Lightning Damages Axum Obelisk In Rome

CNN Europe ^ | 5-28-2002

[blam]

ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- Lightning has damaged a 3,000-year-old obelisk which Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's troops plundered from Ethiopia and brought to the heart of Rome before World War II.

Lightning struck the obelisk late on Monday and chipped chunks of stone from the top of the 24-metre (75-foot) artefact, looted from the holy city of Axum in 1937 after fascist Italy annexed the Horn of Africa country.

[blam]

Remember all the articles a few months back about this thing being returned?

[blam]

FYI.

[ValerieUSA]

Didn't Italy lose the war? Why did it keep the spoils? Wasn't there a victor?

[farmfriend]

But a culture undersecretary said Ethiopia could not guarantee the safekeeping of the cultural heritage.

Looks like Italy couldn't keep it safe either.

[RightWhale]

It should have been returned long ago. It needs to be in the lightning-free zone where it was for 3000 years, not up in Europe with it's wild weather patterns.

[another cricket]

You have never been in a desert storm have you?

a.cricket

[John Locke]

Returned, yes - but to Egypt, where it rightfully belongs. The obelisk was erected by Pharaoh Tutmoses III of the 18th Dynasty. It is one of a pair; the other is in the Hippodrome at Constantinople.

[RightWhale]

Returned, yes - but to Egypt

What about all the other stuff that people left lying around or stole from other nations? How about gold recovered from sunken Spanish galleons near Cuba and Florida, should that be returned to whoever is living in Central America now? Should all the Roman ruins everywhere be loaded up and dumped inside the old city wall of Rome? Should the 13 colonies be returned to England?

[John Locke]

In general, no. My post was prompted by two things. One, the absurdity of returning "stolen property" to the previous thief rather than its original owner. Two, a genuine belief that Egypt is an exception: her ancient artifacts look far, far better on their original sites. The Egyptians had a gift for the architectural composition of large masses that is breathtaking.

[SunkenCiv]

Just adding this to the GGG catalog, not sending a general distribution.

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[SunkenCiv]