The pieces include a rare Gutenberg bible, paintings by Monet and Matisse, and priceless 5, 000 year-old gold artefacts known as Priam's Treasure.

BBC: Website traces war booty

More creditably, there is much excellent acting, particularly from Greg Hicks, both as a brooding, Brutus-like Agamemnon, and as a rather sinister, sensuous Priam, who towers over everyone on stilts.

ECONOMIST: Theatre

Both Mr Verity and Mr Mitchell give Hecuba's speech to her husband, Priam, when he tells her of going to retrieve their son Hector's body from Achilles, a certain shrillness not necessarily heard in the Greek.

ECONOMIST: Homer��s ��Iliad��

The German newspaper Bild am Sonntag has quoted officials from Russia's Culture Ministry as saying that they were ready to loan Priam's Treasure to Germany for exhibition, but only on the condition that it is returned.

BBC: Website traces war booty