Elgin as Ambassador of Constantinople took advantage to a great extent the power and influence of England during that period and was able to achieve the provision from the Sultan the notorious firman which allowed him to design and copy the sculptures of the Parthenon. Having the freedom of movement at the Acropolis he set up a group of demolition ‘artists’ that I would say, who began cutting up and taking apart the only holy and admirable deposition with wisdom to the Temple of Athena with those god like hands of its creators of the Greek classical era. With the use of crow bars and saws the workers of Elgin removed with a violent and clumsy way 17 forms from the pediments, 15 foscias from the southern side, 56 plates from the frieze and what is more, they took one spondyl and one kyonokrano(capitol) from the north Colonnade of the Parthenon.
The predatoriness of Elgin didn’t only stop at the Parthenon. He grabbed a Caryatid and an lonic column from the Erechtheion depriving the monument from basic construction and decorative items. All of these together with four plates from the frieze of the Temple of Athena Nikis(victory) and a kyonokrano(capitol) and a spondyl from Propylaea today are found in the British History Museum far from the monuments and positions that had been chosen from the enlightened Greek sculptures. Imagine these creators these half gods who had carved the pentelic marbles to know the fate of their works.
E.F.
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