Plundered empire : : acquiring antiquities from Ottoman lands / / Michael Greenhalgh.

• Superior document: Heritage and Identity; volume6
• VerfasserIn: Greenhalgh, Michael,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden Boston : : BRILL,, 2019.
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Heritage and Identity; volume6.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (696 pages).
• Notes: Includes index.

This 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.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Copyright page -- Preface -- Maps and Illustrations -- Maps -- Planning Shopping Lists, Ambassadors and Consuls, Sites and Scholars -- Setting the Scene -- Armchair Collectors and Shopping Lists -- Ambassadors, Consuls and Firmans -- Identifying Sites and Antiquities in Ottoman Lands -- Discovering and Digging Antiquities -- Antiquities and the Locals -- Digging Opportunities -- Vandalism -- Mediterranean Islands -- Sites and Travellers in European and Asiatic Turkey -- Syria and Mesopotamia -- Egypt and North Africa -- Athens under the Ottomans -- Athens under the Greeks -- Mainland Greece -- Transporting Antiquities, Competing Museums, Imperial Embargoes -- Shipping Antiquities Home -- Museums and International Competition -- The Empire and Greece Strike Back against Governments and Travellers -- The Rapacity of Verres! -- Back Matter -- Partial Chronology of the Ottoman Empire -- Ambassadors, Consuls, Their Aides and Antiquities -- Bibliography -- Index -- Illustrations.