Police have seized two ‘outstanding’ ancient Greek statues in the Peloponnese, shortly before they were due to be sold for 10 million (8.6m). Two men aged 42 and 48 were arrested while loading the pair of 2,500-year-old relics onto the back of a truck near the ancient city of Corinth. Police are seeking a third man they believe to be the group’s ringleader. The pair of marble statues stand 5’8″ and 5’9″ tall, and are of the Kouros style popular during the 6th and 7th centuries BC. Experts believe both were made by the same sculptor between 550 and 520…
-
-
Germany has made a firm response to last week’s announcement by Zahi Hawass that Egyptian government will officially demand the return of the Bust of Nefertiti. Minister of Culture Bern Neumann today made it clear once again that the bust is going nowhere: Nofretete stays in Berlin! Hawass claims the bust of Nefertiti Nofretete in German was smuggled out of Egypt illegally and should be returned. According to Egypt’s head of antiquities, archaeologist Ludwig Borchard intentionally lied to Egyptian officials about the value of the bust. Bernd Neumann, also board member of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which oversees the…
-
A reunion 180 years in waiting will occur this Friday in Edinburgh, as Lewis Chessmen pieces from north and south of the border are displayed side-by-side for the very first time at the National Museum of Scotland (NMS). The exhibition (one of our top ten to look forward to worldwide this year) marks the arrival of a 20-piece sample of the ornate, ivory-carved 12th/13th century artefacts in Edinburgh on loan from the British Museum, and the beginning of a tour of the country that between now and September 2011 will visit Aberdeen, Shetland and finally Stornoway on the Isle of…
-
Both of these monumental pieces of sculpture are beautiful, both portray good overcoming evil and the greatness of civilised man over barbarians. The Parthenon itself is awe-inspiring. If you haven’t managed to see it yet (a perfect opportunity for a holiday in Athens!), when you get up to the Acropolis and walk around, look at the Parthenon frieze, the pediments, the metopes, and then you should get ready to pick your jaw up off the floor! It is honestly one of the most magical buildings that I have ever seen. Everything about it proclaims the glory of Athens – it’s…
-
This week Egypt’s antiquities chief Zahi Hawassplans to make a formal request for the return of the Bust of Nefertiti from Berlin. Neues Museum officials have already dismissed his continued attacks on the legality of the bust’s ownership, and are all but certain not to let go of their most prized asset. Hawass still has the backing of millions worldwide. But Nefertiti should stay where she is, and his quest to repatriate Egypt’s ancient relics is misguided, dangerous even, to Egypt’s cultural heritage. Dr Hawass has been planning the campaign for quite some time: in August last year he told…
-
Dr. David Silverman is delighted at the thought that visitors to Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, one of two King Tut exhibitions touring North America right now, would come away as I did – with an itching interest in Akhenaten, who was almost certainly King Tuts father. Hes also enthused at the idea that viewing the vast exhibition at the Discovery Time Square Exposition, with 130 significant objects from King Tuts tomb and the 100 years preceding the boy kings life, will spur people to go take a look at King Tuts funerary urns up at the…
-
It seems like Im never going to get to build the Pyramids in my ancient Roman settlement never mind the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Ive spent all my money on lemon trees and fountains and now my people are deliriously happy, but not generating the bucks or resources I need to expand my empire. Its a situation that a lot of social gamers might find themselves in today, as social gaming gurus Playfish launch their latest game on Facebook My Empire. My Empire is a city building sim, where the player gets to build a Roman town, unlocking new building…
-
Having two leaders might be uncharted territory for Britain, but it’s an arrangement that worked well over 2,500 years ago when Sparta was ruled by two kings. The fearless Greek city-state found that having two leaders was the best way to plunder its neighbours and promote harmony amongst its citizens. This Monday ‘Dave and Nick’, as the PM and his deputy are to be known, gave a press conference backing their ambitions for the next five years. This government would be a radical, reforming government where it needs to be and a source of reassurance and stability at a time…
-
A top Israeli archaeologist claims ‘barbaric’ Muslim digs are stripping Jerusalem’sTemple Mount of its Jewish heritage. Dr Gabriel Barkay, of BarIlan University, has likened Israel and the West’s denial of the site’s Jewish history to that of the Holocaust, and has warned that thousands of years of history could be lost if authorities do not step in soon to prevent more damage at the hands of the controlling Islamic Wafq council, who he says have been dumping vital archaeological material miles away as waste. “(It is) the most important archaeological site in Israel, and despite all this, Israel has abandoned…
-
Financial austerity measures were a grave problem in ancient Greece too it seems quite literally. In the same week that the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have been asked by Greece to unblock the first tranche of a 110-billion (93 billion) bail-out loan package in exchange for severe spending cuts, archaeologists have revealed how 2,300 years ago people in the northern Greek region of Macedonia were forced to scale back on funeral offerings, probably on orders from the king. The AFP reports that senior archaeologist for the Greek Archaeological Service Manthos Besios told Athens daily newspaper Ta Nea…