Fearing Coronavirus, 'End Of The World' Thief Returns Ancient Roman Relic To Be Rid Of Guilt

The coronavirus pandemic is transforming people in ways unimaginable, so much so, it pushed a thief into returning a precious artefact.

According to reports, the unnamed man returned a 2000-year-old ballista stone that he stole from a Jerusalem archaeological site over 15 years ago, amid fears around the coronavirus pandemic.

Source/globalnews

The anonymous man arranged to have the stone returned because he feared ¡°the end of the world is near,¡± the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a statement on Facebook.

The incident was made public by the man named Moshe Manies, who narrated the incident on Facebook saying that the stone was returned to him by a man, on account of anonymity, to deliver to the City of David National Park.

¡°One of the boys took one of the stones home,¡± Manies wrote in his Facebook post. ¡°And now, when he came across it while cleaning for Passover, together with the apocalyptic feeling that the coronavirus has generated, he felt the time was ripe to clear his conscience and asked me to help him return it to the Israel Antiquities Authority (sic),¡± Manies added.

The thief grabbed the stone while visiting a national park in the City of David as a teenager, Manies said.

¡°He married and raised a family, and told me that for the past 15 years, the stone is weighing heavily on his heart,¡± Manies wrote in Hebrew.

The Times Of Israel

The stone was once used in the Roman siege of Jerusalem around 70 CE, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. The Romans would load the stones into large siege weapons called ballistas, then hurl them at the besieged city.

The IAA¡¯s Jerusalem Region Archaeologist Dr. Yuval Baruch told The Times of Israel, "The ballista stones which were uncovered at the City of David are most likely connected to the harsh battles. In the Jerusalem excavations led by Israel Antiquities Authority there, a battlefield was uncovered, with dozens of ballista stones scattered on the ground."

After the post went viral, an inspector in the IAA¡¯s Theft Prevention Unit named Uzi Rotstein said that thousand years old artifacts, such as this one, were national treasure. He was quoted saying that its burglary was regretful.