Bonus Episode - Marble Thieves, Museums, and Dictators
Our Fake History
PodcastOne
4.7 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 30 September 2025
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this bonus episode Sebastian answers questions from listeners about the recent series on the Parthenon Marbles. The host tangles with the ethics of repatriation requests from notorious dictators, the role of the Parthenon Marbles in inspiring the Greek Independence movement, and the path towards a true "universal museum." Sebastian also wrangles with the notorious "If I don't do it, somebody else will" argument that is often used to defend Lord Elgin. Tune-in and find out how Saddam Hussein, Dr. John, and a bunch of other history podcasts play a role in the story.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | dictator repatriations, goodwill between nations and tricky negotiations, all that and more on today's bonus episode of Our Fake History. Hit the bonus theme. |
| 0:20.2 | Music our fake history. Hit the bonus theme. Hello and welcome to this bonus episode of Our Fake History. |
| 0:45.9 | My name is Sebastian Major, and normally this is the podcast where we explore historical myths |
| 0:51.4 | and try to determine what's fact, what's fiction, and what is such |
| 0:55.8 | a good story that it simply must be told. But on these bonus shows, I like to take questions |
| 1:03.7 | from my wonderful patrons and any other listeners who have sent me an email about one of our |
| 1:10.7 | recent series. |
| 1:12.7 | If you've been following this podcast closely, then you know that we recently completed a series |
| 1:18.1 | on the Parthenon Marbles, those controversial museum objects originally from the Acropolis in Greece |
| 1:27.2 | that currently reside in the British Museum in London. |
| 1:31.6 | Now, when I started researching the history around these sculptures, |
| 1:36.1 | I was amazed by just how many historical myths are associated with them. |
| 1:41.6 | Now, I have a personal theory that I cannot prove that part of the reason |
| 1:46.4 | why these myths have proliferated is because the question of where the Parthenon |
| 1:53.1 | Marbles should reside has become a perennial debate topic in Britain. If you are a young person at the high school level in Britain, |
| 2:03.8 | I have a feeling that your teachers set that question in front of you to practice your |
| 2:11.0 | debating skills. British listeners, please weigh in. At school, were you asked about the Parthenon Marbles? Did you have to do mock debates about that topic? |
| 2:24.5 | I ask because as a teacher who once upon a time taught debating at the grade 11 and 12 level, |
| 2:31.8 | I've seen my students go hunting for things that they think will |
| 2:36.5 | pack a rhetorical punch in their debate. And sure enough, they find historical myths. |
| 2:44.3 | Stories about Greek soldiers delivering bullets to the Turks to save the Parthenon or the Turks grinding down statues to make cement for their homes. |
| 2:55.3 | They land well in a high school debate format so I could see how they get firmly lodged in the popular consciousness. |
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