire brushes in the 1930's to make them look whiter.

  • @joeshar.
    @joeshar. Жыл бұрын

    Germans has transferred whole Pergamon city from Milet (Turkey) to Berlin.

  • @OutOfNamesToChoose
    @OutOfNamesToChoose Жыл бұрын

    As a Londoner who's travelled to Athens in the past, it's strange having to travel between both cities/countries to see the full history. In an odd, perhaps selfish way, I must say that I absolutely love the convenience of being able to see and study world history within a single building; Rosetta stone, Egyptian mummies, Elgin Marbles, and much more. I do think that at this stage, Greece has the stability to be able to look after their own history; however, we should use our state of the art tech make thorough replicas of the marbles (both physical and digital) before their return, so as to ensure the safety of the marbles in the future. I think the main contention may be the inter-museum conflict of viewing rights. Would the return of the marbles lead to Athenian exclusivity to the viewership and likeness of the marbles? If so, I can understand the British Museum's apprehension; they've been a core part of the museum and its ability to draw visitors for much of its history.

  • @renatopereira2315

    @renatopereira2315

    Жыл бұрын

    I think the British Museum making copies and returning the originals and then displaying the copies would be fine with the Greek government and Athens Museum. The Athens museum itself placed replicas in the parthenon and brought the original pieces into the museum. So in that case you could see the marbles in 3 places: copies in the British Museum and the Parthenon itself and then the originals in the Athens Museum

  • @benjaminread5287
    @benjaminread5287 Жыл бұрын

    But the statues are not in good condition. Surely it makes more sense for Greece to make moulds and then perfect or 'restore' them and replace them on the parthenon. To add extra pieces to the originals seems wrong and there's little else to stop a world class museum from foregoing it's property.

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