The statue of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, stolen 65 years ago and smuggled out of Turkey, which was – after a lengthy court case – recently returned by a US museum which had acquired it in the 1980s, is now on public display in Ankara.
Dating from between the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, the effigy was unearthed in the 1960s during an illegal excavation in the ruins of the city of Bubon, located in the Gölhisar district of what is now Turkish Burdur province, and taken out of the country without authorisation. After passing through several hands, it ended up in the possession of a private art dealer who, as early as 1986, sold it to the Cleveland Museum of Art (in Ohio, USA), where it has since been on display as part of the museum’s permanent art collection.
After years of searching and investigation, the Turkish authorities managed to locate the statue and initiated proceedings with the US authorities to repatriate the sculpture; although the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, on the evidence presented, agreed with Turkey and ordered the confiscation of the statue, the Cleveland Museum objected, claiming that the origin of the sculpture had not been sufficiently proven. But after Ankara presented new scientific evidence, the museum had no choice but to relent and withdraw its appeal, and the statue finally returned to Turkey on 20 July, transported by a Turkish Airlines plane.
Considered a unique piece of enormous historical value as one of the best preserved bronze sculptures of antiquity and one of the few of its kind found in Anatolia, the statue was part of a group of sculptures that decorated an ancient Sebasteion – shrine – dedicated to the Roman emperors, and is believed to depict the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius – father of Commodus– posing as a philosopher, although his head is missing.
The effigy, as reported by Turkish newspapers such as Milliyet, is now on temporary public display at the Presidential Public Library of Beştepe (Cumhurbaşkanlığı Millet Kütüphanesi) in Ankara, where it can be visited. As Hasan Doğan – Secretary of the Turkish Presidency – highlighted on social media, after the return of this imposing statue of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, there are now 13,291 cultural and historical artefacts and objects that Turkey has managed to recover from its heritage that was stolen and plundered for decades.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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