The theft of Cyprus’ terracotta army

It began with a theft.  

The theft itself wasn’t unusual – Cyprus is all too used to its artefacts being plundered. In our time, we’ve lost the Kanakaria mosaics, the Antiphonitis Church frescoes and countless icons and artefacts to smugglers.

But what was particularly unusual about this incident was its sheer scale: 1,500 priceless artefacts taken from the land in which they had stood for almost 3,000 years, spirited