The Elgin Affair :The True Story of the Greatest Theft in History - Theodore Vrettos Audiobook

This post has 8 comments with rating of 5/58

• 
  caesar963
  January 8th, 2023
  

  

  Majestyk.
  Well past time to return the Parthenon marbles.

  The Elgin Affair :The True Story of the Greatest Theft in History - Theodore Vrettos
• 
  GenieRP
  January 8th, 2023
  

  Great book, shines a light on truth and history!

  The Elgin Affair :The True Story of the Greatest Theft in History - Theodore Vrettos
• 
  Thamus
  January 9th, 2023
  

  

  I recall some story about it being the Ottomans who sold the heathen marbles rather the Greeks, after using the Parthenon for target practice for their cannons.

  The Elgin Affair :The True Story of the Greatest Theft in History - Theodore Vrettos
• 
  Within
  January 9th, 2023
  

  @Thamus Muslims protected it europeans have destroyed it

  The Elgin Affair :The True Story of the Greatest Theft in History - Theodore Vrettos
• 
  caesar963
  January 10th, 2023
  

  Europeans (Greeks) created the Parthenon.
  Invading Ottoman Turks used it variously as a mosque & an arms dump - which is what caused the destruction, when it blew up. The Ottoman Turks fortified the Acropolis & used the Parthenon as a gunpowder magazine – despite having been forewarned of the dangers of this use by the 1656 explosion that severely damaged the Propylaea.

  The gunpowder explosion blew out the building’s central portion & caused the cella’s walls to crumble into rubble. According to Greek architect and archaeologist Kornilia Chatziaslani: three of the sanctuary’s four walls nearly collapsed and three-fifths of the sculptures from the frieze fell. Nothing of the roof apparently remained in place. Six columns from the south side fell, eight from the north, as well as whatever remained from the eastern porch, except for one column. The columns brought down with them the enormous marble architraves, triglyphs, & metopes.

  Once the Turks had recaptured the Acropolis, they used some of the rubble produced by this explosion to erect a smaller mosque within the shell of the ruined Parthenon. For the next century & a half, parts of the remaining structure were looted for building material & especially valuable objects.

  The 18th century was a period of Ottoman stagnation—so that many more Europeans were able to travel to Athens, to raise concern about what had been done to the Parthenon, & the other antiquities. They were much drawn and painted, spurring a rise in philhellenism & helping to arouse sympathy for Greek independence.

  Amongst those early travellers & archaeologists were James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, who were commissioned by the Society of Dilettanti to survey the ruins of classical Athens. They produced the first measured drawings of the Parthenon, publ in 1787.

  When independent Greece gained control of Athens in 1832, the visible section of the minaret was demolished; only its base and spiral staircase up to the level of the architrave remain intact. Soon all the Ottoman buildings on the Acropolis were destroyed.

  The Elgin Affair :The True Story of the Greatest Theft in History - Theodore Vrettos
• 
  Within
  January 11th, 2023
  

  @caesar963 Greeks used slaves to build it from the bloody athenian empire to house the cash coming from their empires and it was castle just how the ottomans who could have destroyed it if they wanted but they didn’t instead respected it fully and kept as place of worship for solder and locale Muslims of the city. europeans have no understanding what the hell it was they bombed it away thinking it was an original mosque, killing 300 people in massacre where some of the local people were hiding in it as shelter. when they took the city temporarily from the ottomans the europeans looted the city including some parts of the parthenon and took them to europe for sail. they wanted to take more but their machines didn’t work well and the ottomans took it back.

  Mehmet II’s chronicler, Michael Kritoboulos, recorded that: “He was eager to see the city, and learn the story of it and of all its buildings, especially the Acropolis itself, and of the places where those heroes had carried on the government and accomplished those things. … he saw everything and was amazed, and he praised it, and especially the Acropolis as he went up into it.

  From the ruins and the remains, he reconstructed mentally the ancient buildings, being a wise man and a Philhellene as a great king, and he conjectured how they must have been originally. He noted with pleasure the respect of the inhabitants of the city for their ancestors, and he rewarded them in many ways. They received from him whatever he asked for.”

  The sultan was passionately interested in ancient history. He saw himself as a supreme temporal ruler like the young Alexander who had been tutored by Aristotle (Kritoboulos described him as “one of the most acute philosophers”).

  your beloved european pirates didn’t see it that way

  The Elgin Affair :The True Story of the Greatest Theft in History - Theodore Vrettos
• 
  caesar963
  January 12th, 2023
  

  “Greeks used slaves” - In Persia, everyone was a slave, except the tyrannical ruler. How many democracies with human rights in that part of the world, even today? Plenty of slavery throughout though. Right up to the current open-air slave markets, & the Qatar World Cup - first to be held in the Arab & Muslim world - where thousands of human beings in conditions of slave labour were killed. So let’s not have a lecture on slavery.

  And let’s not have one on imperialism either, given that the barbaric Ottoman empire brutally invaded Asia Minor, the Middle East, & Europe - including Greece & Athens, to rape, murder & steal.
  “how the ottomans who could have destroyed it if they wanted” - Why brutally invade Greece & Athens at all? Leave other people’s heritage & creations alone & in peace. Stop murdering. That’s it. No invasions, then no problems.
  .
  “they instead respected it fully” - By turning it into an arms dump & storing enormous amounts incredibly dangerous & volatile gunpowder in it? Respect? By using it for military purposes? Despite having been forewarned of the dangers of this use by the 1656 explosion that severely damaged the Propylaea?
  “kept as place for solder & locale Muslims of the city” - In spite of it belonging to the actual Athenian people.
  “where some of the local people were hiding in it as shelter” - Hiding in a massive gunpowder magazine

  The resulting gunpowder explosion essentially destroyed the centre of this wonder of the ancient world. It caused the cella’s walls to crumble into rubble. Three of the sanctuary’s four walls nearly collapsed & three-fifths of the sculptures from the frieze fell. Nothing of the roof remained in place. Six columns from the south side fell, eight from the north, as well as whatever remained from the eastern porch, except for one column. The columns brought down with them the enormous marble architraves, triglyphs, & metopes.
  Some respect - invading & exposing it to such danger. “Muslims protected it” - If that’s them protecting it, save us from them trying to destroy it! Absurd nonsense.

  “the europeans took the city” - Yes, a European city. Whatever can they have been thinking?
  “europeans looted the city incl some parts of parthenon” - Yet again, once the Turks took the Acropolis, they used the rubble produced by this explosion to erect a smaller mosque within the shell of the ruined Parthenon. For the next century & a half, parts of the remaining structure were looted for building material & especially valuable objects. Precisely.
  “the ottomans took it back” - took back a European city. Mere invaders & barbarous thieves recolonising.

  By the 18th century, the Ottomans had murdered everyone & themselves into stagnation, so many Europeans were able to travel to Athens, & could finally raise concern about the appalling damage that had been done to the Parthenon, & the other antiquities. They were much drawn and painted, spurring a rise in philhellenism & helping to arouse sympathy for Greek independence.
  It also facilitated the first ever measured drawings of the Parthenon, publ in 1787.

  When independent Greece at last liberated Athens in 1832, the visible section of the minaret was demolished; only its base & spiral staircase up to the level of the architrave remain intact. Soon all the Ottoman buildings on the Acropolis could finally be removed.

  “Mehmet was eager to see the city, & learn story of it” - Couldn’t he have done that as a tourist, rather than as a barbarous, bloody invader? Visit, take a few snaps, & then bye-bye? Thanks for the memories?
  “the places where those heroes had carried on government & accomplished those things” - Inspired to become a democrat, was he? I really don’t think so. Brutal tyrants & thieves.
  “especially the Acropolis” - So, don’t fill it with gunpowder then, like a crowd of vulgar clowns.

  “being a great king” - Just another bloody despot. Stop worshipping these genocidal maniacs & you might just begin to grow. Kings, my arse.
  “he rewarded them in many ways” - By leaving & taking his rapacious thugs with him? Of course not.
  “They received from him whatever he asked for” - Yeah, please stop enslaving us, if that’s not too much trouble.
  “described him as ‘one of the most acute philosophers’” - And if you didn’t describe him that way, he’d rape & murder you & your entire family. Being a “great king” & all. Gimme strength…

  “your beloved european pirates” - Oh, you’re not chatting about your brutally beloved Barbary pirates, who dealt in slaves & human misery? Or are you describing the invasion of Asia Minor & Europe as evil piracy? Yeah, that would at least be true.
  This goes to prove again: all mindless, nationalist distortions of history - whether it be Russian, Arabic, Turkish or English - are arrant lies & self-serving propaganda. Always deceitfully seeking to justify evil imperialism, slavery & genocide.

  The Elgin Affair :The True Story of the Greatest Theft in History - Theodore Vrettos
• 
  integspec
  October 13th, 2023
  

  Thank you! :)

  The Elgin Affair :The True Story of the Greatest Theft in History - Theodore Vrettos

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