Greek police arrest men with antiquities

THESSALONIKI, Greece – Greek police arrested two men trying to sell several artifacts, including a bronze sculpture of emperor Alexander the Great from the 4th century B.C., for which the asking price was $9.5 million, authorities said Sunday.

The men were arrested Saturday morning near the town of Kavala, east of Thessaloniki, police said. Police searched their car and found a treasure trove that included a 2-foot statue of Alexander, two bronze heads of a boy and a young man and other artifacts, including two rare Qurans.

Experts say the Alexander statue appeared to come from the workshop of Lysippos, Alexander’s personal sculptor. Chemical tests are being conducted at the Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum to see whether the sculpture is an original or a contemporary copy, since Lysippos’ workshop, which employed several artists, also produced replicas of original works.

The young boy’s bronze head, apparently part of a larger sculpture, is dated from the Roman era, in the 1st century B.C.