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Eleven more antiquities, collectively valued at nearly $1 million, are being repatriated from the United States, as part of a collaboration between the Culture Ministry and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The artifacts include a grave relief dating to the late 4th-early 3rd century BC that depicts a deceased individual surrounded by his family at a lavish banquet and a mortar with lid and pestle, a group of carved Roman-era marble implements that were inspired by earlier Cycladic styles.
Both items were seized this year, the office’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit said.
The objects were recovered pursuant to several criminal investigations, including one into previously convicted London-based trafficker Robin Symes, who passed away in 2023, a Manhattan district attorney’s office statement said.
“Throughout the ongoing investigation into Symes, the Office’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit has seized 121 antiquities valued at more than $56 million that had allegedly been trafficked by Symes into and through New York County.”
“The return of these pieces is the product of a substantial and ongoing investigation into several traffickers,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr.
“I am pleased we have now seized more than 120 antiquities throughout the investigation, and that is continuing to this day. I am grateful to our antiquities trafficking team and partners in Greece for their outstanding collaboration and partnership.”
The antiquities were presented on Tuesday to Culture Minister Lina Mendoni by Matthew Bogdanos, head of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit at the New York State Attorney’s Office.
Welcoming the repatriation, Mendoni said “each repatriation has a special significance, as it is directly related to our collective and individual identity … Greece is in no way demanding that the museums that host and exhibit works of ancient Greek art be emptied,” reiterating the state’s long-standing demand for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures.
Mendoni, on behalf of the state and the government, presented Bogdanos with the honor of Commander of the Order of the Phoenix, for his contribution to the recovery and repatriation of numerous antiquities.
Other objects being repatriated include a marble male head from the first half of the 1st century AD, an Attic marble votive relief from the second half of the 4th century BC as well as a gold ring depicting Poseidon with a trident in his sling.
On Monday, Mendoni attended a ceremony that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for the repatriation of an ancient bronze griffin’s head.
