Christians of Iraq
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Christians of Iraq
Contact Links Historical articles Historical pictures Photos of Bombed Churches Home Only this link has access to all News articles
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The Treasure Hunter By Eileen McClelland
Houston ChronicleMarch 19, 06
When Marine Col. Matthew Bogdanos found himself in Basra, Iraq, in April 2003, he was leading an interagency counterterrorism special-ops team searching for weapons and money.
Hunting down priceless antiquities was not in his job description.
Yet when he heard (as it turned out, grossly exaggerated) news reports that 170,000 artifacts had been stolen from Iraq's National Museum in April 2003, he redefined his mission, obtained (reluctant) permission to implement his investigation and made his way perilously to Baghdad with a handpicked team, all within days. Bogdanos lived in the museum for six months, exploring secret passageways, assembling an inventory and establishing trust with museum staff and the community.
Bogdanos, author of Thieves of Baghdad: One Marine's Passion for Ancient Civilizations and the Journey to Recover the World's Greatest Stolen Treasures (Bloomsbury, $25.95), addressed a sold-out audience of 400 at the Houston Museum of Natural Science Tuesday night in conjunction with the Royal Tombs of Ur exhibition.
Bogdanos was uniquely qualified for the mission he invented. An assistant district attorney in New York City since 1988, Bogdanos was recalled to active duty after Sept. 11 and received a bronze star for counterterrorist operations in Afghanistan. He holds a law degree and a master's degree in classical studies from Columbia University and a master's degree in strategic studies from the Army War College.
He grew up working in his family's Greek restaurant. He's a boxer, a ballet dancer and a voracious reader who quotes Shakespeare, Homer and Voltaire.
In the book, written with William Patrick, Bogdanos also chronicles his escape from danger on Sept. 11 -- guiding his pregnant wife, two toddlers and the family dog away from their debris-filled home a block from the World Trade Center.
As fascinating as his life story is, Bogdanos says Thieves of Baghdad is not about him but about the people of Iraq and the treasures that rightfully belong to them. All royalties from the book go to the Iraqi museum.
Artifacts from the royal tombs of Ur, which date to 2600 B.C., are among treasures housed in Iraq's National Museum. Antiquities from that era also are found in the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, which organized the Houston exhibit. The Royal Tombs of Ur: Ancient Treasures From Modern Iraq, on view through Aug. 13, features more than 400 rare and exquisite Sumerian artifacts from the Mesopotamian city.
Misconceptions linger about the looting of the Iraqi museum, Bogdanos said. Early reports indicated that hundreds of thousands of artifacts were stolen by rampaging looters as U.S. forces stood idly by.
In reality, most looters were expressing rage at Saddam Hussein.
"It was as if an entire people had the opportunity to manifest their anger at the old regime," Bogdanos said. Offices were trashed, but few galleries were destroyed, and the museum suffered no structural damage.
The museum, which Saddam closed to the public for 20 years, was called Saddam's gift shop and open only by special invitation.
The real numbers?
Highly organized thieves took 40 carefully selected pieces; looters absconded with about 3,100 pieces (some were copies or inexpensive gift-shop items); and thieves with inside knowledge of the museum removed more than 10,000 small pieces of jewelry, coins and cylinder seals, an ancient form of written identification.
Through an amnesty program and raids on suspected smugglers, Bogdanos was able to retrieve 95 percent of the looted pieces.
Fifteen of the 40 treasures apparently stolen by professionals have been tracked down as well. And the treasure of Nimrud -- 613 pieces of gold jewelry, precious stones and ornaments from the height of the Assyrian civilization in 800 B.C. -- was found undamaged in the basement vault of a bank, where it had been moved by Saddam in 1990.
The exquisitely carved, 5,000-year-old Sacred Vase of Warka, a priceless centerpiece of Iraq's National Museum, was among pieces returned through the amnesty program. The Mask of Warka was found buried at a farm north of Iraq. And when Bogdanos returned to New York, a 4,000-year-old Akkadian piece was passed to him in a coffee shop.
In November 2005, Bogdanos was awarded a National Humanities Medal by President Bush. Still, he is not patting himself on the back. Released back into the Marine Reserve in October 2005, he returned to the DA's office and continues to hunt for stolen antiquities.
"We can't seem to get the international community to do something about it," he said. "Until we've recovered every single thing, the mission is a failure."
The antiquities trade is helping fund the Iraq insurgency, he believes.
Bogdanos is haunted by what's still missing, including The Lioness Attacking a Nubian, an object shown on the cover of his book. The circa-eighth-century B.C. piece is a chryselephantine ivory plaque inlaid with lapis and carnelian and overlaid with gold.
As for the Iraqi museum, it has been sealed for security's sake and is likely years away from reopening.
"But remember, it wasn't open before," Bogdanos said.