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BBC NEWS | Greece Art Looting is Source of Income for Many

BBC News recently broadcasted an interview with Greek officials about the continuing problem with illegal trade of ancient art and artifacts. Major Yiorgos Gligoris, head of the Art Crime Squad of the Greek police states in this interview:

"Smuggling is a really big problem in Greece and dates back centuries. There are illegal digs still going on all over Greece. People are not well-off today. This is an alternative way of making money. It's the same in Turkey, South America, Egypt and Italy, countries where there are lots of antiquities and lots of rural poverty. We are the 'source countries' supplying to the 'consumer countries' like the US and the UK."

The Cycladic idols -- prehistoric figures of young girls found in grave sites ca. 2800-2300 BC -- bring a premium price when smuggled to the US and Europe. The motivation is strong to sell these modernesque statues reminiscent of early 20th century artists like Henry Moore or Pablo Picasso. At eMuseumStore.com, we offer several reproductions of the full figure statues and busts. Even these sell well to art collectors who are willing to fill gaps in their collections with replicas. View our cycladic busts here: Cycladic Figures.

One of my favorites is Cycladic Harpist Player (pictured). The form -- abstract but clearly human -- sits on a chair holding a harp. The composition is familiar but the angles and curvature are stylized interpretations of the body. With its elongated and flatened head, we are given an impression of a figure enjoying music, but long for a confirmation via a smile from the long ago faded painted details of eyes and mouth sometimes still apparent on other figures. We wonder too if the figure is playing for enjoyment or as part of a ceremony? We can only imagine as recorded clues have dissipated with the passing of time.

Link: BBC NEWS | Programmes | Crossing Continents | Greece fights for its lost treasures.

HBO Original Series ROME premieres Sunday, August 28th at 9PM

The year is 52 B.C. Four hundred years after the founding of the Republic, Rome is the wealthiest city in the world, a cosmopolitan metropolis of one million people, epicenter of a sprawling empire. The Republic was founded on principles of shared power and fierce personal competition, never allowing one man to seize absolute control. But now, those foundations are crumbling, eaten away by corruption and excess. The ruling class has become extravagantly wealthy, with a precipitous decline in the old values of Spartan discipline and social unity. There is now a great chasm between the classes. Legal and political systems have weakened, and power has increasingly shifted to the military.

An intimate drama of love and betrayal, masters and slaves, and husbands and wives, ROME chronicles epic times that saw the fall of a Republic and the creation of an empire when it debuts SUNDAY, AUG. 28 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.

A co-production between HBO and the BBC, ROME is one of the largest co-production deals ever by the BBC for an American series, and marks the first series co-production of the two networks. HBO and the BBC previously partnered on the 2001 miniseries "Band of Brothers," which won six Emmy® Awards, including Outstanding Miniseries.
Source from http://www.hbo.com/rome/about/index.html

THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Conquest of America

The History Channel will be broadcasting a 4 episode mini series on the expoloration of the Americas on March 28th and March 29th, 2005. Each episode will focus on the exploration of a different region of North America and on a different primary explorer: Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, Pedro Menendez and Jean Ribault, Henry Hudson and Vitus Bering and Nicolai Rezanov. Dialog and scenes are derived from the "the historical riches, diaries of Europeans, and the oral histories of Native American particiapants."

View more at: Link: THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Conquest of America.