Matthew Bogdanos: “ISIS & Antiquities Trafficking”

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Matthew Bogdanos will speak about the Islamic State’s trafficking in looted antiquities and the global black market that emerged after the looting of the Iraq Museum in April 2003. He will also discuss the aims and efforts of the New York District Attorney’s newly formed Antiquities Trafficking Unit, which under his leadership has already taken several highly visible actions against prominent antiquities collectors, dealers, and cultural institutions.

Matthew Bogdanos is a New York Assistant District Attorney and a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps. He has served in Iraq and Afghanistan and is the co-author of Thieves of Baghdad (2005), his account of tracking down looted antiquities in the wake of the plundering of the Baghdad Museum (his royalties go to the Baghdad Museum). Bogdanos holds a JD and an MA in Classical Studies from Columbia University, and an MA in Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College. He was awarded a Bronze Star for counterterrorist operations in Afghanistan and a National Humanities Medal from President George Bush in 2005 for his work recovering Iraqi antiquities.

Co-sponsors: Columbia University’s Department of History; Department of Classics; Classical Studies (CLST) Graduate Program; Center for the Ancient Mediterranean.