1,700-year-old Cybele statue returns to Turkey after 60 years

Source: Xinhua Published: 2020/12/14 8:53:32

Photo taken on Dec. 13, 2020 shows the statue of Cybele displayed at the press conference in Istanbul, Turkey. The 1,700-year-old statue of Cybele, the symbol of abundance and fertility, was brought back to Turkey after being smuggled abroad nearly 60 years ago, Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced Sunday. (Photo by Osman Orsal/Xinhua)

The 1,700-year-old statue of Cybele, the symbol of abundance and fertility, was brought back to Turkey after being smuggled abroad nearly 60 years ago, Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced Sunday.

Ersoy made the announcement and introduced the statue by holding a press conference at the Istanbul Archeological Museums, a day after it arrived in Turkey from the United States.

The sculpture was discovered in the 1960s in Turkey's western province of Afyonkarahisar during the construction of a road, but later it was smuggled and sold in Israel, according to Ersoy.

The minister noted that Turkey was recently informed that the artifact entered the United States to be sold at an auction house.

"We asked the officials there to halt the sale," he said, adding Turkish authorities presented a scientific document which proves the statue was of Anatolian origin.

Cybele has been worshipped as Mother Goddess, the symbol and protector of fertility and abundance in the Mediterranean Basin, especially in Anatolia, since prehistoric times, according to historians.

Lions on both sides of the statue show the dominance of Cybele over nature and animals, said a recent article published at an archeological news platform.

The Turkish minister said the statute would be put on display at a new museum that would be built in Afyonkarahisar in the upcoming period.

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