This gold Hippocampus Brooch was illegally excavated and looted out of one of the iron-age burial mounds in Uşak and Manisa Provinces of Turkey in 1960. It became a part of the Lydian Hoard – known in Turkey as the Karun Treasure – kept at the Uşak Museum of Archaeology in western Turkey. The Gold Hippocampus brooch was the most famous and precious object from the treasure. It was believed to have belonged to King Croesus of Lydia. The artifacts from the hoard were later sold in the 1980s to the Metropolitan Museum Of Art in New York. After some time these sold artifacts returned to Turkey. It weighs 14.3 grams and is currently on display in the Archaeological museum in Usak. Since being illegally excavated in the 1960s, it has been stolen, replaced by a fake. It sold to pay off gambling debts and has supposedly brought down a curse on its looters. Thanks to a anonymous tip police charged the director of the museum and nine others for the theft of the brooch along with a number of other items from the hoard in 2006. The hippocampus is a symbol of air, earth and water. They are known to live in fresh water as well as salt water and believed to be Poseidon’s horses. Sources: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/21761 https://web.stanford.edu/group/chr/drupal/ref/lydian-treasure http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/25/king-croesus-treasure-returning-turkey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocampus_(mythology)
