A piece of marble flooring that once decorated a ceremonial ship belonging to the Ancient Roman Emperor Caligula will be returned to Italy after being identified as stolen property in the United States.
Italian Culture Minister, Dario Franceschini, attended a handover ceremony at the Italian consulate in New York, a statement from his office said on Friday.
The artefact was retrieved from Lake Nemi near Rome between 1928 and 1932 and was stolen from the local museum after World War II.
The New York police found it in the collection of an Italian woman resident in the US.
Caligula (12-41 AD) has a reputation as one of the maddest and cruelest Roman emperors, although accounts from ancient historians that he made his horse a consul are believed to be a myth.
He has however been linked to sadism and incest, and was allegedly so sensitive about his lack of hair that it was a capital crime for anyone to look down from a high place as he passed by.
US authorities returned dozens of other artworks stolen from Italy, including a 4th century AD Greek vase that had ended up in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Two Venetian manuscripts from the 14th or 15th century AD, a 16th century book by Renaissance philosopher Bernardino Telesio and almost 200 Roman coins were among other recovered materials.
Trending
- How FRSC reduced Road Traffic Crashes by 42% – Corps Marshal
- FCCPC uncovers prices in Yen as it grills Chinese supermarket owners + Photos
- Reporters detained for airing music, taking calls from girls
- German police arrest 11 Nigerians laundering money made from dating scam
- Fernandes digs Man U out of hole in win over Sheff United
- Akintoye to Afenifere: Yoruba wants self-determination, not restructuring
- Naira loses 0.64% against dollar at official market
- Re-examining Patriarchy, Faith: Domestic violence, faith integration in Nigeria, by Michael Olatunbosun