The Lost Sister: the topic of cultural repatriation and the demand for the British Museum to return Athens’ stolen treasures.

The Caryatid Porch, Erechtheion, Athens. 2023. Sophia Charchalou.

Last year, an AI generated video went viral across social media platforms depicting a caryatid, currently displayed in the British Museum, springing to life as she runs back home to her waiting ‘sisters’ in the Acropolis Museum, Athens.

For those unfamiliar with the Acropolis monuments at the heart of the Greek capital, the caryatid was an architectural feature of the Erechtheion in which a sculpted woman was used in place of a conventional column. Some have argued that the caryatid specifically represented maidens from Caryae, a town in the Peloponnese whose women were condemned to slavery after siding with Persia in the Greco-Persian Wars. This theory is supported by the sculpting of the female figures, which appear restrained and burdened by the weight of a structure. Hence, it is important to note that the caryatids were potentially imagined as real, living individuals in the ancient world- distinct from each other, rendered with unique hair types and various curl thicknesses.

The British Museum’s possession of this lone caryatid, taken by Lord Elgin in 1802, has fuelled controversy for decades. The Greek government has repeatedly demanded its return, along with other looted artefacts, but to no avail. In 2023, Rishi Sunak bluntly dismissed the appeals of Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, effectively silencing the fight for justice. With Mitsotakis’ resolve seemingly broken, it now falls to AI to champion the cause that human diplomacy has failed to uphold.

The ‘Buddha’ Jewels returned by Sotheby’s to India. Soutik Biswas, BBC News, 2025. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0kz8r6gxrro [Accessed: 30.08.2025]

Since around 2023, both media outlets and Mitsotakis have shown waning effort in challenging the caryatid’s repatriation, even as headlines increasingly celebrate the return of other artefacts in their homelands. This contrast only deepens the injustice. BBC News recently reported Sotheby’s return of the ‘Buddha jewels’ to India- sacred relics believed to be buried with bone fragments of Buddha himself. The cultural and religious weight of these objects underscores the glaring question: why not the caryatid, a relic from the sacred heart of Athens? She once stood in the Erectheion, facing Athena’s place of worship, above the tombs of the mythical kings Cecrops and Erectheius, where Poseidon supposedly struck the earth with his trident. If one artefact is returned, why not the other? Where is the line drawn?

Dame Mary Beard, classicist and trustee of the British Museum, once described the Parthenon Marbles case as a “messy divorce”. Though one might say that the high-sounding excuse of ‘humanity’s collective treasure’ is more forced than a divorce. Her take exposes a rift among classicists: whilst some cheer on the British Museum’s stubborn grip, others, including the ‘British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles’, are waving their metaphorical divorce papers and demanding the marbles be returned.

The Erechtheion, Athens. Sophia Charchalou, 2023.

The scholars on both sides of this marble tug-of-war are amongst the most learned in their fields. Ironically, Mary Beard herself published a book called The Parthenon, which supposedly celebrates the monument’s cultural glory. One might assume that anyone who wrote such a book would be a staunch defender of seeing it whole, not cheering on its slow-motion dismemberment - a fate the Greek Prime Minister once compared to the Mona Lisa being hacked in half.

In the face of this academic stalemate, perhaps only AI, the new vanguard of modern intelligence, can rescue the lost sister. Until now, the caryatid has mostly been treated as little more than a pawn in a diplomatic chess game between museums and their countries, a stance reinforced by the Brtitish Museum Act of 1963 which still ties the museum’s hands, allowing them to loan artefacts but never fully deaccession them. But this viral AI clip flips the script. The caryatid is no longer a lifeless marble column; she is a woman with legs that move, a mind that decides, and the autonomy to break free under the male gaze, to run, to travel and to reclaim her homeland. More than that, the clip gives her a voice and perspective. She is a stranger in a foreign land, surrounded by a foreign language, unfamiliar faces and the ache of being ripped from her family. Afterall, these marbles were once living stories, not just stately ornaments.

The viral plea of the Caryatid: I want to go home. George Vardas, Greek City Times, 2025. https://greekcitytimes.com/2025/08/25/the-viral-plea-of-a-caryatid-i-want-to-go-home/ [Accessed 30.08.2025]

Ingeniously, AI gives voice to the caryatid, transforming her from a silent marble relic into a fierce advocate for justice against British colonial appropriation. The clip revives a fierce debate long dismissed, framing it in the context of contemporary issues such as immigration, forced displacement and the displacement of culture under the guise of stewardship. In this light, AI emerges as a tool of remarkable expression and voice amplification for those who, whether human or marble, have been uprooted and silenced.  

So, who are we to enslave the women of Caryae? Marble is more than art, it is a symbol of silenced women, stolen lives and yet we’ve stopped asking the hard questions about why women’s stories are so easily erased from history.

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Bibliography:

Primary Sources

Greek City Times (2025) The viral plea of a Caryatid: I want to go home. Available at: https://greekcitytimes.com/2025/08/25/the-viral-plea-of-a-caryatid-i-want-to-go-home/ (Accessed: 30.08.2025)

Secondary Sources

The Art Newspaper (2024) ‘Like a child in a messy divorce’: Mary Beard and David Olusoga tackle Parthenon Marbles debate in British Museum panel. Available at: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/07/08/like-a-child-in-a-messy-divorce-mary-beard-and-david-olusoga-tackle-parthenon-marbles-debate-in-british-museum-panel (Accessed: 30.08.2025)

BBC News (2023) Sunak cancels Greek PM meeting in Parthenon Sculptures row. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67549044 (Accessed: 30.08.2025)

BBC News (2025) Sotheby’s returns Buddha jewels to India after uproar. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0kz8r6gxrro (Accessed: 30.08.2025)

The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (unknown) Who We Are. Available at: https://parthenonuk.com/about-bcrpm/who-we-are (Accessed: 30.08.2025)

The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (unknown) The Case for the Return. Available at: https://parthenonuk.com/the-case-for-the-return (Accessed: 30.08.2025)

The British Museum (unknown) Governance. Available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/governance (Accessed: 30.08.2025)

Channel 4 News (2023) Elgin Marbles row is ‘minor thing’ compared to ‘big international issues’, Tory chair of Culture, Media and Sport Committee says. Available at: https://www.channel4.com/news/elgin-marbles-row-is-minor-thing-compared-to-big-international-issues-tory-chair-of-culture-media-and-sport-committee-says (Accessed: 30.08.2025)

Channel 4 News (2014) Contested artefacts: should Britain lose its marbles? Available at: https://www.channel4.com/news/elgin-marbles-russia-greece-britain-contested-artefacts (Accessed: 30.08.2025)

Independent (2023) Keeping Elgin Marbles in UK akin to ‘cutting Mona Lisa in half’- Greek leader. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/kyriakos-mitsotakis-mona-lisa-greek-greece-london-b2453656.html (Accessed: 30.08.2025)

Independent (2024) New British Museum boss opens door to Parthenon marbles return with ‘lending library’ model. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-museum-parthenon-marbles-sculptures-artefacts-b2581828.html (Accessed: 30.08.2025)

Legislation.gov.uk (unknown) British Museum Act 1963. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1963/24/contents (Accessed: 30.08.2025)

UK Parliament (2023) Elgin Marbles: UK government assessment of loaning the sculptures to Greece. Available at: https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/elgin-marbles-uk-government-assessment-of-loaning-the-sculptures-to-greece/ (Accessed: 30.08.2025)