Fisherman's Tale
The statue of Apollo which I wrote about the other day has attracted further interest - this time via a Reuters report which appeared in the Guardian.
Only this time the mystery deepens with the acute observation that the handsome Greek Apollo is laid out, somewhat incongruously, on a blanket emblazoned with Smurfs.
One thing's for sure, though.
if you ask me, the local Gaza man who claims that he found the statue in the sea, Jouda Ghurab, was telling a fisherman's tale.
'Priceless' bronze statue of Greek god Apollo found in Gaza Strip
• Hamas officials seize statue after it appears on eBay
• Doubt cast on fisherman's claim to have found item in sea
Reuters in Gaza
The bronze statue of the Greek god Apollo is pictured in Gaza. Photograph: Reuters
Lost for centuries, a rare bronze statue of the Greek god Apollo has mysteriously resurfaced in the Gaza Strip, only to be seized by police and vanish almost immediately from view.
Word of the remarkable find has caught the imagination of the world of archaeology, but the police cannot say when the life-sized bronze might re-emerge or where it might be put on display.
A local fisherman says he scooped the 500kg (1,100lb) god from the seabed last August, and carried it home on a donkey cart, unaware of the significance of his catch.
Others soon guessed at its importance, and the statue briefly appeared on eBay with a $500,000 (£300,000) price tag - well below its true value. Police from the Islamist group Hamas, which rules the isolated Palestinian territory, swiftly seized it and say they are investigating the affair.
Archaeologists have not been able to get their hands on the Apollo – to their great frustration - and instead must pore over a few blurred photographs of the intact deity, who is laid out incongruously on a blanket emblazoned with Smurfs.
From what they can tell, it was cast sometime between the 5th and the 1st century BC, making it at least 2,000 years old.
"It's unique. In some ways I would say it is priceless. It's like people asking what is the [value] of the painting La Gioconda [the Mona Lisa] in the Louvre museum," said Jean-Michel de Tarragon, a historian with the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem.
"It's very, very rare to find a statue which is not in marble or in stone, but in metal," he told Reuters television.
The apparently pristine condition of the god suggested it was uncovered on land and not in the sea, he said, speculating that the true location of where it was unearthed was not revealed to avoid arguments over ownership.
"This wasn't found on the seashore or in the sea … it is very clean. No, it was [found] inland and dry," he said, adding that there were no signs of metal disfigurement or barnacles that one normally sees on items plucked from water.
Palestinian fisherman Joudat Ghrab tells a different tale. The 26-year-old father of two said he saw a human-like shape lying in shallow waters some 100 metres offshore, just north of the Egyptian-Gaza border.
At first he thought it was a badly burnt body, but when he dived down to take a closer look he realised it was a statue. He says it took him and his relatives four hours to drag the treasure ashore.
"I felt it was something gifted to me by God," Ghrab told Reuters. "My financial situation is very difficult and I am waiting for my reward."
His mother was less happy when she saw the naked Apollo carried into the house, demanding that his private parts be covered. "My mother said: 'What a disaster you have brought with you' as she looked at the huge statue," said Ghrab.
The discoloured green-brown figure shows the youthful, athletic god standing upright on two, muscular legs; he has one arm outstretched, with the palm of his hand held up.
He has compact, curly hair, and gazes out seriously at the world, one of his eyes apparently inlaid with a blue stone iris, the other just a vacant black slit.
Ghrab says he cut off one of the fingers to take to a metals expert, thinking it might have been made of gold. Unbeknownst to him, one of his brothers severed another finger for his own checks. This was melted down by a jeweller.
Family members belonging to a Hamas militia soon took charge of the statue, and at some stage the Apollo appeared on eBay, with the seller telling the buyer to come and collect the item from Gaza.
That would have been easier said than done, however, as Gaza is virtually sealed off from the outside world, with both Israel and Egypt imposing rigid controls on access to the impoverished enclave and its 1.8 million inhabitants.
Whether any potential buyers stepped forward is not clear, but when Hamas's civilian authorities found out about the artefact, they ordered the police to seize it.
Officials at Gaza's tourism ministry told Reuters the statue would not be shown to the public until a criminal investigation into who tried to sell it was completed.
However, Ahmed al-Bursh, the ministry's director of archaeology, said he had seen it and promised that Ghrab would receive a reward once the issue had been resolved.
"It is a precious treasure, an important archaeological discovery," said Bursh. Once the statue has been released by police, his ministry plans to repair it and put it on show in Gaza.
"International institutions have also contacted us and have offered to help with the repair process," he said, adding that a museum in Geneva and the Louvre in Paris wanted to take it on loan.
Like Ghrab, Bursh said the statue had been found at sea. The historian Tarragon said it was vital to know the true location of its discovery.
Some 5,000 years of history lie beneath the sands of the Gaza Strip, which was ruled at various times by ancient Egyptians, Philistines, Romans, Byzantines and crusaders.
Alexander the Great besieged the city and the Roman emperor Hadrian visited. However, local archaeologists have little experience to carry out any scientific digs and many sites remain buried.
Statues such as the Apollo cast would not have been held in isolation, meaning it may prove the tip of an historical iceberg, according to Tarragon.
"A statue at that time was [put] in a complex, in a temple or a palace. If it was in a temple, you should have all the other artefacts of the cult [at the site]," he said, adding that he hoped Hamas appreciated its potential importance.
"There is a feeling that they could find more and more [items] linked to the statue, more and more artefacts, so this is very sensitive," he said.
Reuters in Gaza
The bronze statue of the Greek god Apollo is pictured in Gaza. Photograph: Reuters
Lost for centuries, a rare bronze statue of the Greek god Apollo has mysteriously resurfaced in the Gaza Strip, only to be seized by police and vanish almost immediately from view.
Word of the remarkable find has caught the imagination of the world of archaeology, but the police cannot say when the life-sized bronze might re-emerge or where it might be put on display.
A local fisherman says he scooped the 500kg (1,100lb) god from the seabed last August, and carried it home on a donkey cart, unaware of the significance of his catch.
Others soon guessed at its importance, and the statue briefly appeared on eBay with a $500,000 (£300,000) price tag - well below its true value. Police from the Islamist group Hamas, which rules the isolated Palestinian territory, swiftly seized it and say they are investigating the affair.
Archaeologists have not been able to get their hands on the Apollo – to their great frustration - and instead must pore over a few blurred photographs of the intact deity, who is laid out incongruously on a blanket emblazoned with Smurfs.
From what they can tell, it was cast sometime between the 5th and the 1st century BC, making it at least 2,000 years old.
"It's unique. In some ways I would say it is priceless. It's like people asking what is the [value] of the painting La Gioconda [the Mona Lisa] in the Louvre museum," said Jean-Michel de Tarragon, a historian with the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem.
"It's very, very rare to find a statue which is not in marble or in stone, but in metal," he told Reuters television.
The apparently pristine condition of the god suggested it was uncovered on land and not in the sea, he said, speculating that the true location of where it was unearthed was not revealed to avoid arguments over ownership.
"This wasn't found on the seashore or in the sea … it is very clean. No, it was [found] inland and dry," he said, adding that there were no signs of metal disfigurement or barnacles that one normally sees on items plucked from water.
Palestinian fisherman Joudat Ghrab tells a different tale. The 26-year-old father of two said he saw a human-like shape lying in shallow waters some 100 metres offshore, just north of the Egyptian-Gaza border.
At first he thought it was a badly burnt body, but when he dived down to take a closer look he realised it was a statue. He says it took him and his relatives four hours to drag the treasure ashore.
"I felt it was something gifted to me by God," Ghrab told Reuters. "My financial situation is very difficult and I am waiting for my reward."
His mother was less happy when she saw the naked Apollo carried into the house, demanding that his private parts be covered. "My mother said: 'What a disaster you have brought with you' as she looked at the huge statue," said Ghrab.
The discoloured green-brown figure shows the youthful, athletic god standing upright on two, muscular legs; he has one arm outstretched, with the palm of his hand held up.
He has compact, curly hair, and gazes out seriously at the world, one of his eyes apparently inlaid with a blue stone iris, the other just a vacant black slit.
Ghrab says he cut off one of the fingers to take to a metals expert, thinking it might have been made of gold. Unbeknownst to him, one of his brothers severed another finger for his own checks. This was melted down by a jeweller.
Family members belonging to a Hamas militia soon took charge of the statue, and at some stage the Apollo appeared on eBay, with the seller telling the buyer to come and collect the item from Gaza.
That would have been easier said than done, however, as Gaza is virtually sealed off from the outside world, with both Israel and Egypt imposing rigid controls on access to the impoverished enclave and its 1.8 million inhabitants.
Whether any potential buyers stepped forward is not clear, but when Hamas's civilian authorities found out about the artefact, they ordered the police to seize it.
Officials at Gaza's tourism ministry told Reuters the statue would not be shown to the public until a criminal investigation into who tried to sell it was completed.
However, Ahmed al-Bursh, the ministry's director of archaeology, said he had seen it and promised that Ghrab would receive a reward once the issue had been resolved.
"It is a precious treasure, an important archaeological discovery," said Bursh. Once the statue has been released by police, his ministry plans to repair it and put it on show in Gaza.
"International institutions have also contacted us and have offered to help with the repair process," he said, adding that a museum in Geneva and the Louvre in Paris wanted to take it on loan.
Like Ghrab, Bursh said the statue had been found at sea. The historian Tarragon said it was vital to know the true location of its discovery.
Some 5,000 years of history lie beneath the sands of the Gaza Strip, which was ruled at various times by ancient Egyptians, Philistines, Romans, Byzantines and crusaders.
Alexander the Great besieged the city and the Roman emperor Hadrian visited. However, local archaeologists have little experience to carry out any scientific digs and many sites remain buried.
Statues such as the Apollo cast would not have been held in isolation, meaning it may prove the tip of an historical iceberg, according to Tarragon.
"A statue at that time was [put] in a complex, in a temple or a palace. If it was in a temple, you should have all the other artefacts of the cult [at the site]," he said, adding that he hoped Hamas appreciated its potential importance.
"There is a feeling that they could find more and more [items] linked to the statue, more and more artefacts, so this is very sensitive," he said.
Chariot of Fire (8 February 2013)
The Times reports on a bizarre dispute over an ancient bronze statue of the Greek God Apollo which may have been forged around the time of Alexander the Great.
In those days the Greeks believed that Apollo drove the Sun across the sky every day in a chariot drawn by four horses.
But the moral outlook of of the medieval minds that now have his statue in their hands - seem to be suggesting that if Apollo ever goes on display in Gaza, he will have to wear a pair of shorts.
£17m Apollo statue mired in Gaza power struggle
Its condition leads some experts to believe the statue was not found in the sea
Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Gaza.
Its condition leads some experts to believe the statue was not found in the sea
Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Gaza
By Jack Malvern
The discovery of an ancient bronze statue of Apollo should be a cause for celebration among archaeologists and represent a windfall for its finder worth millions of pounds, but there is just one snag: the sculpture, one of a handful to survive from antiquity, cannot be sold, inspected or even exhibited, because it was found in the Gaza Strip.
Experts who have seen photographs of the 6ft (1.8m) statue called it a “major discovery”, and believe that it was forged at some point between the 5th century BC and the 2nd century AD. Unusually, its feet are intact and it has retained one of its eyes.
It could fetch up to £17 million if sold at auction, but the political situation is so fraught that it may never be allowed to leave Gaza. It is also unlikely to go on display because Hamas, the political authority holding it, regards the anatomically correct nude as both obscene and an idol.
The discovery was claimed by a fisherman, who says he found the statue about 100 metres from the shore at Deir al-Balah, a city eight miles southwest of Gaza City, although this was disputed by one expert. Jouda Ghurab, who claims to have spotted the statue on August 16 last year, told Bloomberg International that he was catching bream when he noticed an unusual movement of the current. “The rocks looked strange,” he said. “The underwater waves had dug the sand and moved it out.”
Anxious not to miss Friday prayers, he says he took a bearing from a building and returned to shore, returning later with six men, a boat and a length of clothes line. The boat almost sank as they tried to lift the statue, he said, but they found that they could flip it end over end along the sea floor until they reached the beach.
Among the crowd that quickly gathered were members of the al-Qassam Brigades, the militant wing of Hamas, who took it away. They were in turn obliged to give it up when the Hamas police force arrived, leading to an armed stand-off that only ended when more senior police officers came to negotiate. The statue is being held in an office run by the Hamas interior ministry at a secret location in Gaza.
Even if Mr Ghurab’s story can be verified, it is likely that the statue would be subject to claims by Hamas, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, who were ousted by Hamas in 2007. Hamas is regarded as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States.
Thomas Bauzou, a professor of ancient history at the University of Orléans in France, believes that the statue is a major discovery but doubts that it was found in the sea. “This story has been fabricated to hide the real place where the statue was found so they can continue digging,” he said.
Muhammad Ismael Khillah, an under-secretary at the ministry, believes that the statue could help to ease political relations if it could be lent to a foreign museum. “We are keeping the door open to co-operation with any government,” he said.
He also suggested that it could be displayed in Gaza. “We will have to cover it in certain places,” he said.
