"Thieves of Baghdad" with Matthew Bogdanos

On January 23, over 150 people came to the U.C. Berkeley campus to hear Matthew Bogdanos, a colonel in the Marine reserves and a NY homicide prosecutor with an academic background in the classics, detail his efforts to save antiquities looted from the Iraq Museum in 2003.

San Francisco-based SAFE members Claudia Brose and Stephanie Dodaro worked closely with U.C. Berkeley Professor Marian Feldman* to produce a lecture, book signing, and reception featuring Colonel Bogdanos, author of the recent Thieves of Baghdad. Thanks to the team's outreach, the crowd was filled with archaeologists, students, and citizens alike.

After Professor Feldman welcomed the audience, Stephanie Dodaro made a brief presentation about SAFE's goals and programs. Then Bogdanos kept the audience rapt with an impassioned account of his work in Iraq, illustrated with personal photos of the mission. He discussed the global illicit antiquities trade and the devastating effect of looting on archaeological sites, as well the lackluster international response. He also made a strong case for a concerted international effort to stop the illicit antiquities trade.