Why Covet Ancient Chariots. . .

The Times (UK) ^ | 1-5-2006 | Richard Owen

[blam]

Why covet ancient chariots...

Richard Owen

ITALY Conservationists are campaigning for the return of a unique Etruscan “golden chariot” which is due to form the centrepiece of a new exhibition this Spring at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The chariot, found in 1902 by a farmer at Monteleone near Spoleto in Umbria, and sold to the Met the next year, dates back to the 6th century BC. It is the star attraction in a collection of antiquities to go on show at the $155 million (£80million) Leon Levy and Shelby White Court at the museum.

Villagers in Monteleone (population 651), say that it was exported illegally. The campaign comes as Italy is stepping up its battle to regain a number of allegedly looted antiquities from institutions including the Met and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

The farmer who found the chariot sold it — for two cows, according to some accounts — to dealers who allegedly smuggled it to New York.

Tito Mazzetta, a lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia, whose family came from Monteleone and who has taken up the case, said the Metropolitan Museum had so far refused to return the chariot, although it “has not produced any documentation to prove its legal provenance”.

Marion True, a former curator of antiquities at the Getty Museum, is currently on trial in Rome for allegedly acquiring stolen artefacts.

[Fred Nerks]

I don't have that kind of money, so I'll have to settle for the $50 one.

I'm going outside now, to light up a ziggarut.

[endthematrix]

"Lubrication in the form of animal fat or tallow is known to have been used, although the exact composition has not been determined." Here

"Lubricant found on a chariot circa 1,400 B.C. was probably mutton or beef tallow, with a melting point of 49.5°C." Here

Herodotus wrote of refining petroleum to get lubricants. And 1,900 years ago, Pliny the Elder wrote out a list of vegetable oils that were commonly used at the time for lubrication.

[RightWhale]

Sand in the bearings will ruin an otherwise exhilarating chariot outing.

[RightWhale]

The front wheel bearings of my old Chevy were originally factory packed with mutton tallow. The repacking was with silicon grease, which at least doesn't smell so bad after long trips.

[ASOC]

LOL

Plastic does not use Greece, if it it PTFE, but the Bible does, at least in that one book.

The lamentation of the recently dead cannot be heard except by God. The wailing and cries of the living serves to remind us of the price of _________.


Sheets of PTFE are sold to RV'rs pulling 5th wheel rigs (yes, I am that old) to use on the hitch in lieu of grease. Not exactly bronze chariots, but in some cases, they cost much gold.

[lepton]

If they pick up congress-critters, their equipment will surly fail from lack of lucubration....