I used to wonder: Do only ignorant laypeople gaze on the colossal bust of Ramses II at the British Museum and ask themselves how it ended up there? Is it only the unschooled visitor who looks at the soaring column from the Temple of Artemis at the Met and questions why it exists in this place? Sharon Waxman
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The British Museum in London is famous for housing the colossal statue of Ramses II (1279-1213 BCE). The statue was taken by Englishmen who had sailed to Egypt during the Napoleonic War. It currently stands in the museum's Egyptian Gallery, where it makes an enormous impression on visitors. The museum itself is noted for its collections of Egyptian artifacts, but the bust is particularly striking. The Column of Heliodorus (known as the "Temple of Artemis" or "Temple of Diana") at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City was commissioned by Heliodorus, treasurer of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

It was built between about 450 and 430 BCE after a commission from Eumenes II of Pergamum, who ruled over Pergamium, then under the control of the Seleucids. It stood in Ephesus until it was destroyed by earthquakes in 17 BC and its marble fragments were moved to Athens and reassembled into five columns that stood for centuries at the Erechtheion.

Source: Loot: The Battle Over The Stolen Treasures Of The Ancient World

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