# If I owned one of the Parthenon Marbles could the Greeks come after me?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-owned-one-of-the-parthenon-marbles-could-the-greeks-come-after-me/377484>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 22, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-owned-one-of-the-parthenon-marbles-could-the-greeks-come-after-me/377484 "2006-10-22T22:04:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-owned-one-of-the-parthenon-marbles-could-the-greeks-come-after-me/377484/1 "2006-10-22T22:04:57Z")

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The Greeks haven’t had much luck getting the [Elgin Marbles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin_Marbles) back from Britain. If I (as a US citizen) found a section of the Parthenon some ancestor had secreted away, and put it up for auction, could the Greeks come after me successfully or, like the British, could I tell them to go take a leap?

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**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-owned-one-of-the-parthenon-marbles-could-the-greeks-come-after-me/377484/2 "2006-10-22T22:37:32Z")

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If you put it up for auction, then anyone, including the Greek government, could make a high bid.

I assume you mean, could the Greek government demand (and get) it back for nothing. I think they would have to sue you in the US courts, and it would be up to the court to decide.