
The Parthenon Marbles
The Case for Reunification
Christopher Hitchens(Author)
Verso Books (Publisher)
Published on 4. February 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-1-78663-395-8 (ISBN)
Description
The Parthenon Marbles (formerly known as the Elgin Marbles), designed and executed by Pheidias to adorn the Parthenon, are perhaps the greatest of all classical sculptures. In 1801, Lord Elgin, then ambassador to the Turkish government, had chunks of the frieze sawn off and shipped to England, where they were subsequently seized by Parliament and sold to the British Museum to help pay off his debts.
This scandal, exacerbated by the inept handling of the sculptures by their self-appointed guardians, remains unresolved to this day. In his fierce, eloquent account of a shameful piece of British imperial history, Christopher Hitchens makes the moral, artistic, legal and political case for re-unifying the Parthenon frieze in Athens.
The opening of the New Acropolis Museum emphatically trumps the British Museum's long-standing (if always questionable) objection that there is nowhere in Athens to house the Parthenon Marbles. With contributions by Nadine Gordimer and Professor Charalambos Bouras, The Parthenon Marbles will surely end all arguments about where these great treasures belong, and help bring a two-centuries-old disgrace to a just conclusion.
This scandal, exacerbated by the inept handling of the sculptures by their self-appointed guardians, remains unresolved to this day. In his fierce, eloquent account of a shameful piece of British imperial history, Christopher Hitchens makes the moral, artistic, legal and political case for re-unifying the Parthenon frieze in Athens.
The opening of the New Acropolis Museum emphatically trumps the British Museum's long-standing (if always questionable) objection that there is nowhere in Athens to house the Parthenon Marbles. With contributions by Nadine Gordimer and Professor Charalambos Bouras, The Parthenon Marbles will surely end all arguments about where these great treasures belong, and help bring a two-centuries-old disgrace to a just conclusion.
Reviews / Votes
Hitchens is a grand rhetorician, . . .As with Voltaire, his scornful laughter is a powerful weapon. * Sunday Times [God is Not Great] * Quite possibly the most brilliant journalist of his generation * Daily Mail [The Missionary Position] * A trenchant, learned, iconoclastic and splendidly witty commentator on public life -- John Banville * [Mortality] * He has no equal in contemporary Anglo American letters * Financial Times [Arguably] * An exceptional political polemicist * Prospect [Love, Poverty and War] *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
158 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78663-395-8 (9781786633958)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
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E-Book
05/2016
Verso Books
€19.49
Available for download
Persons
Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011) was the author a number of polemics from geopolitics to religion. A regular contributor to Vanity Fair, The Atlantic Monthly and Slate, he was named one of the world's "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" by Foreign Policy and Prospect.
Author
Contributions
Preface