THE SPOILS OF WAR — sculptures, paintings, monuments, and other valuable cultural arti- facts — traditionally became the victor’s prop- erty during military conflicts.


Greek King Agamemnon and his troops looted the wealthy city of Troy of its gold and other treasures around the 12th century B.C. When Emperor Titus’ Roman armies sacked the Temple of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, they carried off many priceless holy arti- facts. And when soldiers from Venice looted Constantinople in 1204, they brought back four giant brass Roman


58 MILITARY OFFICER JUNE 2012


steeds known as the Horses of San Marco, stationing them at the en- trance of St. Mark’s Basilica. But these earlier thefts pale in comparison to the organized looting perpetrated by the “Little General” — Napoleon Bonaparte. An admirer of the Roman Empire, Napoleon not only would surpass that dynasty’s record of wholesale thievery, but he eventually


would acquire many of the works sto- len by the Romans themselves.


Large-scale larceny To that end, the dictator retained one Baron Dominique-Vivant Denon, a prominent French artist and arche- ologist, to create “shopping lists” of artwork to steal. Denon traveled with Napoleon on his military cam- paigns and advised troops on which artifacts were most valuable. One of Napoleon’s most treasured prizes was the Horses of San Marco, up- rooted from their home yet again. By


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