Two plundered marble vases that adorned ancient Athenian graves over 2,000 years ago have been returned to Greece from Switzerland after a lengthy legal battle, the Greek Culture Ministry announced Tuesday.
The white marble vases, both adorned with relief sculptures, date back to the 4th century BC and are believed to have marked family graves near Athens. One depicts an emotional farewell scene between a seated elderly man, his wife, and his son, clad in the armor of an ancient Athenian soldier. The other is decorated with plant motifs.
Both vases are damaged, missing their necks and parts of their bases. The larger stands 60 centimeters (23 inches) tall, while the smaller is 54 centimeters (21 inches). Despite their clandestine excavation and illicit export, the vases hold immense historical and cultural value.
Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni stressed the repatriation of looted antiquities as a "top political priority" for the ministry, highlighting recent successful efforts to reclaim national treasures.
The vases were first discovered in 2002 during a raid on an Italian antiquities dealer's warehouse in Basel, Switzerland. However, an Italian court ruled in 2014 that they were not of Italian origin and returned them to the dealer.
In 2017, Greek authorities spotted the vases being offered for sale by a Swiss dealer and successfully sought their seizure by Switzerland. It was revealed that Swiss authorities had sold the artifacts to the second dealer to cover the Italian dealer's legal fees.
After more than six years of legal battles, the vases were finally handed over to Greek officials on June 26th following out-of-court negotiations, marking a significant victory in the fight against antiquities theft.