Antiquities Exhibits

Ancient Civilizations. Ongoing. At the Reading Public Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania.  4th century BCE Bronze Pseudo-Corinthian or Italo-Corinthian Helmet.  Image courtesy of the Reading Public Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania The Reading Museum's antiquities collection include an array of artifacts from Egypt, Greece, Rome and other civilizations around the Mediterranean. Their Egyptian collection is comprised of amulets, votive sculptures, and a full length cartonnage mummy case of the 8th century BCE Lady Tadiashaikhet. Their Greco-Roman collection encompasses  a wide variety of ceramic vessels, Roman portrait heads, bronze lamps, Roman glass and this 4th century BCE Pseudo-Corinthian or Italo-Corinthian Helmet in excellent condition. The museum points out "During the 5th century BC this type of helmet was adapted by the Etruscans, who frequently depicted it in amphorae painting and on sarcophagi. Out of combat, soldiers often wore the helmet tipped upward for...

Archimedes: Science and Innovations. January 25 -- September 26, 2019 at the Museum of Idaho in Idaho Falls, Idaho. A mosaic originally believed to date from ancient times, but now thought to be an 18th century copy or falsification. Located in the Städtische Galerie Liebieghaus, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Solve puzzles, view lost technology, and interact with machines designed in the 3rd century BCE by Archimedes, a Greek mathematician whose inventions revolutionized the ancient world. Exhibits are focused around four themes: Machines of the Ancient World; Energy Machines; The Power of Shapes; and Archimedes' Lega cy.

Crystal: Visible and Invisible.”   October 12, 2019 to January 6, 2020 at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.  Bracelet of rock crystal with gold rams heads Greek part of the Ganymede Jewelry collection 330-300 BCE photographed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Today, high quality quartz crystals are mined from the mountains and caverns of Arkansas. Yet this iridescent, enigmatic material has captivated artists, religious leaders, monarchs, and healers across the world for more than 6,000 years. View ancient artifacts like the one below, including engraved gems, skulls, figurines, vases, and more, alongside works from contemporary artists around the world that explore the power of crystal in art by drawing on its form, properties, and mysterious qualities. Featuring more than 75 works from Ancient Egypt and Greece, through to Rome, China, India, Japan, the Middle East, the Americas, and beyond, discover how the power of crystal tr...

Pompeii: The Exhibit through April 21, 2019 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. Pair of Bronze Gladiator Shin Guards from the Gladiators' Barracks in Pompeii Roman 1st century CE. These elaborately decorated shin guards depict a procession in a celebration of Bacchus, Bacchus' tutor Silenus, masks of the god and a lion skin symbolic of Hercules. The lower portion depicts a stork fighting a snake to protect her children. Photographed at "Pompeii: The Exhibit" at Pacific Science Center in Seattle Washington. Pompeii: The Exhibit features over 150 authentic artifacts on loan from the renowned Naples National Archaeological Museum in Italy, including wall-sized frescos, marble and bronze sculptures, jewelry, ancient Roman coins, and full body casts of the volcano’s victims. Note: I saw this exhibit a couple of years ago at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington. It is a fascinating exhibit and I was particularly ...

The Life of Animals in Japanese Art. May 5 through July 28, 2019 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Haniwa Horse, Japan, earthenware, 6th century CE. Image courtesy of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, California. These votive figurines were placed on top of tombs for the wealthy elite in Japan from 300 to 600 CE. For those on the West Cost a smaller version will run Sept. 8 through December 8, 2019 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. “The Life of Animals in Japanese Art” will feature 330 pieces representing many media, from prints and sculpture to textiles and ceramics. Spanning 15 centuries organized around eight theme s, including ancient Japan, the Japanese zodiac, religion, folklore, nature and leisure.

Visions of the Hispanic World: Treasures from the Hispanic Society Museum and Library.  Through March 31, 2019 at the Albuquerque Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico.   Electrum Celt-Iberian torque 125-100 BCE courtesy of the Hispanic Society Museum and Library "Visions of the Hispanic World" highlight works from Spain and Latin America drawn from the Hispanic Society’s renowned Museum and Library collections, including archaeological works from the Iberian Peninsula, arts of Islamic Spain, paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, and manuscripts from Medieval, Golden Age, and 18th-century Spain, Latin American colonial and 19th-century paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, and manuscripts, and Spanish paintings of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Related link: https://www.cabq.gov/visions

Genghis Khan, the Great Civilizer. Opening January 26, 2019 at the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center in Mobile, Alabama. Recreated Mongol warriors courtesy of the Exploreum Science Center and exhibit presenters. The exhibition features more than 300 spectacular objects on display, including rare and sophisticated weapons, costumes, jewels, ornaments, instruments and numerous other fascinating relics and elaborate artifacts from 13th-century Mongolia. Genghis Khan dominated three times more land in his lifetime than either Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great, a conquest attested to by the formidable array of swords, bows, arrows, saddles and armor included on display.

A Glimpse of Ancient Yemen’ – Through Aug. 18, 2019 at the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery in Washington D.C. Erote mounted on a striding lion, Bronze, 1st century BCE - 1st century CE Kingdom of Qatabān (ancient Yemen) courtesy of the Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C. This exhibit highlights south Arabia (now known as Yemen) and its prosperous trading during ancient times. Aromatics such as frankincense and myrrh came from the region to Greece, Rome and Persia, which in turn spread artistic and cultural traditions in Arabia. The exhibit features objects that were retrieved from the region in the early 1950s, by the so-called "American Lawrence of Arabia", Wendell Phillips, painting a detailed picture of an ancient metropolis. I had the opportunity to view this small but fascinating collection when I visited Washington D.C. in 2015. Phillips' excavation party was attacked by warring tribesmen and barely managed to save just a few of the items his team rec...

Treasures of Ancient Greece. Opening June 15, 2019 at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis in Indianapolis, Indiana. Diskobolos (discus thrower) 2nd century CE Roman copy of 450-440 BCE Greek bronze by Myron recovered from Emperor Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli Italy. Photographed at "The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece" exhibit assembled by the British Museum and displayed at the Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon. Rare antiquities from Greece including mythological gods and goddesses, a replica of the Antikythera mechanism and fine art will be part of a new exhibit at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis opening June 15, 2019 called Treasures of Ancient Greece. A separate exhibit called Take Me There: Greece will focus o n the people, culture, environment, homes and markets of modern Greece.

Mummies of the World. February 9 through September 2, 2019 at the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Ptolemaic period child's mummy photographed at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington D.C. Mummies of the World: features 40 real human and animal mummies and 85 rare artifacts from across the globe. This exhibition provides a window into the lives of ancient people from every region of the world including Europe, South America and Ancient Egypt, offering unprecedented insights into past cultures and civiliza tions. I found this exhibit very insightful when I attended it at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry about three years ago. Photographs were not allowed at that time and may still be prohibited. 

Vikings: Beyond the Legend. Through March 3, 2019 at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Viking Button-on-bow brooch interpreted as Freyja's brooch Brisingamen Grave Find Gotland Sweden 10th century CE (?) Bronze Gold and Garnet photographed the The Vikings exhibit at The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois. Vikings: Beyond the Legend. Through March 3, 2019 at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Vikings: Beyond the Legend gives visitors a new perspective on Viking culture through an exploration of artifacts that include swords, armor, clothing, crafts and jewelry. On display in the United States for only the second time, the 122-foot recreated Roskilde 6 ship is the exhibition centerpiece. The ship dates back to circa 1025, and was excavated in 1997. At The Franklin Institute, the Roskilde 6 is surrounded by a multimedia sound and light show with augmented-reality interactives. Museum visitors can participate in a digital archeological di...

Our Dark Materials: Rediscovering an Egyptian Collection.  Through May 16, 2019 at the Stanford Archaeology Center in Stanford, California.   Although some museums like the Neues in Berlin have superb intact examples, many more are assembled from such fragments as you can see in this picture I took at the Petrie Museum in London a couple of years ago. The exhibit presents new examination of a forgotten collection. Artifacts from ancient Egypt provide insight into experiences of ordinary Egyptians in daily life and death. The exhibit features original artifacts, stone tools, such as a ceremonial knife, as well as ceramic containers and figurines, collected by the Stanford family and others around the turn of the 20th century including those damaged in the 1906 earthquake. 

Claudius, an emperor with a singular destiny. Through March 4, 2019 at the Musee Des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, France. The bronze plates known as the Claudian Table, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Claudius still suffers from the unflattering portrait transmitted by ancient literature and taken up in the modern popular imagination. Described as a weak, influential, physically and intellectually diminished being, his image also suffers from the "sulphurous" fame of his third and fourth wives, Messaline and Agrippi na, and the tragic fate of his son Britannicus. Recently, however, researchers and historians have restored the figure of a cultured man, a good manager, promoter of effective administrative reforms for the empire and concerned about his people. His most famous law is undoubtedly that relative to the admission of the Gauls to the Roman senate, celebrated by the speech he uttered, in 48 in Rome, engraved on bronze plates, known as the Claudian Table. Personal N...

Sacrificial objects from the Purification Pit of Mykonos.  Ongoing. At the Archaeological Museum of Mykonos, Greece.  Pithos from the Purification Pit of Mykonos depicting the fall of Troy.  7th century BCE.  Image courtesy of  travel-to-mykonos.com These 5th - 7th century BCE artifacts were unearthed in an archaeological excvation known as  the Purification Pit in 1898 .  They include pithoi, large storage jars used for liquids and grain, depicting scenes from the Capture of Troy.  The body of one pithos is enclosed with panels depicting soldiers going on an offensive against innocent women and children. Scholars believe the pithos is dated back to the 7th century BCE.   The collection also includes pictoral grave steles, a nude Heracles in lion skin with club, and the Archaic Hydria which is embellished with intricately designed floral pattern and images of horses.

Archaeological discoveries in Tehran, Iran. Ongoing. At the National Museum of Iran in Tehran, Iran.  An exhibition, featuring archaeological discoveries of ancient relics in Tehran, has opened its doors to the public at the National Museum of Iran. The exhibition includes artifacts from the urban area of Tehran that date back to 8,000 years B.P. Objects on display include distinctive spouted ceramic vessels excavated beneath the grand bazaar. If you can't make it to Iran, I highly recommend visiting the collection of artifacts from the ancient Near East at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, California. Above is a colorful spouted jar from western Iran on display there. It is dated 1000 to 800 BCE.

Turbulent times. Archaeology in Germany. War, art and migration since the Stone Age.  Through January 6, 2019 at the Martin-Gropius-Bau Museum in Berlin, Germany.  Sky disc.  The oldest sky image of Europe found in 1999 from looted graves at the Mittelberg, Saxony-Anhalt.  Courtesy of the State Office of historic preservation and archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt.  Photo by Juraj Lipták. An arrowhead firmly lodged in the skull of an ancient fallen warrior, a voluptuous woman’s form carved from ivory and the mask of a Roman river god are among more than 1,000 major archaeological discoveries being brought together for the first time. Artifacts show how strongly progress was linked to the movement of people, goods and ideas into and across Europe.

Uncovering Ancient Mexico: The Mystery of Tlatilco. Through December 31, 2018 at the Riverside Art Museum in Riverside, California. Ancient Tlatilco figurine. Middle Pre-Classic period, 1200 BCE to 200 BCE. Image courtesy of the Riverside Art Museum in Riverside, California. Olmec and Tlatilco civilizations existed about the same time in different regions of México. In the 1930s, workers mining clay in a México City brickyard accidentally discovered buried Tlatilco treasures, many of which are on public view for the first time. The Riverside ex hibit includes ceramic figurines, vessels, seals, and other rare Tlatilco objects.

Providing for the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian works from Eton College at the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum.   Funerary Statue, ECM 1474, Wood, paint, Middle Kingdom, ca. 2055-1650 BCE, H 14.0 cm x W 6.2 cm courtesy of the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum. Many funerary objects were created expressly for the purpose of addressing the vital needs of the deceased in the afterlife. Chief among these concerns was reliable access to food and drink, which could be achieved through artistic representations of consumables, references to them in writing, or even offerings of actual foodstuffs. Depictions of individuals actively receiving offerings on stelae are accompanied by formulaic texts invoking the king and the gods that ensure a constant supply of requisite goods, while three-dimensional representations of Egyptians at work provide the skills and labor needed for continued food production. Being buried with personal objects allowed the deceased to take these cheri...

Sights and Sounds of Ancient Ritual. Through March 3, 2019 at the Yale University Art Gallery. Terracotta statuette of a dancing woman. Greek from Myrina in Asia Minor. 2nd century BCE. Image courtesy of the Yale University Art Gallery. “In the ancient world, religious rituals were multisensory experiences, filled with vibrantly colored representations of supernatural beings, resonant musical sounds, billowing clouds of incense, and the taste of food and drink. Sights and Sounds of Ancient Ritual considers the ways in which these rituals appealed to the senses throug h objects that would have drawn worshippers into closer proximity to divine forces. The exhibition brings together works from the Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Babylonian Collection at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History that span three millennia—from approximately 1500 B.C.E. to 1500 C.E.—and represent diverse traditions, including those of ancient Greece and Rome, Western Europe, Egypt, West...

Maya, Hidden Worlds Revealed. Through May 27, 2019 at the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. A Bloodletting Bowl captures the moments prior to a Maya bloodletting ritual. Image courtesy of the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. Maya explores the fascinating social, natural, and spiritual realms of the ancient Maya through the eyes of powerful kings and queens and the lesser-known people who were the backbone of Maya society. The exhibit features immersive environments, authentic artifacts, and hands-on activities that tell the story of the  ancient Maya and their modern descendants.

Egypt's Sunken Cities. Through April 14, 2019 at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in Minneapolis, Minnesota  More than 1200 years ago, two ancient cities were lost to natural disasters and the rising tides of the Mediterranean Sea. Two decades ago, underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio and his team discovered those cities, revealing monumental statues, religious images carved in stone, exquisite jewelry, and delicate ceramics—and a greater understanding of life during the age of the pharaohs. 

Etruscan jewelry of the Classical Period. - Ongoing. At the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas. Pair of Gold Etruscan A Grappolo earrings late 5th-3rd century BCE photographed at the Dallas Museum of Art in  Dallas, Texas. In contrast to Etruscan gold jewelry of the early Orientalizing stage, that of the Classical period is comparatively rare. Although the forms became less elaborate, the artistic talent of the Etruscan goldsmith was still strong enough to create novel shapes and develop new stylistic tendencies.To break up the surface of a piece of gold and create an irregular ornamental texture, often in high relief, Etruscan goldsmiths favored several three-dimensional decorative means. One is granulation; another is the application of short strips of sheet gold coiled under at both ends. Developed as early as the 7th century BCE, this decorative technique was used by Etruscan goldsmiths for several centuries. A technically and stylistically related decoration is the ...

Ancient Worlds. Greeks, Etruscans and Romans Ongoing at the Altes Museum in Berlin, Germany. The Greek hero Meleager Roman copy of Greek original in the Altes Museum in Berlin, Germany.  Image by Richard Mortel courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. The new exhibition on the main floor of the Altes Museum starts with the 'Age of Heroes', from 1000 to 700 BCE. Statues of warriors and helmets stand alongside images of griffins and lions that are distinctly Eastern in character. Right from the outset, the visitor's gaze is drawn towards the next rooms containing archaic temples and tomb monuments dating from the 6th century BCE. The section 'Life and Death in Athens', meanwhile, sheds light on all facets of everyday life in the capital of classical antiquity. Related link: https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/altes-museum/about-the-collections/collections.html

Roman and Etruscan Art. Ongoing at the Princeton University Art Museum in Princeton, New Jersey. Head of a youth in severizing style, third quarter of 1st century B.C. Image courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum. Beginning with a distinguished collection of Etruscan vases, sculptures, and metalwork, this collection encompasses marble and bronze portraits, sculptures of gods, satyrs, and nymphs, sarcophagi and funerary monuments, glass vessels and carved bone reliefs, silver and gold coins, sealstones of agate and chalcedony, statuettes in bronze, amber, ivory, and clay, and a spectacular silver-gilt wine cup. Princeton’s distinguished record of archaeological research in Roman Syria is illustrated by unusual basalt sculptures from the Hauran region, funerary reliefs from the desert city of Palmyra, and a renowned collection of colorful mosaic pavements from the great metropolis of Antioch-on-the-Orontes.

King Tut: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh at the California Science Center in Los Angeles until January 2019 Miniature coffinette that held some of King Tut's internal organs. New Kingdom Period. 18th dynasty. Egypt. Image courtesy of the exhibit sponsors. Visitors will see many items the Boy King himself used in life and in death, including: golden jewellery, elaborate carvings, sculptures, and ritual antiquities. It includes treasures like the Wooden Guardian Statue of the King, a dramatic, life-size statue of Tutankhamun that marks his passage from the dark night of the Netherworld to his rebirth at dawn, and a Gilded Wooden Bed. The exhibition will feature nine distinct experiential galleries and an array of 3D visuals, digital content, 360-degree theatrical manifestations, custom soundscapes and more in an engaging, audio-guided tour.

Daily Life, Trade, and Neighbors in Ancient Egypt. Ongoing, at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, California. Calcite bowl and funerary stele from Kom Abu Billo, Egypt Roman Period 1st to 3rd centuries CE photographed at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, California. Most ancient Egyptians were farmers or craftsmen. Some of them were scribes or the official writers and a very small percentage of ancient Egyptians were nobles and royalty. Many of the artifacts in the Daily Life gallery give us a glimpse of the Egyptians' everyday lives. The Kohl tube, hair accessories, mirrors, and perfume bottles tell us that the Egyptians were fastidious about their appearance. The children and even the adults liked to play games, and beer was a staple drink.

Res Mortis: Matters of Death in the Ancient Mediterranean. Ongoing, at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City, Utah. Votive sarcophagi in the shape of a hawk that would contain an image of Osiris constructed with wheat and Nile river mud. Egypt. Ptolemaic Period 323-30 BCE. Photographed at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City, Utah. Drawn from the permanent collection of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman antiquities, this exhibition focuses on the rich mortuary cult traditions of ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean and features funerary objects at the center of each belief. For ancient Egyptians, funerary objects reflected their  intense preparation to protect and sustain one's Ka, or spirit, in the afterlife. In classical Greece, ceramics were a popular funerary offering in place of costly metal vessels. Initially, decorated ceramics were repurposed as gifts for the dead. Roman sarcophagi frequently portrayed pagan symbolism pointing to a happy af...

"Syria Matters" through April 30, 2019 at Qatar’s Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) in Doha. Basalt falcon, restored after a British air strike on a Berlin museum in 1943 © Chrysovalantis Lamprianidis/The Museum of Islamic Art, Doha Syria Matters is part of a year-long focus in Qatar on Syria and its contribution to world history. The exhibit includes a reproduction of a stone relief of the Hittite-period weather god from Aleppo (14th-13th-century BCE), and an 11th-century BCE king of “Palistin” with the originals appearing in situ on a screen. A limestone carving of a saddled camel recalls the leap from donkey to dromedary, around 1,000BCE, that expanded east-west trade networks through the desert city of Palmyra. Related website: https://www.ft.com/content/c733a884-f2fa-11e8-938a-543765795f99

“Mycenaean Greece: The Legendary World of Agamemnon” from December 1, 2018 through June 2, 2019 at the Schloss Karlsruhe Museum in Karlsruhe, Germany.   The so-called Mask of Agamemnon which was discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 at Mycenae, now believed to pre-date the legendary Trojan War by 300 years.  Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons  user Xuan Che. Over four hundred priceless artifacts, most of them traveling for the first time out of Greece, will be presented at The Schloss Karlsruhe Museum in a one-of-a-kind exhibit. Titled “Mycenaean Greece: The Legendary World of Agamemnon,” it will feature the priceless golden mask of Agamemnon, discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 as well as an ancient “crown” found in a tomb in Routsi on exhibit for the first time and the artifacts from the “Griffin Warrior” tomb, discovered near Pylos in May 2015 — one of the most important archaeological finds in Greece of the last 65 years.