The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, in collaboration with the Association of Friends of AMTh, welcomes Dr. Dimitris Kourkoumelis - Rodostamos, archaeologist and Deputy Head of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, for the lecture: “…a quantity of boxes with stones of no value…” (Lord Elgin) – Excavating the “MENTOR” Shipwreck off Kythira (1802)
At the beginning of the 19th century, Lord Elgin (Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine, 1766–1841) chartered at least three ships to transport antiquities he had removed from various monuments in Athens to England. One of these ships, the brig “MENTOR”, carrying part of the sculptural decoration from monuments of the Acropolis, sank in September 1802 due to bad weather in the Bay of Agios Nikolaos, just outside the harbor of Avlemonas, Kythira.
The sunken ship has since become the focus of many investigations. Initially, Lord Elgin himself organized an expensive salvage operation and managed to recover the valuable cargo. From 1875 onwards, further explorations and inspections took place, mainly fueled by the belief that "marbles" still remained at the wreck site.
The Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities has been systematically excavating the shipwreck since 2009, focusing on the section of the ship that remains in relatively good condition — the stern. The recovered finds include objects used by the crew and passengers (personal belongings, jewelry, utensils, coins, etc.), as well as navigational instruments, weapons, and parts of the ship's equipment.
Among these artifacts, items of particular interest are antiquities likely connected to the personal collections of the passengers, such as ancient coins, amphora handles with stamps, fossils, a fragment of an ancient Egyptian pharaonic relief, and a piece of an ancient Egyptian inscription.
The data collected so far, along with the study of the finds, offer insight into life aboard ships in the 18th–19th centuries and shed light on a sorrowful episode in Greece’s modern cultural history.
