Submitted by Claude Bogardus, Apr 6, 2007 18:39

The inhabitants of the regionsof Greater Greece, the Roman Empire, and the Egyptian Dual Monarchy had something like two millenniums to provide for the preservation and public ownership of the art and artifacts to be found within their borders. They decided that other activities and ambitions were more important. These new approaches to civic and spiritual lives included the creation of new and different art styles and a more profound relationship with the Deity. The representations of the old forms could be discarded, for they no longer mattered to the minds creating the new sensibilities. So the Roman Forum was turned into a quarry and the statues of the "Old Gods" were burnt for their lime content. What would have happened to those marvelous Athenian statues had not Lord Elgin purchased them? As it is, they were saved from the lime maker's fire, and any well-behaved citizen from Athens is welcome to view them in the British Museum, where they have been well preserved for the edification of all Mankind. After their home was severely damaged by a gunpowder explosion, the Parthenon was no longer a proper venue for the "Elgin Marbles", with their evocation of "Realms Of Gold". So England has them, and rightly so!

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