[MSN] Empire Management and The Getty (comments )

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Empire Management and The Getty (comments ) 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-arnstein/empire-management-and-the_b_354
17.html

Exactly how many of The Getty's looted art treasures should be returned to
Italy? One thing to keep in mind: most of Italy's art treasures of the
period in question were plundered by Roman legions from places that the
Romans conquered, sacked and looted themselves. Spoils of war, buddy. Now:
Step Back From The Art Treasure.

(And did I mention you are now my slave?)

It's not that Romans of this period weren't creative, they were brilliantly
creative in the field of military organization, tactics and strategy. In
fact, the Best and the Brightest of Romans went into the military. They
certainly did not become artists. The best that can be said of Roman artists
is that they were damned good copiers. They made lots and lots of excellent
copies of Greek statues. 

Also, and this can be said of Romans of the Conquest and Empire period in
general: they had very good taste. They looted all the best stuff. This
could also be said of the (snort) Getty Trust.

To be fair, after a certain number of centuries have past (5? 18?) it can be
argued that the stuff you've pillaged kind of becomes yours. I mean: who're
you going to return it to, Carthage? This is what is known in the museum
community as the statue of limitations.

Meanwhile, although they did loot the art treasures, the Romans did not burn
down all the conquered cities. A few, like Carthage, they did, because there
was some bad blood there, and a few others also, as an example for everybody
else. But they got it that if you destroy a city, there will be no more
booty. This is why their empire lasted so long, whereas ours is over
practically before it got started. The Roman Empire was (as all successful
empires are) a huge protection racket. That we can understand. (And guess
who showed us about them: the Italians!) They would show up now and then
with their legions and explain that they had come to protect some city
against the possibility that somebody might sack them, like what happened to
that other city not so far away. But protecting them was, you know,
expensive. So it was going to cost this city something.

If we could just run it as efficiently as they did, we could have an empire,
instead of this big mess. The Getty Trust (har!) has at least learned
something about looting art treasures from the Romans. We could learn
something from them about Empire Management.

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Comments : 
Wasn't it their dogged pursuit of organized crime that led the Italian
authorities to arrest the Getty buyer?
Let's face it. The Getty has been run by people who voted for W, twice!
Americans seem totally unaware of the culture change in the business world
since the GOP took over the legislative branch in '94. It will take a lot of
work to get back to ethics from where we are now. 
By: smootybooty on December 02, 2006 at 04:21pm 
Flag: [abusive] 

Larry Arnstein claims that, "most of Italy's art treasures of the period in
question [500 BC to 200 AD?] were plundered by Roman legions from places
that the Romans conquered." I hate to be overly sensitive, but I would enjoy
seeing some documentation and/or qualification for this statement. Depending
on the object, some of it was simply bought off the rack or created by
Greco-Roman artisans/sculptors. His argument doesn't fly without some
historical background. 
Oversimplifying history is tricky business. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-arnstein/empire-management-and-the_b_354
17.html