During the Roman Sack of Corinth in 146 BC, the Roman general Lucius Mummius ordered the city destroyed and its vast collection of Greek art plundered.

Mummius was famously ignorant of the artistic and financial value of the masterpieces he was shipping to Rome. According to ancient accounts by writers like Velleius Paterculus and Strabo, he warned the contractors hired to transport the priceless Greek statues and paintings that if they lost or damaged any of them, they would have to replace them with new works of equal value.