The appropriation of Greece for Europe

[Lakonian]

Ludwig I king of Bavaria was one of many barbarians who thought the had some lawful right to obtain beautiful artifacts from Hellas.

A mass of statuary, torn from its original context, was brought to him . Ludwigs attitude was typical of the nineteenth century, when Euro rulers, nations, and individual collectors believed they had a right to appropriate Greece's heritage fro themselves!
As a result, many Greek monuments, including the Parthenon(which is till a hot debate) and the Great Altar to Zeus at Pergamum, were plundered for their sculpture, which was then rehoused in the museums of northern Europe.

These appropriations not only damaged the original buildings but they also isolated the sculptures from their original context.The larger finds of more recent excavations are now kept on site so that am appreciation can be made not only for foriegners, but also for the Greeks themselves.

You see its not about the beauty so we can marvel. Its the how the hell factor did our ancestors build these things that got barbarians hot to go and steal them!

The Acropolis Complex in Athens was built using geometric theorems which are a total mystery to modern humans.

The largest building of the Acropolis - the Parthenon - was, until recently, thought to be a rather poor attempt at architecture. First of all, there isn't a straight line in the entire building. The floors and stairs are all bowed slightly. So are the pillars - they lean in slightly, and are fatter in the middle than at either end. Not only that, but the Parthenon apparently fell apart a very long time ago - hardly a timeless example of historic achievement!.

Now - large, straight-edged structures all have a common trait - it is impossible for a person to view them accurately. As an example of this, try standing next to a scyscraper, then look up at the top of it. The building appears to lean over the observer. This is an optical illusion - long straight lines cannot be percieved as such by human eyes.

It was only in 1997 when someone finally realized that all of the optical illusions which should appear when one views the Parthenon are completely absent! The Parthenon appears perfectly straight, even thought it isn't!

Following that observation, a flurry of scientific studies ensued. The conclusion was that each and every one of the bends and curves in the Parthenon were engineered to remove the illusions of bends and curves!

To convey an idea of how subtle and exact these curves are, the studies concluded that if the pillars were extended upwards indefinately, they would all meet at the exact same point, about 7.5 miles (12km) in the air!

Furthermore, a cursory glance of the Parthenon will show to anyone that it did not simply "fall apart" as was once thought. Pieces of it are scattered across the countryside over a wide swath of land - not lying in piles at the Parthenon's base as one would expect!

Based on this realization, an in-depth examination of the history of military activity in Athens was undertaken. What they found was rather astonishing.

During the 16th and 17th Centuries, the Hapsburg and Ottoman empires were almost constantly at war with each other. At one point, the Hapsburg navy besieged Athens, which was controlled by the Ottomans at that time. The Hapsburgs began shelling the city from their ships, in preparation for a ground assault.

The Ottomans - having no clue as to what the Parthenon was or why it was there - decided that it was the sturdiest structure in the entire city, so they stored all of their gunpowder and munitions in it.

When the Hapsburgs learned that the Ottoman gunpowder was being stored in the Parthenon, they shelled it for days on end. On the third day, a single cannonball finally found it's way into the Ottoman munitions at the center. All the Ottoman gunpowder stored in the Parthenon exploded simultaneously - literally blowing the roof off of the Parthenon, and scattering chunks of it everywhere. It was probably the largest unnatural explosion in recorded history ever to exist until 1945.

Thus, the Parthenon is not only an example of lost Greek geometric/architectural sciences, but it stood virtually intact for millenia, until one day it was literally blown to bits. Even so, enough of it remained standing for us moderns to have a good idea of what it once was.

Now, the Parthenon, when it was built, wasn't empty. It was a roof designed to protect one of the finest creations of Greek art and technology - the statue of Athena.

This statue was almost 30 feet (10m) tall, and was covered with a skin of ivory.

This might not seem so remarkable, except for the fact that the polished ivory covered the entire statue so perfectly that the seams were totally invisible, even to someone within arm's reach.

Not only that, but the ivory was not little chunks carved to fit into place - it consisted of full-length strips of ivory bent to fit into place!

This very day, we humans are totally incapable of bending ivory - yet 2500 years ago, it was done with such precision that the seams between the pieces were invisible!

When the conquering Romans arrived, they found the statue to be so magnificent that they decided to transport it to Rome and turn it into a statue of their chief god. They ripped the statue out of the Parthenon and off it went - noone knows where to, because it never arrived in Rome.



Hope you guys can add further. See how much we can list of who has what and what the current process is in taking them back.

Actualy can someone track what ever happened to the massive Golden Statue of Zeus? I read once that Persians had actualy broken it down and melted the pieces. I dont think so because i havent seen any sources.

Cheers guys.

[Alita]

I heard it was a huge gold and ivory statue of Athena, not Zeus (Dias, me delta, the Greek name).

Here's to the Parthenon being rebuilt - as splendid as before!

[Lakonian]

Originally Posted by Alita

I heard it was a huge gold and ivory statue of Athena, not Zeus (Dias, me delta, the Greek name).

Here's to the Parthenon being rebuilt - as splendid as before!

You are correct, thanks Alita.

Will see about the rebuilding. We need the originals for that to happen.