According to Hürriyet Daily News, Turkey has achieved to repatriate another “stolen” antiquity. As the newspaper states, Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay has “hinted” that the “ministry would return a specific artifact that was originally discovered in Turkey but was subsequently taken abroad, without specifying which item it would be”. Now archaeologists hope that the item, which will be returned on the eve of 2013, will be the Orpheus Mosaic from the Dallas Museum of Art in the USA.

According to Turkish authorities, the mosaic has been smuggled from Şanlıurfa (anicent Edessa) in 1950, after it had been discovered by J.B. Segal. A Turkish delegation from the Culture and Tourism Ministry has left for Chicago and is expected to return on December 5, with the mosaic.

Dallas Museum of Art director Jill Bernstein said the Museum will issue an official statement about the case next month.

“Orpheus Taming Wild Animals” is dated to 194 AD. It originally decorated the floor of a Roman building. Orpheus is depicted sitting on a rock and surrounded by wild animals. As the poet plays the lyre, the magic power of his music tames the animals.