Elgin Marbles
Preserved but no longer current.
The 7th Earl of Elgin (1766-1841) was envoy to the Sublime Porte (Turkey) from 1799 to 1803, and on visits to Greece — -at that time a Turkish possession — he observed that from neglect and depreda- tions many Classical sculptures, etc., were in danger of destruction. At his own expense he made a collection of statuary and sculpture (including several works of Phidias) from the Parthenon and the Erechtheion and brought them to England.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Elgin Marbles” mean?
The 7th Earl of Elgin (1766-1841) was envoy to the Sublime Porte (Turkey) from 1799 to 1803, and on visits to Greece — -at that time a Turkish possession — he observed that from neglect and depreda- tions many Classical sculptures, etc., were in danger of destruction. At his own expense he made a collection of statuary and sculpture (including several works of Phidias) from the Parthenon and the Erechtheion and brought them to England.
Is “Elgin Marbles” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.