Marbles Reunited’s campaign Manager, Maria Koutsikou attended a lecture given in Athens yesterday by John Fardoulis, the person in charge of the excavations of Lord Elgin’s ship, The Mentor, which was wrecked off Kythera en-route to England via Malta.

You can read the full writeup of the event here.

Over the last couple of years, Greek Australian John Fardoulis has been carrying out archaeological excavations on the wreck of Elgin’s ship, the Mentor. The boat sank in a storm off the coast of Kythera, and at the time was carrying many of the Parthenon sculptures, although these were later retrieved by sponge divers from Kalymnos. The new excavations of the wreck site, have revealed some interesting artefacts that were in Elgin’s posession – although nothing so far that relates directly to the Parthenon Marbles.

From:
Greek Reporter

Greek Antiquities Found On Mentor Shipwreck
By Christina Flora on November 20, 2012

The underwater shipwreck excavation of the wreck of the ship Mentor, that sank off the island of Kythera in 1802 while carrying goods plundered from the Parthenon by British diplomat Lord Elgin has proved to be a treasure trove of personal items from the passengers and crew.

A greater number of coins were also found, at least two ancient silver coins which were antiquities acquired by Elgin, passengers or the crew,along with two gold coins, used as currency at the time, from the late 1700’s. Other coins were also recovered but require conservation before they can be identified. Some of these may also be ancient.
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There will be a lecture in Sydney about excavations made last summer of the ship, the Mentor, that carried some of the Elgin Marbles from Greece to the UK.

From:
Radio Symban

Public Lecture, Wreck of the Mentor: The Mentor shipwreck, its cargo of Parthenon Marbles, 1800’s salvage and 2011 excavation
06/12/12

In 1802 the small brig Mentor was wrecked on the island of Kythera, Greece. Its stated cargo consisted of 17 crates of the Parthenon Marbles en-route from Piraeus to England via Malta. Over the next two years Lord Elgin spent a small fortune recovering the Marbles using Greek sponge divers. It was long suspected however that there were other undocumented antiquities aboard the vessel which were not recovered. Previous archaeological investigations had been inconclusive.

In July an excavation led by Dr. Kourkoumelis of the Ephorate of Marine Antiquities, Ministry of Culture & Tourism, Greece with three Australian volunteers recovered a number of ancient coins as well as personal items belonging to the crew. The similarities of the Mentor wreck-site with the Queensland wrecks of the HMS Pandora (1792) and Foam (1893) contributed to the decision to excavate in the area most likely to contain the long anticipated antiquities.

The talk is being generously supported by the Kytherian Association of Australia, in conjunction with the Sydney Friends of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens. Excavations have been supported by the Nicholas Anthony Aroney Trust & Kytherian Association of Australia. Refreshments are being sponsored by Fardoulis Chocolates. www.choc.com.au.

Theatre 101
New Law School Building
Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney
Wednesday, 7 December 2011, 7pm for a 7:30pm start
by Cos Coroneos and John Fardoulis

For more information about the Mentor project see: http://www.krg.org.au/mentor

Cost: A five dollar donation to the project would be appreciated!