Plundered Empire: Acquiring Antiquities from Ottoman LandsThis book concentrates on the sometimes Greek but largely Roman survivals many travellers set out to see and perhaps possess throughout the immense Ottoman Empire, on what were eastward and southward extensions of the Grand Tour. Europeans were curious about the Empire, Christianity’s great rival for centuries, and plenty of information on its antiquities was available, offered here via lengthy quotations. Most accounts of the history of collecting and museums concentrate on the European end. Plundered Empire details how and where antiquities were sought, uncovered, bartered, paid for or stolen, and any tribulations in getting them home. The book provides evidence for the continuing debate about the ethics of museum collections, with 19th century international competition the spur to spectacular acquisitions. |
Contents
Chapter 1 Setting the Scene | 3 |
Chapter 2 Armchair Collectors and Shopping Lists | 29 |
Chapter 3 Ambassadors Consuls and Firmans | 65 |
Chapter 4 Identifying Sites and Antiquities in Ottoman Lands | 86 |
Part 2 Discovering and Digging Antiquities | 139 |
Chapter 5 Antiquities and the Locals | 141 |
Chapter 6 Digging Opportunities | 186 |
Chapter 7 Vandalism | 207 |
Chapter 13 Athens under the Greeks | 418 |
Chapter 14 Mainland Greece | 462 |
Part 3 Transporting Antiquities Competing Museums Imperial Embargoes | 499 |
Chapter 15 Shipping Antiquities Home | 501 |
Chapter 16 Museums and International Competition | 518 |
Chapter 17 The Empire and Greece Strike Back against Governments and Travellers | 538 |
Conclusion The Rapacity of Verres | 556 |
Appendix 1 Partial Chronology of the Ottoman Empire | 563 |
Chapter 8 Mediterranean Islands | 237 |
Chapter 9 Sites and Travellers in European and Asiatic Turkey | 269 |
Chapter 10 Syria and Mesopotamia | 319 |
Chapter 11 Egypt and North Africa | 343 |
Chapter 12 Athens under the Ottomans | 392 |
Appendix 2 Ambassadors Consuls Their Aides and Antiquities | 565 |
| 572 | |
| 620 | |
Illustrations | 631 |
Common terms and phrases
19th century Acropolis Aegina Alexandria Algeria already Ambassador ancient antiquities Arabs Archaeological archaeology Asia Minor Athens bas-reliefs Beechey Bodrum British Museum bronze brought building built Choiseul-Gouffier Clarke classical coins collection colonnes colossal columns Constantinople consul d’une destroyed destruction digging discovered Dodwell East Egypt Elgin Elgin Marbles Ephesus été Europe European excavations export finds firman foreigners fortress fouilles fragments France French French consul frieze granite Greece Greek houses inscriptions island Leake locals looting Louvre marble marbre materials Michaud & Poujoulat modern monuments mosques North Africa noted Omont Ottoman Empire Paris Parthenon Pausanias Pergamum perhaps pierres plenty plunder port Poujoulat qu’il qu’on quarries re-use remains reported rich Roman ruins sarcophagus scholars sculpture ship Smyrna spolia Spon statues stone survived Syria temple Texier tions tombs tourists town transport travellers treasures Turkish Turks unearthed vandalism vases village visited walls Western Wheler workmen wrote