How far back do you need to go? Greece did not become a nation until the 19th. century, parts of it remained under Venetian rule until the 18th. century. Prior to the 1450's, the area was part of the Byzantine empire, which by then had fractured into small parts, and it was acquired by the Ottoman Empire in 1458, after a campaign against the despotic regimes of the successors to the Emperor Constantine. Quoting from Kinross's "The Ottoman Empire" : The Turks "... meeting little resistance from a people who, under such shadowy rule, had as yet developed little national sentiment." The terms offered to the Greeks were generous, but were refused initially. In the end, after 1460 when the two Byzantine rulers were finally defeated, the Greeks were allowed exemption from taxation and tribute, were self-governing and the Orthodox Church continued unhampered. Not too bad an outcome for the times. Whether the acquisition of artefacts by the past rulers of a territory is plunder and should be undone must surely be moot, when you consider that today, in the Maldives and in Afghanistan, treasures prior to the Islamic period are being deliberately destroyed: at least if the Bamiyan statues had been removed by Alexander they would probably have survived!
HTH John Coyle Brisbane, Australia -----Original Message----- From: PDML [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Daniel J. Matyola Sent: Wednesday, 30 April 2014 10:44 AM To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List Subject: Re: OT - an ethical and legal quag-Maier Because the British Empire acquired it ultimately from the Empire that plundered the entire country of Greece, that makes the Greek claim invalid and the British acquisition morally justified. Dan Matyola http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola On Tue, Apr 29, 2014 at 7:56 PM, Paul Ewins <[email protected]> wrote: > Despite the fact that they were legally acquired from the then owners, the > Ottoman empire. That is quite a loose thread... > (Note that the biggest flaw in the moral argument for repatriation is that > they wouldn't be restored onto the Parthenon but would instead end up in a Greek museum and would thus see fewer visitors than they would in the British Museum). > > On 30 Apr 2014, at 3:20 am, Darren Addy <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Tue, Apr 29, 2014 at 12:00 PM, Daniel J. Matyola >> <[email protected]> wrote: >>> On Tue, Apr 29, 2014 at 10:58 AM, Darren Addy <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> In fact, the more "ethical museums" have been returning items for >>>> some time now. >>> >>> Were are the "Elgin Marbles"? >> >> They are considered in the Top 10 of plundered artifacts: >> http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,188314 >> 2_1883129_1883001,00.html >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
