Friday, October 26

Joseph

Here is Joseph pulling his best sword-in-statue (we have just visited the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum). When not portraying a Roman, Joseph helps private equity funds raise money. The Elgin Marbles, BTW, are a collection of marble sculptures that originally decorated the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis of Athens. Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799 to 1803, obtained permission from the Ottoman authorities to remove sculptures from the Acropolis. From 1801 to 1812 Elgin's agents removed about half of the surviving sculptures of the Parthenon. The Marbles were transported to Britain, and were purchased by the British Government in 1816 after public debate in Parliament. They were placed on display in the British Museum, where they are now on view in the purpose-built Duveen Gallery. Should they be here or there, one debates.

I give Madeleine our room-key for safe-keeping. She promptly loses it. On the way to the front desk for a duplicate I tell her we may have to sleep in the lobby. She, bug eyed to Eitan: "Is it true?"