Antiquities Exhibits

Ancient Nubia Now from October 13, 2019 to January 20, 2020 at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Between 2400 BCE and 300 CE, a series of kingdoms flourished in what is today the Sudanese Nile Valley, a region known in antiquity as Kush and by modern scholars as Nubia. Ruling from the capitals of Kerma (2400–1550 BCE), Napata (800–300 BCE), and Meroe (300 BCE–300 CE), Nubian kings and queens controlled vast empires and trade netwo rks, rivalling—and even for a brief time conquering—their more famous neighbors, the Egyptians. The Nubians left behind the remains of cities, temples, palaces, and pyramids, and their artists and craftspeople produced magnificent jewelry, pottery, metalwork, furniture, and sculpture. “Ancient Nubia Now” features more than 400 highlights from the collection, many never before exhibited. Among the highlights are the exquisite jewels of Nubia’s queens, the nearly lifesize statue of Senkamanisken from the sacred mountain of Gebel Barkal, the army of funerary f...

In the Round: Ancient Art from All Sides through October 2019 at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, in Brunswick, Maine. This exhibition examines the geometry and design of ancient art and the efforts by artists to represent depth and movement by influencing the vantage point of the viewer. By simply flipping a coin, rotating a vase, or walking around a sculpture, the composition changes and new perspectives emerge. Using artifac ts from the ancient Mediterranean, In the Round explores early innovations in representational art. Image: Mummy Portrait of a Lady, Egypt, Roman Period 100-150 CE Stucco and glass courtesy of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

While looking for an illustration for today's quote, I found this series of images painted by American artist Thomas Cole in 1836 eerily preceding the American Civil War. The series is called "The Course of Empire" with "Consumation", "Destruction", and "Desolation" of an imaginary Greco-Roman city depicted here. There are two other paintings entitled "Savage State" and "Pastoral State" but I think we're way past those stages. All images are courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. The series was commissioned by New York merchant Luman Reed and is now in the collections of the New York Historical Society. "Course of Empire: Consummation" by Thomas Cole, 1836 "Course of Empire: Destruction" by Thomas Cole, 1836 "Course of Empire: Desolation" by Thomas Cole, 1836

Style and Status: Power Beards of the Ancient World October 26-27, 2019 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California. In antiquity, facial hair and beards were not just for looks - they also helped identify men as leaders, thinkers, and warriors. Watch a stylist recreate beards from ancient Assyria, Greece, and Rome. Then make your own beard or body oil evoking ancient scents, and attend the same-da y free lecture The Meaning of Beards: From Antiquity to Today to learn more about the role of beards through time. While at the Getty Villa be sure to allow enough time to view the exhibit "Buried by Vesuvius, Treasures from the Villa dei Papiri" ending October 28, 2019. Image: Portrait of a Bearded Man, 200-225 CE, marble, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Peter and Pan – From Ancient Greece to Neverland through December 11, 2019 at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. This exhibition will present the detailed metamorphosis and transitions made by Greek god Pan into the modern character of Peter Pan. The exhibit examines both social contexts of this transformation and investigates the changes of life from all vantage points, culturally, economically, socially and more. The exhibit in cludes a collection of archeological artifacts including those on loan from the Louvre in Paris, as well as first and second edition books by J.M Barrie including original illustrations. Images (my own, not from the exhibition): Pan closeup from Pan and Daphnis at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples 2nd century CE Pan from the Theater of Pompey in Rome, Italy 1st century BCE Pan mosaic from villa in Genazzano thought to have belonged to Marcus Aurelius 138-192 CE Pan on 2nd century CE Roman sarcophagus depicting Dionysus preparin...

The Road to Palmyra through March 1, 2020 at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen. Harald Ingholt, a Danish archaeologist, was on his third campaign of excavations at Palmyra, in present-day Syria, in 1928, when his team unearthed a half-length portrait of an unknown woman made between 190 and 210 CE in a tomb dubbed Qasr Abjad. The following year Ingholt presented The Beauty of Palmyra and around a dozen other sculptures  to Copenhagen’s Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Today, the Glyptotek’s collection of Palmyrene tomb sculptures is the largest outside Syria. For the past 18 months, Cecilie Brøns, an archaeologist and director of the Glyptotek’s Tracking Colour project, which examines the use of pigments in antiquity, has led a team reconstructing how the tomb sculpture may originally have looked. Using X-ray fluorescence, the team identified paint patches, mostly red and yellow ochre, which were well ­preserved due to the sculpture having been ­underground for nearly two millenn...

Ancient Iran: a glimpse of Persian art and architecture under the Sassanids.  The Sassanid dynasty of ancient Persia was established in 224 CE when Ardashir I overthrew the Parthian empire.  Sassanid monuments in such cities as Ardashir Khurreh and Bishapur incorporate domes and squinches, or arched openings, in four sides of a square structure.  This architectural form, used extensively in religious architecture after the adoption of Zoroastrianism as the state religion, was continued during the subsequent Islamic era. It was also used in the grandiose palaces at Ctesiphon, Firuzabd, and Sarvestan.  It was during this period that the bas-reliefs on limestone cliffs, including  Bishapur, Naqsh-e Rostam and Naqsh-e Rajab in southern Iran were created.  In 2018, UNESCO added an ensemble of Sassanian historical cities in southern Iran, entitled “Sassanid Archaeological Landscape of Fars Region”, to its World Heritage list.  The Sassanids also practiced h...

Now Open!! Egyptian Mummies: Exploring Ancient Lives. September 7, 2019 to February 2, 2020 at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal, Canada. A North-American premiere, this exhibition of the British Museum reconstructs the lives of six individuals who lived along the Nile from about 900 BCE to 180 CE. Non-invasive techniques have enabled researchers to build a profile of each individual, painting a picture of who they were. Age , beliefs and the diseases they suffered from – each mummy has a story to tell. Digital visualizations will present new discoveries that, when viewed alongside over 200 objects from the British Museum’s renowned Egyptian collection, provide unique insights into how people lived and died in ancient Egypt. The exhibition will explore a number of themes such as mummification, health, food and diet, priesthood, music, adornment and childhood in ancient Egypt.  Irthorrou, a stolist, a high priest of the temple of Akhmim during the Late Period in ...

While working on Wikimedia Commons today, I saw this interesting 1st century CE ivory furniture applique from Pompeii depicting a Roman birthing scene. The quality of the carving is quite good but what caught my attention was its inclusion of a stylized tree of life. The tree of life is widespread in the world's religious and philosophical traditions. In ancient Iran dating back to approximately the early 2nd millennium BCE, tw o trees, Mashyа and Mashyane, were thought to be the ancestors of all living beings. In ancient Assyria, 2500 BCE-690 BCE, the sacred tree of life is depicted attended to by human or eagle-headed winged genies, or the King, and blessed or fertilized with bucket and cone. In ancient Urartu, 860-590 BCE, the tree of life was a religious symbol drawn on walls of fortresses and carved on the armor of warriors. In the Jewish Book of Proverbs, dating to approximately 450 BCE, the tree of life is associated with wisdom. "Wisdom is a tree of life to them...

Replica of a reed Egyptian sailing vessel to be permanently displayed in Patara, Turkey.  The Abora IV, a replica constructed from totora reeds and wood using an old Egyptian paintings as a reference, has been donated to the city of Patara in Turkey by German archaeologist Dominique Goerlitz.  The ancient city of Patara was a hub for Egyptian traders in ancient times and is believed to have anchored such reed boats.  The 14-meter-long ship was built in Varna, Bulgaria with reeds brought from Bolivia.  Captained by Goerlitz, the Abora IV set sail August 1, passing through the Bosphorus to reach the northwest coast of Çanakkale, docking at at the Port of Kaş on September 19, 2019. Image: The reed and wood vessel, Abora IV, a replica of an ancient Egyptian sailing vessel image courtesy of Turkey's Foreign Ministry.

Restored Roman barge now on display in the Museum of Ancient Arles in Arles, France.  Arles was once a major commercial hub of the Roman Empire, where ships that plied the waters of the Rhône and the Mediterranean Sea unloaded their wares at the city’s docks. Due to storms and floods, some of those goods found themselves at the bottom of the murky Rhône, presumably lost forever. But with dredging, some of these ancient wonders were rediscovered, buried among the rotting tires, broken tiles and other detritus from the last twenty centuries.  One such find was a more than 100-foot long Roman barge discovered in 2004. But raising the barge and restoring it was expensive.  Fortunately, the European Union came to the rescue in 2013 with a grant to restore the ship and build a new wing of the Arles museum to house it.  You can now walk around the barge and see where the cargo was held and where the crew  of 2000 years ago cooked and slept. https://www.francetoday...

Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and Ancient Near Eastern artifacts held for sale by Phoenix Ancient Art in Geneva, Switzerland. Have you seen an amazing ancient artifact in a museum and wondered how much a museum paid for it? Well, for some items, you can find out by browsing the online inventory of Phoenix Ancient Art. I saw a fulcrum from a Roman couch shaped like a mule, quite similar to one at the Metropolitan Museum of Ar t, offered for $38,000. Would you like to purchase the Palmyran funerary relief of the Mother and Daughter featured in today's Classic Moments Daily post? Just a mere $90,000 and it can be yours! How about a 3rd-2nd millennium Bactrian Seated Female Figurine very much like one at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art? Well, its price is available on request. As I browsed the art dealer's inventory I found each piece to be truly exceptional even considering the thousands of pieces I have viewed in museums around the world. Sigh...it saddens me, though, to th...

New Roman Imperial Period permanent display opening this fall at the Landesmuseum in Halle, Germany.  Fragments of Roman-era Germanic shields will be among the Roman Imperial finds featured in the museum's new Roman Imperial Period permanent display.  Other artifacts include gold neck rings, brooches, silver belts and buckles, spurs, knives, coins, arrowheads, drinking cups, and serving ware. Image: Seventeen hundred-year-old wooden shield fragment unearthed near Madeburg, Germany courtesy of the museum.

Treasures from The Griffon Warrior's tomb to be displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Kalamata, Greece in 2021. Nestor, the old wise Mycenaean king who was one of the participants in the Trojan War, was a real historical figure. His palace was discovered in 1939 by Dr. Carl W. Blegen of the University of Cincinnati, and Greek archaeologist, Dr. Konstantine Kourouniotis. University of Cincinnati researchers continue to exca vate the area near the ancient city of Pylos in Greece today under the auspices of The Griffon Warrior Project. In 2015, the team discovered a shaft tomb adjacent to the palace. Inside, they found the skeleton of a single adult male surrounded by an enormous hoard of over 3000 bronze, silver, gold and ivory artifacts, many of them produced in Crete. The warrior lay on his back with a meter-long sword, its hilt coated with gold, and gold-hilted dagger on his chest. Gold cups rested on the warrior’s chest and stomach and by his right side were hundreds o...

Almost 100 watercolors of Pompeii by Luigi Bazzani now on Wikimedia Commons!  Nineteenth century Italian Neoclassical artist Luigi Bazzani spent over 30 years documenting the ruins of Pompeii as it was excavated between 1880 - 1915.  These images illustrate the kaleidoscope of colors used by the Romans in the decoration of their public and private living spaces.  Sadly, many of the original structures have been lost to deterioration or destruction during the twentieth century.  But now images of these watercolors have been added to the Pompeii Wikipedia page along with a link to the entire archive of Bazzani's paintings on Wikimedia Commons for everyone to enjoy and study. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Bazzani_Watercolors_of_Pompeii Image: Watercolor of a mosaic fountain niche in Pompeii by Luigi Bazzani. (PD) Note: Bazzani painted images of a number of beautiful fountains like this one but sadly I saw not a single one when I vi...

Between Oedipus and the Sphinx: Freud and Egypt from August 7 - October 27, 2019 at the Freud Museum London.  This new exhibition explores Freud’s enduring fascination with Egypt evident both in his writings and in his collection of antiquities. Egyptian artefacts form the largest part of Freud’s collection and lie behind his ‘archaeological metaphor’ – one of his most productive methods for exploring the psyche and developing the practice of psychoanalysis.  Exploring the themes of  Egyptomania, sexuality, death and more, objects from Freud and Petrie’s own personal collections will be displayed side by side.

Opening soon! Troy: myth and reality November 21, 2019 – March 8, 2020 at the British Museum. The show tells the dramatic and tragic legend of the great city of Troy through bre athtaking art and archaeology – retelling the story of the Trojan Horse, the kidnap of the most beautiful woman in the world and the fall of the city. The exhibit includes pottery, silver vessels, bronze weapons and stone sculptures generously loaned to The British Museum by the Berlin Museums for the first time in nearly 150 years. This experience will allow visitors to meet the characters, to immerse themselves in the archaeology of Troy and in the tales as told in the stories retold and reinterpreted right up to the present day. https://www.thecultureconcept.com/troy-myth-and-reality-aut… Image: Priam and Achilles, Roman silver cup, 1st century CE, National Museum of Denmark Photograph: Roberta Fortuna and Kira Ursem © National Museet Denmark

"A. Santarelli" Archaeological Museum in Forli, Italy. This museum's exhibits range from the Paleolithic (site of Cà Belvedere di Monte Poggiolo, about 800,000 years ago) to the 7th century CE. Bronze Age artifacts include objects recovered from ancient Coriano, an Umbrian, Etruscan, and finally Roman colony. Objects include weapons, armor and grave goods. From the Roman Forum Livi in Forli, some geometric mosaics in black an d white, epigraphs, a beautiful female head in marble of the first century CE, a bas-relief with a scene of sacrifice from the villa of Fiumana and the Teodoric-era mosaics from Meldola. The forum in Forli was built in approximately 188 BCE by the consul Gaius Livius Salinator, who fought Hasdrubal Barca at the battle of the Metaurus River in 207 BCE. In 88 BCE, the city was destroyed during the civil wars of Gaius Marius and Sulla but later rebuilt by the praetor Livius Clodius. The museum also houses a coin collection of over 7094 Roman and med...

Museum of Archeological Models of King Tutankhamun now open in Curitiba, Brazil.  This museum contains archaeological models purchased from the workshops of the Ministry of Antiquities in Egypt that reflect the story of the golden pharaoh Tutankhamun. Models in the exhibit include military wheels, the king's throne, and canopic jars. This is in addition to many photographs and films showing the history of the monuments displayed. the new museum  was established by the Rosicrucian Society. The Society also operates the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, California. The city of Curitiba has renamed its main square to King Akhenaten and a ram road and huge obelisk were constructed next to the museum. Image: Reconstructied throne of King Tutankhamun photographed at the Discovery of King Tut exhibit at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon.

Refuting "Noble Savages": Reflections of Nature in Ancient Mesoamerican Artifacts through September 13, 2019 at the Fine Arts Gallery of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. "The heat of sunrise and the growing rumble of jungle life signals morning. It is harvest time, and the smell of corn stalks being cut and removed from the chinampas is refreshing. Women chatter as they begin dyeing large bundles of agave fiber deep  red, using the cochineal beetle, while men begin practicing in the nearby ball field, surrounded by the jungle on one side and market stalls on the other. Children run past, throwing a rubber ball to friends, their varied skull shapes signaling their varied progress in achieving the conical definition as a tribute to the corn goddess. This—the sounds, sights, and smells—is just a small glimpse into the daily life in Mesoamerica." The artifacts on view in this exhibit come from different areas in Mexico and Central America and elucid...

Tyrants of the Tiber Ancient Coin Collection now online. "Tyrants go by many titles: Kings and Queens, Emperors and Empresses, Czars and Czarinas, Dictators, Regents, Popes, Caliphs, Sultans, and Khans. But what defines them is their absolute power over a territory containing millions of people. Tyrants have been the primary shapers of history for thousands of years. One of the first things tyrants do upon obtaining po wer is strike coins with their name and likeness, announcing their claim to their territory. And they continue to mint coins to maintain their claim until the day they die or are deposed. Everyday coinage is the primary means by which tyrants notify their subjects and rivals of their tyranny. The Tyrants of the Tiber collection features Roman tyrants from Sulla (82 BCE) to Romulus Augustus (including the 12 Caesars in gold) to the earliest Roman Republic portrait coins over 2,200 years ago through the Imperatorial and Empire Periods, and ending with the fall of ...

“The Greeks, From Agamemnon to Alexander the Great,” through September 15, 2019 at the Hangaram Museum in Seoul, South Korea. This exhibit features 350 ancient Greek artifacts including funerary helmets with gold death masks from the mid-6th century BCE, votive sculpture, grave goods of 9th century BCE Macedonian aristocrats, gold serving ware and seal rings, ceramics featuring scenes from Homer's Odyssey, and a gold myrtle wre ath from a priestly warrior of Stavroupolis, companion to the king of 4th century BCE Macedon. I had the privilege of attending this marvelous exhibition when it was displayed at The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois in 2016. I was astonished by the wealth of the grave goods on display and I particularly liked the way the grave goods were exhibited, placed in the position they were found in the burial chamber. Be sure to examine even the small items carefully, too. I was thrilled to see a small but beautifully carved Gorgon that was said to come from the b...

Luigi Bazzani, who spent 30 years documenting the ongoing excavations of Pompeii with watercolors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Bazzani I have been working very hard on a Wikipedia page for Italian Neoclassicist painter Luigi Bazzani. I researched and identified 70 of his paintings of which 47 are watercolors of various villas and other structures in Pompeii just after they were excavated. I was amazed at the veritable kaleidoscope of colors originally unearthed and sad that we have, with only a few exceptions, just a skeleton of what remains of the once vibrant Roman city today. Although I was very excited to visit Pompeii the first time in 2005, I was admittedly a bit disappointed at how little remained of the artwork. Most frescoes and mosaics had been hacked out and either whisked away to museums or, in some cases, to the royal collection of various European monarchs. I was so excited to find just a small, damaged painting of a little centaur forgotten near the baseboa...

“The Great Steppe: History and Culture” September 12 - October 12, 2019 at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, Turkey. This exhibit will feature more than 200 items from the collections of the Kazakhstan National Museum including the famous 5th century BCE "Golden Man", a Scythian warrior found in 1969 during the archaeological excavations at Saka. Some of the greatest examples from the Caspian and Central Asia r egions, where Turkic culture is dominant will be displayed. The tomb of the Golden warrior contained more than 4,000 items made of gold, such as details used to decorate clothes, as well as jewelry and household utensils. The golden ornaments found on his crown and depicting tulpar, a mythological winged horse similar to Pegasus, have become a state emblem of Kazakhstan. Next year, “Golden Man” is expected to visit the United States, Italy, Austria, France and Germany. Image: Rym Altynbekov's recreation of the Golden Man. Photo courtesy ...

Tanta Museum, 58 miles north of Cairo, reopens after 19 years. Established in 1913, the Tanta Museum in Tanta, Egypt is one of the oldest regional museums in Egypt. The building has been renovated and two new galleries added to provide new display space for some of its 8,579 artifacts. Exhibited objects include bronze sculptures from the Greco-Roman period, funerary art, jewelry, ceramics, a statue of the famous ancient architec t, Imhotep, who designed the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, a sculpture of the god Osiris and other votive grave offerings. The museum also houses a large collection of ancient coins. These finds were recovered from excavations of Naucratis, Sais, and Buto. Naucratis, on the Canopic branch of the Nile River, was the first Greek colony in Egypt dating back to Mycenaean times, 1600-1100 BCE. After the collapse of Mycenaean civilization and the Greek dark ages (1100-750 BCE) there was a renaissance of Greek culture in Egypt during the 7th century BCE as...

Roman remains of ancient Carmo in the Archaeological Museum of Carmona, Spain. Carmona was originally a Tartessian-Turdetani settlement. With the arrival of Phoenician traders from Tyre, Carmona was transformed into a city, and centuries later became a Roman stronghold of Hispania Baetica after the Iberian conquest led by then-consul Cato the Elder from 197 -194 BCE. It became known as Carmo in the time of Julius Caesar (100–44  BC). The Senatorial province of Baetica became so secure that no Roman legion was required to be permanently stationed there. Instead, Legio VII Gemina was permanently stationed to the north, in Hispania Tarraconensis. The vast olive plantations of Baetica shipped olive oil from the coastal ports by sea to supply Roman legions in Germania. Amphoras from Baetica have been found everywhere in the Western Roman empire. The city remained Roman until the invasion of the Vandals and Alans in the 5th century CE. Carmona's Seville Gate, of Carthaginian origins,...

Remains of Etruscan civilization at the Villa Giulia in Rome, Italy.  Built for Pope Julius III between 1550 and 1555, Villa Giulia is a Renaissance palace built in what once was the outskirts of Rome. It was converted into a museum in 1899 and now houses the city's largest collection of Etruscan artifacts, including pottery, funeral urns, jewelry, bronzes and sculptures. Among the museum’s most valuable objects are a sarcophagu s from the year 520 BCE, as well as several terracotta figures such as the Apollo of Veii and the image of Hercules and Apollo vying for a deer, both from 510 BCE. The grounds also feature a reconstructed Etruscan temple. Note: When I was at the Villa Giulia back in 2005, they only allowed me to photograph the frescoed porticos around the courtyard, the nymphaeum, and the Etruscan Temple reconstruction. Now, though, I assume photography is allowed as I see Wikimedia Commons has a lot of photographs of their collections. Image: Etruscan sarcop...