A classical archaeologist says Greece cancelled his professional standing after he publicly opposed the return of the Parthenon Sculptures (Elgin Marbles) to Athens, drawing fresh attention to a debate that has now spilled into legal territory in Britain.
Mario Trabucco della Torretta spent four years living in Athens and has devoted his career to studying ancient Greek culture. He says the trouble started in 2021 when his hometown museum in Palermo, Sicily, sent a Parthenon frieze fragment to the Acropolis Museum in Athens as a permanent deposit.
The fragment had been part of the Sicilian collection for nearly 200 years and had been loaned to Greece before, always returning.
Trabucco della Torretta argued the transfer violated Italian heritage law and that the fragment’s history in Palermo was equally significant to its ancient origins.
Greece ‘cancelled’ the archaeologist over the Parthenon sculptures debate
The backlash came quickly. He says the archaeologist label became a liability in Greece once he challenged what he describes as the uncritical dogma around cultural repatriation.
The Acropolis Museum, which he accuses of presenting visitors with misleading information about Elgin rather than documented history, has since excluded him from its circle.
On the question of ownership, Trabucco della Torretta says the claim that Lord Elgin stole the sculptures does not hold up to scrutiny. He states that Elgin removed the sculptures between 1801 and 1810 under authorization from Ottoman officials, who held full legal jurisdiction over Athens at the time.
Greece cancelled a prominent archaeologist, Mario Trabucco della Torretta, for publicly opposing the return of the Elgin Marbles, sparking a wider legal and political battle over who truly owns the ancient sculptures. pic.twitter.com/EqMA5JyTfz
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) May 21, 2026
A translated copy of his permission exists, and contemporary witnesses confirmed it was granted. The removal took place over two and a half years, carried out openly and without any intervention from Ottoman authorities.
He also challenges the widely held view of the Parthenon as a symbol of democracy. He argues that the image was largely shaped by European scholars around the time the modern Greek state was founded in 1833, rather than drawn from ancient historical accounts.
How Lord Elgin Ruthlessly Removed Parthenon Sculptures
In 1801, Elgin managed to obtain a letter from Kaimakam Segut Abdullah, who, at that time, replaced the Grand Vizier in Constantinople, urging the Ottoman authorities in Athens to allow his people to perform excavations around the Acropolis provided they not damage the monuments.
From 1801 to 1804, Elgin’s crews worked on the Acropolis, causing considerable damage to the sculptures and the monument itself. They chipped away and divided up as spoils nearly half of the sculptures decorating the Parthenon, along with some architectural pieces from the structure of the building.
The first metopes from the Parthenon were removed on July 31st to August 1st, 1802. Hoards of looted antiquities were then packed in wooden boxes and transported by sea to England.
When he returned back to his homeland in 1806, where he was criticized by several distinguished compatriots for wresting the Greek antiquities from their rightful place. They accused him of being a common thief and a vandal who, through improper means (bribes and so on), had desecrated respected cultural monuments for his own gain.
British coalition threatens legal action over Parthenon Sculptures talks
The dispute has since moved well beyond academic debate. In July 2025, a coalition that included former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, along with academics David Starkey and Robert Tombs, sent a formal letter to the British Museum demanding an end to what they called covert negotiations with Greece.
British Museum Chairman George Osborne had been holding closed-door talks with Greek officials since 2021, and the group warned that any transfer deal could breach the institution’s legal duties to the British public.
Lord Nigel Biggar, a retired Oxford professor and member of the House of Lords, has argued that historical guilt alone is not a sound basis for making restitution decisions. He says the sculptures carry different meanings for different cultures, and that the British Museum remains a fitting home for that reason.
Under British law, the museum is prohibited from permanently transferring the sculptures, and the government has confirmed it has no plans to change that law. Greece, for its part, refuses any loan arrangement that requires acknowledging British ownership, leaving the two sides without a clear path forward.
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