Reclaiming History: Greece’s Public Diplomacy Efforts for the Parthenon Marbles

Abstract

The discussion on the return of the Marbles of the Parthenon of the Acropolis of Greece escalated during the years 2021 to 2022, when the Greek government of New Democracy initiated a new campaign for their relocation. Especially after the official state visit of the Greek Prime Minister to the United Kingdom on November 16, 2021, the discussion that was first initiated back in 1982 by the then Minister of Culture Melina Merkouri, reopened under a new framework. During the years after the pandemic and amid the 200-year anniversary of the Greek Independence, the Greek Government implemented a public diplomacy (PD) campaign to influence the British public opinion toward changing its attitudes and put pressure on the government to return the stolen Elgin Marbles from the British Museum. The issue of the Elgin Marbles is for both countries a matter of prestige, influence, and dominance. On the one hand, the British Museum’s international image as the “Museum of the British Empire” has a very strong interest in keeping the Marbles, whereas, the Greek government would gain a very positive evaluation in case it would succeed in relocating them. Times, however, and attitudes have changed both in museum practice and public opinion. This evolution helped in opening a space for a new framework of discussions on the matter. To this end, the Greek government planned a careful international PD campaign using different channels, methods, and discourses to persuade and put pressure on the British Government and Museum. By analyzing the campaign, it is possible to draw conclusions on how the two countries present and represent themselves in the international community regarding their culture, ethics, and self-images. The paper examines the PD aspects that were used by the Greek government for influencing the British (and global) public opinion during and after the official state visit of the Prime Minister. The method of analysis is qualitative content analysis and political discourse analysis in the speeches, interviews, and other methods of PD from 2021 to 2022.