Alexis Mantheakis - Pilgrimage for the Repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles

Dull is the eye that will not weep to see  Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed  By British hands, which it had best behoved  To guard those relics ne’er to be restored.  Curst be the hour when from their isle they roved,  And once again thy hapless bosom gored, And snatched thy shrinking gods to northern climes abhorred!

Lord Byron on the Parthenon Marbles from his epic 'Childe Harold'

With this particularly appropriate quote from his epic poem 'Childe Harold', wherein one of the greatest Philhellenes ever, Lord Byron, reproaches his countrymen, the British, for their pillaging of the Parthenon Marbles while they were supposed to be protecting them, Alexis Mantheakis introduces us to his pilgrimage for the Repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles. 

Judging that it is now time for action since all Greece's efforts using diplomacy and tact appear to have been largely ignored by the British, and with his finger on the pulse of technology, Alexis has moved dynamically and with vision. He has created a movement for action, a cause, on the social networking site, Facebook, with the intention of intensifying the pressure on the British Museum and the British Government, for the Repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles, in view of the upcoming Olympic Games to be held in London in 2012.

This cause has gained tremendous momentum since it started on Facebook a short time ago, already numbering more than 50 000 members and growing daily!

For those not on Facebook, the site you can visit to read more is

Stop Britain's Illegal Possession of the Parthenon Marbles!

Political analyst and former press spokesman for Athena Onassis-Roussel and her family, Alexis Mantheakis is one of our Global Greek writers, a Greek-Something born in East Africa of Greek parents, and now lives in Greece. To find out more about Alexis and his work, visit his blog - Greek Political Issues.