Libya displays seized Roman-era artefacts

Libya yesterday displayed a treasure trove of Roman-era artefacts which officials believe Gaddafi loyalists were planning to sell to finance attacks.

The objects were seized in August on the day Tripoli fell to former rebels who had been fighting since mid-February to end the rule of now slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi, new regime officials told a news conference.

The antiquities, including a statue of a woman and sculpted heads of men which date back to 2nd and 3rd century AD, were shown to reporters as officials detailed how the artefacts were seized.

The antiquities were found “during the fall of the capital,” after intense fighting between Gaddafi loyalists and the former rebels, said Khaled Torjman, the director of Libya’s High Security Committee.

On August 23 the ex-rebels overran Gaddafi’s fortified headquarters in Tripoli after heavy fighting.

On that day, according to Torjman, a group of fighters clashed with Gaddafi loyalists who were trying to flee the capital and found the antiquities concealed in a large suitcase in the boot of their car.

“The day the capital fell, a group of thwar (anti-Gaddafi fighters) stopped cars belonging to the brigades of Gaddafi on the road to the airport,” Torjman said.

The artefacts were seized and entrusted to one of the ex-rebels for protection but he was wounded in a subsequent incident and taken abroad for treatment.

“He was the only one who knew the whereabouts of these pieces,” Torjman said, adding that the fighter, upon his return to Libya, handed over the artefacts to the security committee.

The chief of Libya’s antiquities department, Saleh al-Gabe, confirmed Torjman’s account and told reporters Gaddafi loyalists probably wanted to smuggle the objects outside the country “to fund their aggressive attack”.

“Our experts are studying these statues from the Roman time which have strong local (Libyan) influence,” Gabe said.

The objects, he said, probably came from western Libya.

At a crossroads of ancient Mediterranean cultures, Libya is home to five Unesco World Heritage Sites, including the ruins of Leptis Magna, a prominent city in the Roman empire, and of Cyrene, one of the principal cities of the ancient Greek world.