EMBOLDENED by the J. Paul Getty Museum's decision to return two prized antiquities, Greece will demand more repatriations, the culture minister, Giorgos Voulgarakis, has said.

"Whatever is Greek, wherever in the world, we want back," he said on Monday. He hailed the Getty's decision as "a huge success both for Greece and other countries".

Asked how many works were in question, Mr Voulgarakis said: "We're not talking about a handful; we're talking about hundreds of artefacts that have ended up in many different places around the world."

Byzantine icons as well as archaic and classical antiquities are expected to be among contested items.

The move was announced a day after Greece's accord with the Getty. The Los Angeles institution agreed to surrender the two sculptures - an ornate 2400-year-old black limestone grave marker and an archaic votive relief portraying two women bearing gifts to a goddess - after talks lasting less than three months.

The relief was stolen from the French archaeological school on the island of Thassos at the turn of the 20th century. Getty bought it for his personal collection in 1955. The tombstone, engraved with the image of a dead warrior called Athanias, was illegally excavated near Thebes between 1992 and 1996. Athens had pressed for the return of the works for the past decade.

Monday's announcement in a statement by the museum and Greek officials leaves unresolved the fate of two other artefacts, which are of greater archaeological significance and value.

The statement said the two parties hoped to reach an agreement by the end of August. Such a deal is likely to include long-term loans of Greek antiquities to the Getty, following the model of Italian agreements forged during the past year over disputed artefacts.

"The Greeks have been very generous with the range of possibilities they are offering," said the Getty's Australian director, Michael Brand, in a statement from Canberra, where he is on leave.

A Greek law enforcement source said on Monday that a criminal investigation into the Getty's acquisition of one of the other disputed items, a gold funerary wreath, might lead to criminal charges.

Targets could include Marion True, the Getty's former antiquities curator, who recommended acquiring the artefact, and board members who approved the acquisition, the source said. True is being tried in Italy on charges of conspiracy to traffic in looted art.