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Ancient Greek Statue Illegally Taken From Libya to the UK

ancient-greek-statueA UK judge ruled that a 1.5-million-GBP ancient Greek statue was illegally transferred from a world heritage site in Libya to the United Kingdom. The case revolves around a four-foot statue that was looted from the Libyan archaeological site of Cyrene and smuggled to Britain.

The ancient Greek statue was found in a west London warehouse by customs officials in 2013 and handed to the British Museum, according to the Independent. Meanwhile, a court had taken over the case and the decision over its ownership was pending until this week.

The UK judge ruled that the statue had been misdeclared upon its arrival in the United Kingdom, since customs officers reported that they were told the statue came from Turkey and it was a garden decoration. However, according to experts, the Greek marble statue, thought to depict Persephone, goddess of the underworld, was in fact an ancient artifact looted from Cyrene.

Cyrene was an ancient Greek city near present-day Shahhat in Libya. It was the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained until modern times.

Cyrene is now an archeological site. One of its more significant features is the temple of ancient Greek god Apollo that was originally constructed as early as 7th century BC. Other ancient structures include a temple of Demeter and a partially unexcavated temple of Zeus. The ancient town has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982.

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