Hobby Lobby ordered to forfeit rare Gilgamesh tablet smuggled out of Iraq in 2003

[UpInArms]

Source: Marketwatch

A federal judge has ordered that an ancient cuneiform tablet inscribed with a portion of the Sumerian epic poem of Gilgamesh that had been illegally sold to Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., be forfeited to the government.

The tablet — known as the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet — originated in modern-day Iraq and had been brought illegally to the U.S. in 2003, federal prosecutors said.

It was then sold several times before being acquired by Hobby Lobby, an Oklahoma-based arts and crafts chain, to be displayed at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. Hobby Lobby’s founder, Steven Green, is the museum’s chairman.

.. snip …

Representatives of Hobby Lobby and the Museum of the Bible didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.

In 2017, Hobby Lobby was fined $3 million after authorities accused the company of buying thousands of historical artifacts that had been smuggled out of Iraq.

Read more: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/judge-orders-forfeiture-of-rare-cuneiform-tablet-bought-by-hobby-lobby-in-antiquities-scandal-11627421849?mod=watchlist_latest_news

[Aristus]

1. Good!

Get them in the $$$!

[Duncanpup]

2. Hypocrites

Hit them hard

[marble falls]

19. They had the Reader's Digest printing of the Bible, it only had The Seven Comandments, no ...

... Thou shalt not steal.

[Duncanpup]

21. 😂

[mopinko]

3. i was a teeny part of this story, maybe,

i remember well the sacking of the bagdhad museum, because several of my artist friends arranged an auction to digitize the photos in the collection of the u of chicago.
the oriental institute had been partnering w the museum for decades and had high quality photos of most of the artifacts.

between the money we raised, and the hours that some volunteered, they produced a catalogue that law enforcement, including interpol, iirc, has used ever since.
not sure about this item, but i know there have been many items retrieved.

(i ended up scooping up several paintings, as we didnt get a big enough, rich enough crowd. that's how i ended up w half my art collection.)

[hibbing]

12. Must have been fascinating n/t

[mopinko]

14. it was. forget the guy's name, but he was quite intense,

cute, too.

i rly wanted to put in some time, but i just didnt have it.

[C Moon]

4. Hobby Lobby sounds like the nazi party.

[Lonestarblue]

5. It's sickening that this criminal only has to pay fines.

He had to have known that the artifacts he was buying were stolen from Iraq. Artifacts like don’t come on the market legally, but he bought them anyway. This is a man whose religious beliefs the Supreme Court allowed to be used to avoid paying insurance premiums for birth control for female employees, yet his religious beliefs allowed him to buy stolen property. Complete hypocrite. But I want to know why buying stolen property is not a crime prosecutable by more than a small fine.

[ArizonaLib]

6. He's a jerk

Those are things they do.

[efhmc]

7. The rights of rich white GOP men always usurps the so called rights of women.

[csziggy]

28. He doesn't get back what he paid for the items, does he?

I hope not, even if it means that the people who sold stolen artifacts along get to keep the money.

[PortTack]

8. This isn't his first theft of Middle Eastern artifacts...total jerk

[Probatim]

13. IIRC, he has received thousands of stolen artifacts over the years.

He should be in prison.

[DFW]

9. I wonder if the husband of my Swedish professor translated any of that

His name was Åke Sjöberg, and he worked at the archaeology department of my university. He was a wonderful old guy, and one of the few people I ever met who could read and translate those things.

[Warpy]

10. Good, it belongs to the people whose ancestors wrote it.

That sanctimonious, grasping nest of vipers had no business hoarding it away. I hope they got taken for one hell of a lot of money.

I don't know who finked them out, but s/he deserves a medal.

[keithbvadu2]

11. Christianity and the Bible witnessed, honored, enhanced, exemplified, glorified and displayed by the

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029293684

http://www.newsweek.com/hobby-lobby-iraq-antiquities-evangelicals-632434

Christianity and the Bible witnessed, honored, enhanced, exemplified, glorified and displayed by theft and fraud by the Hobby Lobby Bible Museum..

[cab67]

15. I've always thought the Epic of Gilgamesh was a problem for biblical literalists.

It clearly shows that the story of Noah was derived from pre-biblical stories originally formulated in a polytheistic context.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. This is a problem in a different way; it says sex is civilising

And the tablet itself presented some complications for Christofascist enablers like the Green family, who own Hobby Lobby. The text is hot stuff. It describes our hero, Gilgamesh, having vivid dreams that are interpreted for him as presaging the arrival of his friend, Enkidu, who is, at the moment, canoodling with a woman named Shamhat, who has been tasked with civilizing him, which she does through several lubricious means that appear contrary to Hobby Lobby’s Christian obligations to carry a large stick up its ass. They have continual sex for two weeks, after which Enkidu is civilized. Thank goodness this is going back to its rightful owners. I don’t think America is ready to be civilized through sex. Or perhaps any other way, now that you mention it.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a37154595/hobby-lobby-forfeit-gilgamesh-tablet/

[lagomorph777]

24. Yeah - surprised he didn't hide or destroy it.

Incidentally, I was raised very Catholic (didn't stick at all). But I have a lot of trouble seeing any difference between Christianity and polytheism. The Holy Trinity - that's 3 gods right there. Then you have the lesser gods (angels, demons), and demigods (saints)... So it's a fairly good sized pantheon.

[Orrex]

16. Shut them the fuck down

They’ve proven themselves an international criminal enterprise several times over.

Shut them down.

[Grins]

17. So they fought for more than 2-years to keep the property they stole...?

How "Christian" of these colossal frauds.

And of course:

"Representatives of Hobby Lobby and the Museum of the Bible didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment."

I don't blame them. If I had be caught cold like that....

[marble falls]

20. Return all the "artifacts" that are really another nation's cultural legacy ...

... The Elgin Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, all mummies and human remains, all religious items ......

I'm waiting for Egyptian archeologists to start digging up US cemeteries and shipping "anthropological finds" to museums in Cairo.

[apnu]

22. Hobby Lobby are war profiteers.

Total scum.

[Marrah_Goodman]

23. Hahahaha!!!!!!

I love seeing these zealots lose.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

25. I wonder what Iraq will do with this artifact.

Will it go to a museum, get pulverized, or just be sold? Maybe Hobby Lobby can buy it again.

[brooklynite]

26. C'mon, they bought it from ISIS Fair and Square!

[LanternWaste]

27. Not blaming Hamas this time?

[whistler162]

29. Only 2 or maybe 3 commandments broken

better luck next time.

[okaawhatever]

30. IIRC Hobby Lobby uses the artifacts as a huge tax scam also. They

buy the artifacts dirt cheap, restore them, and get high appraisals for the newly refurbished artifacts. They are allowed to use the appraised price for the tax write off.

I’ll try to find a link.