A rare bronze sculpture of the Ancient Greek god Apollo was found in the Gaza Strip in 2013. It was put for sale on eBay, and subsequently withdrawn from sale and seized by police thanks to the publication of the story along with photographs by the Italian journalist Fabio Scuto on La Repubblica. The statue was claimed to have been recovered from the sea in August 2013 by Joudat Ghrab, a local Palestinian fisherman.Ghrab said that he saw the statue lying in shallow waters near the Gaza border with Egypt, and initially thought the statue was a badly burnt body. It took four hours to get the statue ashore. The statue was later put for sale on the internet auction site eBay for $500,000 by members of Ghrabs family who belong to a Hamas militia group. The sale price is believed to be significantly below its true value. Police appointed by Hamas, the rulers of the Gaza Strip subsequently seized the statue and are investigating its provenance. The statue has not been examined by archaeologists, but a Reuters report published in The Guardian attests to a few blurred photographs of the intact deity, who is laid out incongruously on a blanket emblazoned with Smurfs. The evidence dates the statue to between the 5th century BC and the 1st century BC. The statue depicts Apollo with curly hair and one eye possibly inlaid with a blue stone iris, standing upright with an outstretched arm, and with his palm held up. Two of the fingers of the Apollo statue was removed, one by Ghrab, and another by his brother.The fingers were removed so that checks could be conducted on the metal, the finger removed by Ghrabs brother has been melted down.The Gazan ministry plans to repair the statue and put it on display in Gaza. Historians have suggested that the statue was found on land rather than at sea owing to its apparent good preservation, without signs of metal disfigurement or barnacles.Noting the green patina, Gaza archaeologist Fadel al-Utol said: If it had spent time underwater, the bronze would be blackened. The obscure location of the statues discovery could be used to avoid ownership arguments. Ghrab said he believed the statue had been ...gifted to [him] by God...My financial situation is very difficult and I am waiting for my reward. What happened to Gazas Apollo statue? A precious statue vanished after its discovery in Gaza last summer and many suspect it is now a hostage to politics Last summer, a life-size bronze statue of Apollo, the ancient Greek god of light and music, miraculously surfaced in Gaza. The work of art, which is 1.7 metres tall and weighs 450 kilograms, could be worth as much as $340m, according to Gazas antiquities authority. But it has since vanished from the public eye - and experts fear that the roughly 2,500-year-old statue could be lost or damaged forever as it has become hostage to a political dispute. It was a Friday and I went to fish, said fisherman Jawdat Abu Ghrab of how he discovered the statue. Standing on a cliff near the Gaza town of Deir Al-Balah, he pointed to the sea beneath him. I discovered the area was full of rocks. I thought I would try and explore it - maybe I could find fish. But suddenly I discovered something in the water. I saw something buried in sand - one arm was raised. I was shocked because it looked like a human. Unable to lift it from the water, Abu Ghrab went to get help. Hours later he proudly presented the unusual catch to his mother - who was less excited about letting the naked statue into her house and asked her son to cover up its male parts. Neighbours and relatives came to see the peculiar houseguest, and one asked to call the authorities. Abu Ghrab refused, he said,but let the relative take the statue for safekeeping. A month later, the government seized it, promising Abu Ghrab a reward of 10-20 percent of the statues value, he said. He has not heard from them since, and has no idea where the statue is. Ahmed al-Bursh, director of archaeology at Gazas Ministry of Tourism, told Reuters news agency that Ghrab would receive a reward. According to him, the police are keeping the statue in custody after it briefly appeared on Ebay for sale at a fraction of its estimated value. The police are now reportedly investigating who tried to sell it. We are losing time Museums in France and Switzerland have reportedly expressed interest in borrowing the statue for display and helping with the restoration. Still, according to Alotol the statue holds no value on a political level - and since no one in Gaza has the required tools or expertise to restore it to international standards, he believes the only solution is to send Apollo to France where he said the statue stands the best chance of being restored. I am so angry and so sad because people are ignoring the statue and its value, and we are losing time, said Alotol. He sees the statue as one of the biggest discoveries in the area, referring to the find as the pyramids of Gaza. If people hadnt started working on the pyramids right away, they would have been lost with years. The same goes for Apollo. If they [the authorities] leave Apollo without restoring it, it will be affected by the weather - it will be lost forever, Alotol told Al Jazeera. Naim said there is reluctance to hand over the statue to French experts for fear that it will not be returned. Due to the official relationship of, for example, the government of France and the government in Gaza, there is a fear and mistrust and it will take time to tackle this issue. According to Julien Chiappone-Lucchesi, director of the French Institute in Ramallah, the idea that France would steal the statue is ridiculous. He said international regulations forbid that from happening, but believes the suspicion originates from Frances colonial past. Also, since 1967 Israel has used archeological excavations as a pretext for territorial claims in the West Bank and Gaza, and has removed historical artifacts such as a sixth-century Byzantine mosaic of King David, which today decorates the synagogue section of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Archeology is sensitive [in Palestine] because objects have been stolen in the past, Chiappone-Lucchesi said, emphasising that not accepting international help could lead to irreversible damage to the ancient statue. Its a marvelous find, but you need to know what to do with it. If not, its a way of destroying it indirectly.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 07:27:36 +0000
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