The Guardian reports on a row going on in Athens over plans to erect a statue of Alexander the Great … inter alia:
Seventeen years after its acquisition by the Greek culture ministry, the rendition of the military commander has been gathering dust in a basement storeroom because of fierce controversy over where to put the sculpture. Nationalist-minded politicians, on both sides of the spectrum, believe the statue “rightfully” belongs to a prominent square in the heart of ancient Athens. There, they say, the Macedonian king would not only receive maximum viewing but the reverence he deserves from a people who see themselves as his rightful descendants.
Had it not been for archaeologists, that might have happened. But the purveyors of Greece’s past – a powerful lobby in this antiquities-rich country – have strongly resisted the move, saying Alexander came to the capital “as a conqueror”. The row might have gone unnoticed had it not been for the recently reinvigorated intensity of the name dispute between Athens and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
… I wonder if that report a couple of weeks ago of plans to erect a statue of Al at Arbela is prompting a similar reaction there …
Let it go to the strongest. 😉
A piece of crappy journalism (not the first by Helena Smith mind you) with no sources corroborating her story. In fact her source is a mini article in the Ethnos daily which aludes to some objections in a humorous tone:
Where did the effort stumble? In the opinions of some archeologists that Alexander came to Athens as a … conqueror and thus, it’s too much to put him with a view to the Acropolis.
Πού σκόνταψε τότε η προσπάθεια; Στις απόψεις κάποιων αρχαιολόγων ότι ο Αλέξανδρος είχε έλθει στην Αθήνα ως… κατακτητής και άρα, σιγά να μη τον βάλουμε να έχει και θέα την Ακρόπολη!
out of
http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=11420&subid=2&tag=8452&pubid=2394787
In fact the whole story appears to be just another case of Greek bureaucracy gone amuck – but that has never stopped Helena Smith from writing a catchy story…