What is it? It's a huge bronze weight in the shape of an animal's knucklebone, about a foot wide, but that's not the cool part. This weight was made in Miletus and the Greek message on it says it was a gift to Apollo in his temple at Didyma. Those were Greek cities, though today that land is part of Turkey. But after the Ionian Revolt, in 494 BC, the Persian king Darius sacked Miletus, and he brought this weight (and I suppose a lot of other stuff) back to Susa as plunder. That's where archaeologists found it, in Susa in Iran. But they brought it as colonialist plunder to the Louvre in Paris, where it still is today. So a question: if the Louvre was going to return this to the rightful owners, would that be Turkey? Greece? Iran? Sometimes it's pretty hard to unwind the past. #plunder #replunder #louvre #parisfrance #susa #iran #dariusi #persianempire #miletus #didyma #apollo #ionianrecolt #ionia #turkey #bronzeweights