American Tourist Arrested for Smashing 1,800-Year-Old Roman Statues

An American tourist has been arrested in Israel after allegedly smashing and severely damaging two Roman-era statues.

The incident occurred at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem on Thursday, according to officials. The statues date to the 2nd century C.E. and were part of the Archeology Wing's permanent exhibition.

"In a severe incident [Thursday] afternoon, a tourist from the U.S. intentionally caused damage to two ancient Roman statues from the second century C.E.," a museum spokesperson said in a statement provided to Newsweek.

"The museum's staff alerted the police, which is handling the matter. The damaged statues have been moved to the museum's conservation lab for professional restoration. The museum's management, which views this as a troubling and unusual event, condemns all forms of violence and hopes such incidents will not recur."

The sculptures were knocked off their pedestals and had broken into several pieces. One is a marble head of the ancient Greek goddess Athena that was discovered in 1978 in Tel Naharon, northern Israel, Haaretz reported.

The head was likely once part of a larger-than-life statue that may have stood more than 8 feet in height.

The other sculpture is a depiction of a griffon—a horned, winged creature with a beak and the body of a lion—holding a wheel of fate representing the Roman god Nemesis. This artifact was discovered in the Negev desert in southern Israel in 1957.

Police said in a statement provided to Newsweek that museum security personnel detained the tourist, a 40-year-old Jewish American man before officers arrived and apprehended him.

Police then questioned him, determining that he destroyed the statues because of his religious sensibilities, believing them to be "idolatrous" and contrary to the Torah.

The man's lawyer, Nick Kaufman, told the Associated Press that the 40-year-old, who has yet to be named, had not acted out of religious fanaticism.

Instead, Kaufman said the tourist was showing signs of "Jerusalem syndrome"—a unique psychiatric phenomenon that occurs in some tourists and pilgrims who visit the holy city, which is sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

The syndrome is characterized by an acute psychotic state, the main symptom of which appears to involve the individual believing that they are a figure from the Bible.

"The discrete form of the Jerusalem syndrome is related to religious excitement induced by proximity to the holy places of Jerusalem," a 2018 paper published in The British Journal of Psychiatry says.

The suspect has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, the AP reported.

The damage to the sculptures at the Israel Museum appears to be the latest in a series of incidents involving Jews attacking historical objects. In February, a Jewish American tourist damaged a statue of Jesus at a Christian pilgrimage site in the Old City. And in January, two Jewish teenagers vandalized Christian tombstones at a historic cemetery.

Commenting on the incident, Eli Escusido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in a statement: "This is a shocking case of the destruction of cultural values. We see with concern the fact that cultural values are being destroyed by religiously motivated extremists."

The suspect is currently under investigation for the deliberate defacement of valuable sculptures at the museum. His detention has been extended until Monday, October 9, police said.

Update 10/06/23, 9:34 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.

Update 10/07/23, 5:49 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information from police.