Elgin Marbles Essay

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Recommended: On seeing the elgin marbles analysis

The debate over the Elgin marbles has been raging for centuries. When the ancient sculptures were stolen away from Greece’s Parthenon, Grecians were infuriated (Mortimer). Ancient stones are some of all that is left portraying the ancient Greeks’ religious figures. What gives nations the right to pillage each others’ archeological wonders? In many instances, cultural artifacts are illegally obtained by foreign nations and then are held in their museums even though these precious objects were secured through questionable circumstances. For instance, “The Getty, which had bought [a] statue in 1988 for $18 million, returned it to Italy in 2011 after Italian prosecutors found that it had been looted, illegally exported and sold by dealers who

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