Gaza fisherman hooks statue of ancient Greek god Apollo

http://www.cnn.com ^ | February 15, 2014 | Nic Robertson and Talal Abu Rahma

[Beowulf9]

Gaza (CNN) -- When Jwdat Abu Ghrb spotted a dark shape last summer in the waters off Gaza, where he was diving for fish, he initially thought it was a corpse.

"I was afraid," he told CNN. "I put on my goggles, dove underneath and still couldn't tell what it was. I resurfaced and got some help from other people and family members and came back, and after full four hours of trying we managed to get it out of the water and I was shocked by what I found."

It was a life-size bronze statue, believed to be a 2,500-year-old depiction of the ancient Greek god Apollo.

[Inyo-Mono]

Amazing!

[Nifster]

An amazing piece of antiquity

[Squawk 8888]

GGG ping.

[Beowulf9]

But being let to ruin by those idiots over there.

[Steely Tom]

Face looks a little like Pajama Boy.

[ZinGirl]

and they put it on a SMURF blanket? Or was the blanket found with the statue? :)

[Beowulf9]

Ping:)

[Jane Long]

LOL. I hadn’t looked at that til I read your post.

[ZinGirl]

:) seriously...it looks like even Apollo is wondering.

[Vendome]

“By the beard of Zuess!”

[tflabo]

He looks god-—I mean good for his age. Not worship worthy however....well maybe in Seattle though.

[cloudmountain]

I guess the Mediterranean tides slowly, but inexorably, bore Apollo's statue DUE east until it hit the first land, Israel.
The Gaza strip, the peninsula that is, is made up of mostly Palestinian Arabs. It's good it landed there as the Arabs would neither know nor care about the statue. If it had washed up on OUR shore, it would be held hostage by the scavengers and sold to the highest bidder.

BEAUTIFUL statue.
The Greeks were really something, weren't they? Such an OLD culture--founders of so many things.

[Randy Larsen]

Another one looking for a handout!

[bunkerhill7]

I`m appalled, I tell you- just appalled!

[Beowulf9]

“The Greeks were really something, weren’t they?”

They were gushingly wonderful artists. I always found it flattering the Romans copied their artistic style.

I hope the archaeologists end up owning it. The ones that have it now are not knowledgeable or equipped to do so.

[andyk]

Haha, I didn’t notice the smurfin’ blanket.

[andyk]

it looks like even Apollo is wondering.

Haha - "what the smurf?"

[cloudmountain]

They were gushingly wonderful artists. I always found it flattering the Romans copied their artistic style.
I hope the archaeologists end up owning it. The ones that have it now are not knowledgeable or equipped to do so.

I hope so too.