COPENHAGEN, DENMARK—The AFP reports that Denmark’s Glyptotek Museum will repatriate a bronze head of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus (reigned a.d. 193–211) to Turkey. It is thought to have been looted from the Lycian site of Bubon, which is located on Turkey’s Mediterranean coastline. A museum curator suggested in 1979 that the sculpture, acquired by the Glyptotek Museum in 1970, could belong to a headless statue held in the United States. The headless statue was returned to Turkey two years ago. “Unique archaeological finds from Bubon have been sold illegally to collectors and museums around the world,” said Gertrud Hvidberg-Hansen, director of the Glyptotek Museum. “In recent years, many of these items, especially those held in collections in the United States, have been returned. These factors have contributed to our decision to comply with the restitution request from Turkey,” she concluded. To read about a massive plan of the city of Rome under Septimius Severus, go to "Mapping the Past: The Forma Urbis Romae."
