Essentially the elgin marbles or the parthenon marbles are a group of statues sculptures inscriptions and architectural elements that were once part of the parthenon in athens greece.
The elgin marbles should not be returned to greece.
Outside greece a campaign for the return of the marbles began in 1981 with the formation of the international organising committee australia for the restitution of the parthenon marbles and in 1983 with the formation of the british committee for the reunification of the parthenon marbles.
The elgin marbles are a collection of ancient greek marble sculptures that originally decorated some of the ancient monuments on the akropolis in athens particularly the parthenon but were removed in the early nineteenth century by thomas bruce 7th earl of elgin and are currently held in the british museum in london.
Depicting scenes from greek mythology the temple and surrounding acropolis were built in the fifth century bce and are considered triumphs in greek.
The athenians built the parthenon after playing a leading role in the defeat of the persians in the 50 year greco persian war.