Sunday, May 28, 2017
Associated Press
NEW YORK
Seven ancient statues and pottery vessels are headed back to their homeland in Italy after authorities said they tracked down the stolen items in New York City.
Dating back as far as the eighth century B.C., the artifacts were looted by Italian tomb raiders in the 1990s, then were smuggled out of the country and eventually turned up at two New York art galleries, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said last week while returning the artifacts to Italian officials.
The three statues depict an ox, a warrior and the mythological hero Herakles, also known as Heracles and Hercules. The four pottery pieces include a wine jug decorated with rams and panthers, a drinking cup featuring two goats butting heads, and two oil flasks.