It was part of a large frieze from the east side of the building on the Acropolis in Athens, announced the Antonino Salinas Archeology Museum in Palermo on Wednesday. The foot of the Greek goddess of erotic persuasion Peitho or that of the goddess of the hunt Artemis, who sits on a throne, is depicted on the piece of marble.
The frieze comes from the archaeological collection of the English consul Robert Fagan. How it got into his hands at the beginning of the 19th century is not clear. After Fagan’s death, his wife inherited the fragment and sold it to what is now the Antonio Salinas Museum.
According to the announcement, the agreement for the return came about between the Greek Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, and the Sicilian cultural assessor, Alberto Samonà, on the basis of the Italian Code of Cultural Property. The Sicilian Museum then gave the fragment to Athens for four years and received two pieces from the collection of the Acropolis Museum. The goal, however, is to keep the frieze in Athens permanently.