OnAugust 3 , over 17,000 ancient artifacts looted and smuggle out of Iraq were returned to their country of origin – which officials havecalledIraq ’s largest ever return of antiquities .
artefact have beenreturned to Iraq fromthe US , Japan , Italy , and the Netherlands . Around 12,000 of the artifact were held in the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC , theNew York Timesreports .
Many ancient Mesopotamian artifacts dating back up to 4,000 year – some of which come from amysterious lost metropolis – were loot oreven destroyedin the upset following the US - led encroachment of Iraq in 2003 . More still met the same fate at the hand of ISIS .
On July 27 , the US Department of Justiceannouncedthat art and trade retail companyHobby Lobbywas ordered to forfeit an ancient lozenge inscribed with a plane section of theEpic of Gilgamesh , one of the world ’s oldest works of literature .
The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet is amongthousands of smuggled artifactspurchased by Hobby Lobby – some of which ended up beingforgeries .
The society purchase the tabletwith the intentto display it in the Museum of the Bible , Washington DC , of which Hobby Lobby ’s chairman Steve Green isChairman of the Board . The pill may have been of interest due tosimilaritiesbetween the Epic of Gilgamesh and portion of the Bible , notably theflood myth .
The 3,500 - year - old tablet , measuring15.2 centimeters by 12.7 centimeters ( 6 inch by 5 inches ) , contains a dreaming sequence from the historic poem inscribe in cuneiform playscript , the world’soldest knownform of writing .
“ This sacrifice represents an important milepost on the course to returning this rare and ancient chef-d’oeuvre of creation literature to its nation of origin , ” suppose Acting US Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis for the Eastern District of New York in astatement .
“ The Gilgamesh tab , the significant one , will be returned to Iraq in the next month after effectual subroutine are finalized , ” Iraq ’s Culture Minister Hassan Nadhim toldReuters . In the interim , the lozenge is being hive away in a Union storage warehouse in Brooklyn , harmonise to the New York Times .
Although these thousands of ancient artifacts from Iraq have made it home safe , M moreare still overlook .
“ There ’s still a lot of work ahead in this matter , ” Nadhimsaid .
