大英博物館的古希臘史觀

NHK的《你不知道的大英博物館古希臘篇》說，公元前7世紀古希臘文明突然崛起，是因為青年去各地尤其埃及做僱傭兵，將各文明的知識帶回家鄉。經檢測發現，希臘神像眼珠的藍色顏料是埃及才有，以小見大，精彩。

後來又提到，由於18至20世紀上半葉的思潮將古希臘理想化為純粹先進的歐洲文明起源，大英博物館曾刮掉雕像上的顏料，以減少和北非、西亞其他古文明的連繫聯想。

裡面訪問了學者William St. Clair，他寫了Lord Elgin and the Marbles記述此事，一篇關於他另一本著作That Greece Might Still be Free: Philhellenes in the War of Independence的書評提到︰

//St Clair explains how the Greeks adopted the European Philhellene notion of "regeneration," Regeneration being the notion of the connection of the modern and the ancient Greeks. By renaming streets after ancient historians and tearing down mosques we gather from St Clair that the modern Greeks are being silly. According to St Clair and consistent with his general perspective, "The Acropolis of Athens was stripped of everything and rendered a lifeless desert."//

想起以色列境內的十字軍城堡。