A cup for Hercules

A gold ring, two amphorae, and a cup dedicated to Hercules are the treasures that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) handed over last Tuesday to the National Museum of Ukrainian History. These valuables were seized from a Sevastopol-Moscow train conductor, who was trying to smuggle them to the Russian capital. After a more than two-year-long investigation, on July 31, 2006, Kyiv’s Zhovtnevy District Court indicted the smuggler and launched a criminal case against him.

But what about his accomplices-the diggers, who were excavating these treasures (near Khersones, according to experts), the deliverers, and the “clients” waiting for the archeological finds in Moscow? “Our work is continuing,” SBU departmental chief Mykhailo Hluhovsky told The Day’s correspondent. “We have some information about the other accessories to the crime, but unfortunately this does not mean that we will manage to bring them to justice because even catching a criminal red-handed is no guarantee - these are the peculiarities of our law system.”

Over the past five years about 100 criminal cases have been launched into the illegal transfer of archeological finds abroad. While border confiscations of items removed from Ukrainian soil are a customary practice, meting out punishment to culprits remains a major legal and bureaucratic problem. The SBU hands over the seized items to various museums after putting them on a special list. This is the third “gift” that law enforcers have presented historians in the past six months: a few months ago they gave the museum some Scythian metal pieces and red-clay vessels dating to the 4th-9th centuries B.C., which were found in the Crimea.

A historical and artistic examination conducted by the museum’s experts confirmed that these valuables are of ancient origin and date to the second half of the 4th century BC. All four items are in excellent condition, allowing the experts to conclude that they were found in a burial ground by “black archeologists.” Among the finds shown last Tuesday to journalists is a man’s gold ring ornamented with an intaglio featuring a red gem with engraved markings, enameled green inserts on each side of the shield, and a grain seed. The wine-drinking vessel is ornamented with an inscription that says “Hercules,” scientists say.

Among the magnificent antiquities presented to the museum are two red vases: an amphora and a pitcher with a lid, which were used for water and wine. Amphorae like this are on display in many world museums, but until now our museum has never had such exhibits. The vessels are ornamented with ornately composed scenes depicting Dionysus and a maenad. They were executed in a technique typical of the Apulian school of vase painting, the most well-known and influential South Italian school of the 4th-5th centuries BC. They are roughly valued at seven to ten thousand dollars, depending on the auction. But these looted finds will not go to auction: by the end of this year they will go on display at the National Museum of Ukrainian History.