US returns 26 stolen ancient artifacts to Greece

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), in collaboration with its partners, repatriated 26 ancient objects to Greece that had been seized by U.S. law enforcement authorities.

According to the agency’s statement, the items were recovered through investigations conducted by HSI, in cooperation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the State Department.

“HSI is extremely proud to have leveraged its investigative expertise and customs authority, in partnership with our collaborators, leading to the repatriation of these 26 invaluable antiquities that had been unlawfully looted from their homeland,” said ICE Deputy Director Charles Wall.

“These precious objects were an important part of life in the ancient world. I am especially grateful to the investigative and prosecutorial team responsible for recovering and returning these priceless treasures.”

The collection includes 25 ancient coins dating from the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine periods, as well as a marble torso of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing, weighing 500 pounds.

The return of these stolen items continues a long-standing commitment to protecting Greek cultural heritage. Since 2007, HSI has repatriated more than 200 cultural heritage objects to Greece, many of which were seized under the bilateral cultural property agreement between the United States and Greece, which came into force in 2011.

The Recovered Items

• Marble torso of Asclepius: Dating to the 1st or 2nd century AD and measuring 40 inches in height. The statue was seized after claims in its accompanying documentation were proven false following an investigation by HSI and CBP.
• Gold coin from Lampsacus (Mysia), 370 BC: Depicts Heracles on the obverse and Pegasus on the reverse. The coin was illegally excavated by an unknown looter and sold through intermediaries before being exported illegally from Greece to Germany. After failing to be sold at auction there, it was later sent to an auction house in Philadelphia, United States.
• Bronze coin from Macedonia, 4th century BC: Depicts Persephone on the obverse and the Lernaean Hydra on the reverse. Greek police determined that the coin had been illegally excavated and exported by the same criminal network involved in the Lampsacus coin case. It was sold at auction in 2009 and offered again in 2017 before appearing at the same U.S. auction house.
• Silver didrachm of Rhodes, 304 BC: Depicts Helios on the obverse and the “Rose of Rhodes” on the reverse. HSI in Memphis seized the coin after identifying violations of the Cultural Property Implementation Act, as well as smuggling and import violations. The importer failed to provide sufficient proof that the coin had been exported from Greece prior to the imposition of import restrictions.

Protecting and preserving global cultural heritage and knowledge of past civilizations is a key objective of HSI’s Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities Program (CPAA). The program conducts training and outreach, supports investigations into cultural property crimes, and strengthens international partnerships by working with foreign governments and citizens to return looted cultural heritage and stolen works of art.

Since 2007, CPAA has collaborated with the State Department’s Cultural Heritage Center and the Smithsonian Institution to train HSI agents, FBI personnel, customs officers, and prosecutors in modern techniques, while keeping them informed on trends in criminal investigations and the proper handling of cultural property.

To date, CPAA has repatriated more than 25,000 objects to over 40 countries worldwide.