"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity." - Frank Leahy

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On small-minded and ignorant historical nationalism:

Rocks of ages

SIR – I chuckled at your use of the term “moral clarity” when describing the Greek request that the British Museum return the Elgin marbles to Athens. Athens was the force behind the Delian League of Greek city-states in the 5th century BC, which was founded to provide money for the common defence against Persia. The funds raised, however, did not go towards defence but were used by the Athenians to pay for expensive building projects on the Acropolis, including the Parthenon. The city-states that did not want to pay were conquered and their citizens became subjects of Athens. The league was no longer a mutual protection pact; it was “the cities that the Athenians rule”.

The classical Athenians extorted money to craft what have become known as the Elgin marbles; now their descendants want the works returned to them. I propose instead that the marbles be returned to the descendants of the people who helped pay for them in the first place, and who now live in the Delian League’s former cities along the eastern Aegean. For moral clarity, the Elgin marbles should be returned to Turkey.

Robert Ingle
Corvallis, Oregon