希腊向土耳其归还1,055枚银币，下一步关注帕台农神庙大理石浮雕

希腊文化部长莉娜·门多尼 (Lina Mendoni) 表示，2019 年希腊海关人员在与土耳其边境查获了 1,055 枚银币。

Greece on Thursday returned a hoard of 1,055 silver coins to Turkey, dating back to the 5th century BCE, in the first such repatriation between the two countries.

周四，希腊向土耳其归还了一批可追溯到公元前 5 世纪的 1,055 枚银币，这是两国之间的首次此类归还。

The coins, seized by Greek customs guards on the border with Turkey in 2019, were part of a stock hidden in Asia Minor, Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said at a ceremony in Athens.

希腊文化部长莉娜·门多尼 (Lina Mendoni) 在雅典举行的仪式上表示，这些硬币是 2019 年在与土耳其边境被希腊海关人员查获的，属于隐藏在小亚细亚的库存的一部分。

"These coins had been illegally imported," she said at the Numismatic Museum, which specialises in currency and medal collections.

“这些硬币是非法进口的，”她在专门收藏货币和奖章的钱币博物馆说道。

Greeks are "particularly sensitive" to repatriation issues, she said.

她说，希腊人对遣返问题“特别敏感”。

"All illegally exported antiquities from whichever country should return to their country of origin," she added.

“所有从哪个国家非法出口的文物都应该返回原产国，”她补充道。

Turkish Culture Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said the operation was the first repatriation from Greece.

土耳其文化部长穆罕默德·努里·埃尔索伊表示，这是首次从希腊遣返。

Greek and Turkish experts determined that the coins were part of a stock hidden in Asia Minor between the late 5th and early 4th century BCE, she added.

她补充说，希腊和土耳其专家确定这些硬币是公元前 5 世纪末至 4 世纪初隐藏在小亚细亚的库存的一部分。

While research is ongoing, it is possible the hoard was secreted in modern-day Turkey during the Persian Wars expeditions of Athenian general Cimon, a veteran of the 480 BCE Battle of Salamis, she added.

她补充说，虽然研究仍在进行中，但这些宝藏有可能是在雅典将军西蒙 (Cimon) 远征波斯战争期间秘密藏在现代土耳其的，西蒙是公元前 480 年萨拉米斯战役的老兵。

Most of the cache were tetradrachms -- ancient large silver coins -- originally minted in Athens and used broadly in the eastern Mediterranean, said Museum Numismatologist Vassiliki Stefanaki, a coinage expert.

博物馆钱币学家兼铸币专家瓦西里基·斯特凡纳基 (Vassiliki Stefanaki) 表示，大部分藏品都是四德拉克——古代大银币——最初在雅典铸造，并在东地中海广泛使用。

Stamped with the image of an owl, the Athenian relics were also used locally to pay tribute to the Persian Empire, and Persian governors used them to reward their troops, she said.

她说，这些雅典文物上印有猫头鹰的图案，当地也用它们来向波斯帝国进贡，波斯总督也用它们来奖励他们的军队。

Other coins came from Cyprus, the islands of Aegina and Milos, from Asia Minor cities founded by Greek settlers, the Iron Age kingdom of Lydia, and Phoenicia in modern-day Lebanon, officials said.

官员称，其他硬币来自塞浦路斯、埃伊纳岛和米洛斯岛、希腊定居者建立的小亚细亚城市、铁器时代的吕底亚王国以及现代黎巴嫩的腓尼基。

Mendoni on Thursday also thanked Turkey for supporting Greece's campaign to secure the return of the Parthenon Marbles from London.

门多尼周四还感谢土耳其支持希腊确保从伦敦归还帕台农神庙大理石雕像的运动。

The British Museum has long maintained that the Marbles were removed from the Acropolis in Athens by royal decree granted to Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

大英博物馆长期以来一直坚称，这些大理石浮雕是根据英国驻奥斯曼帝国大使埃尔金勋爵的皇家法令从雅典卫城移走的。

But in June, Zeynep Boz, the head of the Turkish Culture Ministry's anti-smuggling committee, told a UNESCO meeting in Paris that no such document had been found in Ottoman archives.

但今年六月，土耳其文化部反走私委员会主席泽伊内普·博兹(Zeynep Boz)在巴黎举行的联合国教科文组织会议上表示，在奥斯曼档案中没有发现此类文件。

Her statement was "decisive" in favour of Greece's position, Mendoni said Thursday.

门多尼周四表示，她的声明“决定性”支持希腊的立场。

Ersoy through a translator said Turkey wanted "with all its heart" to see the Marbles return to Athens.

埃尔索伊通过翻译表示，土耳其“全心全意”希望看到大理石雕像返回雅典。

"The Greek people should have them, they belong to them," he said.

“希腊人民应该拥有它们，它们属于他们，”他说。

Boz, who attended Thursday's ceremony in Athens, told AFP that the timing of the coins' return by Greece was not related to her report in June.

参加周四在雅典举行的仪式的博兹告诉法新社，希腊归还硬币的时间与她六月份的报告无关。

The five-year delay was caused by the time required by the Greek justice system to authorise the coins' repatriation, she said.

她说，延迟五年的原因是希腊司法系统授权返还硬币所需的时间。