The Elgins’ Marbles

August 8: Panathenaea, the most important festival in ancient Athens, was held in mid-August, starting on August 8th according to some calculations. The festival is famous today for its closing pageant, as depicted in the marble friezes that Lord Elgin carted off to England in the early 1800s. According to her biographer, much of the praise or blame for the controversial crate-ship-sell scheme must go to Mary Nisbet, the newlywed countess of Elgin.