The Sicily Culture & Conquest exhibition is currently on display at the British Museum. Sicily has been shaped by waves of conquest and settlement by different peoples over 4,000 years. Since the 8th century BC, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and Normans all settled or invaded the island, lured by its fertile lands and strategic location.

The British Museum is one of the world’s great museums but has a very inappropriate name. Many of the treasures on display were acquired – sometimes by fair means, sometimes by foul – over the centuries when Britain was a great imperial power and most people thought little of the morality of taking treasures from countries that had been colonised as part of the British empire and displaying them in central London in a building designed by Sir Robert Smirke and his brother Sidney. Many of these countries now want their treasures back and are growing increasingly strident in demands for their return.