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	Parthenonfrisen och nya Akropolismuseet Kommentar till artikeln: "Is Greece Losing its Elgin Marbles" av Susan Emerling i Foreign Press Kommentar av journalisten Nico Nicolaides: Dear Ms Emerling, The French never called the Aphrodite of Milos, Riffardean Aphrodite. The Germans never called Nefertiti, Simon Nefertiti. Even at the British Museum, nobody ever called the Rosetta Stone, Turner's Stone. This distinction, it seems, is reserved only for the Parthenon Marbles. And for a good reason. A singular artistic entity, becomes itemized, individualized, therefore excused of the fact it decorates the museums of six different countries, its universality "privatized", colored by the owner's name ! not by its creator or its birthplace. But this artifact in its entirety has a birthplace, a creator, a home Ms Emerling. It was made to celebrate one people, one country, centuries-old traditions in a city, milleniums before Elgin was alive. Only the British call them Elgin marbles. Why call them Elgin marbles and play an irony on the Greeks in your title? Why repeat calling them as such four times in your article, after your 1st paragraph explanation ? Is this fair, unbiased journalism Ms Emerling?? You are questioning the historical continuity of Greece, a country that never stopped having Greek-speaking people on its soil, and that for thousands and thousands of years, creating universal - and diachronic - ideals some people exploit in our days to manipulate its history and culture, while a few lines later you have no problem mentioning links between the "Lydian Horad" with Turkey, a country created by a people who do not even appear in world history until 550 CE and that in Mongolia! Is this fair and historically accurate journalism Ms Emerling? Contrary to what Mr. Merryman or the British Museum say in your article, Elgin never presented a single document to the British Parliamentary committee back in 1816, to verify he had permission to remove the Parthenon stones. He said to the committee that the Ottoman "firman" - the document given to him - was lost. The only document the committee saw, was an English translation of an Italian translation of an original Ottoman "firman" by Elgin's proxy, Rev. Philip Hunt. Hunt's original Ottoman firman was also lost...He manipulated the English translation by adding his name instead of the initials N.N, the Italian translation had, in the first sentence of its second paragraph. In addition, he added a signature while the Italian version had no signatures at all. In the Italian translation which corresponds to the second firman - the one Hunt used - the language is extremely ambiguous. It talks about removing " qualche pezzi di pietra " which only occasionally translates as "some" or "few" because the first firman clearly states that the artists involved should only do drawings, walk on the hill, view the artefacts or excavate if they find it necessary, in search of inscriptions among the rubbish. It is also not clear what is the role of the Italian Giovanni Lusieri on the Italian translation, the coordinator of Elgin's marble collection in Athens and the man who actually removed the stones from the Parthenon for the British Ambassador. What is evident without a doubt is the lack of any clear authorization to remove marble statuary from the Parthenon edifice. The committee saw only the English translation never the Italian one (the changes Rev. Hunt made on the text, in other words) and with that paper printed at the apendix of its 1816 report and after a narrow vote the Parliament decided to buy from Elgin the Parthenon marbles and hand them over to the British Museum! What we do have from Elgin is his correspondence with Lusieri. And it is extremely troubling: "I have, my Lord, the pleasure of announcing to you the possession of the eighth metope, that one where there is the centaur carrying off the woman. This piece has caused much trouble in all respects and I have been obliged to be a little barbarous" wrote the Italian to Elgin. In another letter he hoped the barbarisms he had committed to be forgotten. On July 10, 1801, Elgin wrote to Lusieri "Besides, you have now the permission to dig, and there a great field is opened for medals, and for the remains both of sculpture and architecture." If Elgin had permission to go after the marbles, he would have celebrated that power, not the permission to dig or excavate that he describes. In addition, it is not within the power of the British Museum, or indeed the cabinet alone, to return the stones to Greece, Ms Emerling. Only an act of Parliament can reverse the government's acquisition. What most people don't know is that, in fact, right after the British Museum acquired the marbles, a small group of MPs felt the marbles should be held in a trust until their return was demanded by the city of Athens! And something else. Back in the year 2000, the British weekly "Economist" contacted a poll on the subject and found nearly 85% of the Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs would return the marbles, if there were a free vote in the House of Commons... Ms Emerling, you ignore all these epistemicaly objective facts from your readers. May I ask you why? Is this fair journalism? Finally, you talk about the highly respected James Cuno, the director of the Art Institute of Chicago, and his defense on the concept of the Universal Museum. Well Ms Emerling, we have another example of Universal Museum, that of Art-Loving Goring in Berlin. Will the respected Mr Cumo agree on the validity of this Universal Museum as well? And what is a Universal Museum after all? Isn't it the arrogant elaboration of a Self-Proclaimed Author who writes (or re-writes, in some cases) by selection the World's Cultural History the way he likes it and on his own soil (with "ownership" the keyword here)? And if this isn't cultural totalitarianism then what exactly is? Mr Cuno should also be reminded - since he is an American - of the British love for universality. When his co-patriot P.T. Barnum tried to acquire Shakespeare's birthplace at Stratford, back in 1847, the British made a public subscription-based campaign led by Dickens and Macready and stopped him on the spot. The British did this to safeguard - and validify - the birthplace of - what the Director of the British Museum, N. McGregor, called back in 2004 : a Universal Value (speaking of Shakespeare in a Sunday Times article, Jan 2004). We Greeks totally agree with the Director of the British Museum. Is Mr Cuno going to allow the Greeks now that they are free of the Ottoman yoke to do the same for their universal artifacts taken from their city of Athens, without their permission, a few years before his countryman lovely desires were stopped by the British? I am extremely troubled by the way your write Ms Emerling. What are you justifying here? And how? I am also extremely troubled by the registration system in the "comments section" in the magazine's site. It is impossible to register. There is only one comment and when one tries to register the password box that does not appear in the beginning, makes it impossible to sign-up and post a comment. Your article at F-P Magazine site, is left with only one comment! I will distribute this response to thousands of Americans and others around the world so everybody will see how Greece is treated in the American media. Thanks for your time, Nico Nicolaides - San Francisco
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