GREEK POLICE RECOVER TWIN MARBLE STATUES

POLICE IN SOUTHERN GREECE HAVE SEIZED A RARE TWIN PAIR OF 2,500 YEAR OLD MARBLE STATUES AND ARRESTED TWO FARMERS WHO ALLEGEDLY PLANNED TO SELL THEM ABROAD FOR OVER $12 MILLION, AUTHORITIES SAID RECENTLY. POLICE SAID THE MEN WERE ARRESTED IN THE PELOPONNESE AREA LATE FRIDAY AS THEY WERE LOADING THE ILLEGALLY EXCAVATED FIGURES OF YOUNG MEN INTO A TRUCK. AUTHORITIES ARE SEEKING A THIRD MAN SUSPECTED OF BELONGING TO A SMUGGLING GANG THAT PLANNED TO SPIRIT THE 6th CENTURY BC WORKS OUT OF THE COUNTRY. 'THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT FIND, OF FABULOUS VALUE, AND BOTH STATUES WERE READY TO BE TAKEN OUT OF GREECE', CULTURE MINISTER PAVLOS GEROULANOS SAID. ARCHAEOLOGISTS SAID THAT THE STATUES ARE 'OUTSTANDING WORKS OF ART' AND MAY HAVE COME FROM A TEMPLE OR CEMETERY IN A LOST ANCIENT CITY IN THE PELOPONNESE REGION IN SOUTHERN GREECE. BOTH ARE IN EXCELLENT CONDITION, BUT LACK SECTIONS OF THEIR LOWER LEGS AND WERE GASHED BY A PLOW OR DIGGING MACHINERY. THE STATUES ARE OF THE STIFF, HIGHLY FORMALIZED KOUROS TYPE WIDESPREAD IN THE 7th AND 6th CENTURIES BC WHICH PORTRAYED GODS, HEROES OR ARISTOCRATS AND WERE PAINTED IN BRIGHT COLOURS. FROM THE 5th CENTURY ON, GREEK SCULPTURE BECAME MORE FLUID AND LIFELIKE, CULMINATING IN THE NATURALISM OF THE HELLENISTIC ERA. ALTHOUGH THE PRECISE SPOT OF THE FIND IS STILL UNCLEAR, AUTHORITIES BELIEVE IT MAY COINCIDE WITH THE LOST RUINS OF TENEA, A CITY THAT ACCORDING TO ANCIENT WRITERS LAY BETWEEN CORINTH AND MYCENAE AND WAS FIRST POPULATED BY PRISONERS OF WAR BROUGHT BACK BY VICTORIOUS GREEKS FROM THE TROJAN WAR, RECORDED IN HOMER'S 'ILIAD'. POLICE CHIEF LEFTERIS ECONOMOU SAID THE ARRESTS FOLLOWED INFORMATION FROM CULTURE MINISTRY OFFICIALS. HE PROVIDED NO DETAILS ON THE IDENTITY OF THE POTENTIAL BUYERS OR WHICH COUNTRY THE FINDS HAD BEEN HEADING FOR.