Antiquities Exhibits

The ancient legend of the abduction of the Sabine women by the men of Rome has inspired artists for centuries. Upon finding the city bereft of women, Rome’s founder, Romulus, invited the neighboring peoples to a festival as a pretense to the abduction. Each Roman youth carried off an unmarried woman from the Sabine contingent as his bride. When the Sabines later attacked Rome to reclaim their females, the women ran onto the battlefield and secured peace between their fathers and husbands. Here we see two dramatic treatments of the subject by Italian artists Andrea Andreani and Giambologna.  Andreani, an Italian engraver, revived the technique of the chiaroscuro print, the use of light and shadow to define three-dimensional objects, at the end of the sixteenth century and created a number of ambitious works including a reproduction of Andrea Mantegna's "Triumph of Caesar".  Some evidence exists that ancient Greek and Roman artists used chiaroscuro effects but the techni...

The year the Roman emperor Heraclius came to power, the empire was threatened on multiple frontiers. Heraclius immediately took charge of the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628. The first battles of the campaign ended in defeat for the Byzantines. The Persian army fought their way to the Bosphorus but Constantinople was protected by impenetrable walls and a strong navy, and Heraclius was able to avoid total defeat. Soon after, he initiated reforms to rebuild and strengthen the military. Heraclius drove the Persians out of Asia Minor and pushed deep into their territory, defeating them decisively in 627 at the Battle of Nineveh. The Persian king Khosrow II was overthrown and executed by his son Kavad II, who soon sued for a peace treaty, agreeing to withdraw from all occupied territory.  The Eastern Roman empire thus regained Jerusalem, Egypt, and other Byzantine territory.  To celebrate his victory Heraclius ordered the production of a set of silver plates. Elaborate dishes us...

Terracotta figurines with articulated limbs are often described as dolls or children’s toys, and are sometimes thought to have been dressed in clothes. While one cannot simply dismiss these assumptions, it must be pointed out that this hypothesis is based on an inaccurate reading of an ancient epigram, which was originally interpreted to say that a girl named Timareta dedicated to the goddess (at a sanctuary) her dolls and their dresses. However, more recently it has been convincingly argued that she in fact dedicated her hair and her own clothing. Another point to be made against the figurines being play things is that they are too fragile to be constantly handled by children. The fact that these “dolls” are often discovered in the graves of adults indicates their possible chthonic connection or apotropaic function. In addition, the movement these figurines were capable of when swinging, as well as the clanking noise they produced, might have made them attractive charms. - The Metrop...

Roman boxing, far different than the boxing developed by the Greeks, was considered more of a gladiatorial show than an athletic contest. While the crowds were smaller than at the amphitheater and circus, boxing was an important part of public entertainment. Unlike Greek boxers, who wore leather thongs around their knuckles for protection and performed for prizes at the prestigious Panhellenic games, Romans used gloves with pieces of metal placed around the knuckles (caestus) to inflict the most damage possible. Moreover, there was no time limit or weight classification. Proclaiming a winner resulted from either a knockout or the conceding of defeat by one of the boxers. - The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image: Bronze hand of a boxer 1st to 2nd century CE at the Metropolitan Museum of Art The hand is clad in a caestus (boxing glove), comprising a semicylindrical strip and a projecting spike, tied with cords running from the wrist. Although Roman boxers are represented on statue...

Domesticated dogs appeared in prehistoric paintings at sites like Bhimbetka in central India that date back more than 100,000 years. During the Bronze Age statues, children's toys, and ceramics depicted dogs. Hunting dogs were most commonly portrayed but pet dogs, valued for their faithfulness and courage were also subjects of ancient art. Dogs were often seen on Greek and Roman reliefs and ceramics as symbols of fidelity and given as gifts among lovers.  Homer's Odyssey reinforced this concept of a dog's faithfulness by telling the story of Odysseus' dog who was the only one that recognized him when he returned home after years of wanderings, even though he was disguised to conceal his appearance. Sadly, because dogs were revered for their loyalty, they were also sometimes sacrificed in special religious rituals.  During Xanthika, a spring purification of the Macedonian army, a dog was sacrificed.  The Spartans sacrificed a dog to Enyalius, the son of Ares, in one o...

During the Ptolemaic period a distinctive type of subterranean tomb for multiple burials proliferated in the cemeteries around the city of Alexandria. Underground chambers cut into the living rock radiated from a central courtyard open to the sky. Most chambers contained a number of loculi, long narrow niches cut into the walls, which served as burial slots. Some loculi were sealed with painted limestone slabs in the form of small shrines. Here, a lively depiction of a man trying to bridle a horse, while a boy stands behind him, commemorates a man from Thessaly in Northern Greece, who must have been one of the many foreigners who congregated in the wealthy, cosmopolitan Ptolemaic capital. - Metropolitan Museum of Art Image: Painted limestone funerary slab with a man controlling a rearing horse 2nd half of 3rd century B.C.E. at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

There is evidence of the use of bits to control horses, located in two sites of the Botai culture in ancient Kazakhstan, dated about 3500–3000 BCE.  Nose rings appear on the equids portrayed on the Standard of Ur, circa 2600–2400 BCE. To date, the earliest known artistic evidence of use of some form of bitless bridle comes in illustrations of Synian (Syrian?) horseman, dated approximately 1400 BCE.  Metal bits came into use between 1300 and 1200 BCE, originally made of bronze.   The need for control of horses in warfare drove extensive innovation in bit design, producing a variety of prototypes and styles over the centuries. This bit is of a distinctive type attested in Northern Greece and used for horses that are ridden rather than driven. Its most noteworthy occurrence is on the mount of Alexander of Macedon in the famous Alexander mosaic from the Casa del Fauno in Pompeii and now in the Archaeological Museum, Naples. Bronze bit, Greek, 4th-3rd century BCE at...

Image: Marble statuette of Dionysus early 3rd century BCE at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York courtesy of the museum. This fully clad figure of Dionysus is in stark contrast to the many depictions of the god in various states of undress during raucous celebratory processions depicted in Roman art. The god wears Thracian boots, a short chiton, a belted panther skin, and a goatskin worn like a cape, with the forelegs of the goat wrapped around his arms. He can perhaps be identified as Dionysus Melanaigis (of the Black Goatskin), whose cult was introduced into Attica from Boeotia. Pausanias (II.35.1), second century CE author of a guide to Greece, mentions a temple to Dionysus Melanaigis in Methana on the Saronic Gulf and states that a music competition was held there in the god's honor every year and that prizes were awarded for swimming races and boat races. - The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Thracian boots represent the belief that Dionysus was born in Thra...

The earliest manufactured mirrors were pieces of polished stone such as obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass. Examples of obsidian mirrors found in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) have been dated to around 6000 BCE. Mirrors of polished copper were crafted in Mesopotamia beginning around 4000 BCE, and in ancient Egypt from around 3000 BCE. Polished stone mirrors from Central and South America date from around 2000 BCE onwards. Some of the earliest examples of Bronze Age copper mirrors were produced by the Qijia culture (2200 BCE-1600 BCE)  distributed around the upper Yellow River region of Gansu (centered in Lanzhou) and eastern Qinghai, China. Glass began to be used for mirrors in the 1st century CE, with the development of soda-lime glass and glass blowing. The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder claims that artisans in Sidon (modern-day Lebanon) were producing glass mirrors coated with lead or gold leaf in the back. The metal provided good reflectivity, and the glass provide...

Made in Taras, South Italy between 290-250 BCE, this Greek relief sculpture was probably once part of a grave monument.  A nude youth, with a horse rearing up behind him, lunges forward to attack an unseen foe.  The presence of the large snarling dog indicates this is a hunting scene and identifies the deceased as a member of the elite.  It also refers to an activity thought to be one of the pleasures of the afterlife.  Photographed at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California. Funerary relief of a hunter with horse and hunting hound Greek, Taras, South Italy, 290-250 BCE photographed at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California by Mary Harrsch.

Although we often see Eros, Roman Cupid, depicted as a chubby little winged child, he was also prominently portrayed in ancient literature as the adult husband of Psyche.  The longstanding folktale, codified in Apuleius' Latin novel, The Golden Ass, relates a quest for love and trust between Eros and Psyche. Aphrodite was jealous of the beauty of the mortal princess Psyche, as men were leaving her altars barren to worship a mere human woman instead, and so Aphrodite commanded her son Eros, the god of love, to cause Psyche to fall in love with the ugliest creature on earth. But instead, Eros falls in love with Psyche himself and spirits her away to his home. Their fragile peace is ruined by a visit from Psyche's jealous sisters, who cause Psyche to betray the trust of her husband. Wounded, Eros leaves his wife, and Psyche wanders the Earth, looking for her lost love. Eventually, she approaches Aphrodite and asks for her help. Aphrodite imposes a series of difficult tasks on Psy...

Sculpture of a nuptial banquet, Greek, 3rd-2nd century BCE at the Metropolitan Museum of Art "A nuptial banquet takes place on a lavishly decorated and furnished couch (kline). The man reclining at the far right raises a wine jug, while the female, seated at the front edge of the couch, once played a lyre. Two child Erotes join the young couple and all participants are crowned with ivy leaves and wreaths. Exceptional for its three-dimensionality, ornate style and preservation of polychromy, this group visualizes the semantic overlap in Greek thought and art between the bridal and the death kline and the role of lyre music as expression of marital love."  - The Metropolitan Museum of Art The couch, or kline, was a form used in Greece as early as the late seventh century B.C.E.  Three types are distinguished by G.M.A. Richter – those with animal legs, those with “turned” legs, and those with “rectangular” legs,  two of which could be longer than the other, providing su...

Terracotta cosmetic vase 4th quarter of the 6th century B.C.E. Archaic Period East Greek at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York On one side of the upper frieze of this exquisite vase, a youth holds two winged horses and two youths drive a chariot. Real and imaginary animals circulate on the other frieze areas between carefully drawn geometric patterns. The ram's-head cover may have served as a handle for a cosmetic applicator. In this period, there was huge economic development in Greece, and also in its overseas colonies which experienced a growth in commerce and manufacturing. There was a great improvement in the living standards of the population. Some studies estimate that the average size of the Greek household, in the period from 800 BC to 300 BCE, increased five times, which indicates a large increase in the average income of the population. In the second half of the 6th century BCE, Athens fell under the tyranny of Peisistratos and then of his sons Hip...

These helmets and mitra (belly guards) are among the finest pieces of a large cache of armor found near Afrati in south central Crete. The inscriptions suggest that the armor was captured as booty and offered as a dedication. In repoussé on both sides of one helmet is a pair of winged youths grasping a pair of intertwined snakes. Below them are two panthers with a common head. The helmet is inscribed "Neopolis." In repoussé on both sides of the other helmet is a horse. Incised on each cheekpiece is a lion. Images of strength and calm, these creatures were intended to provide symbolic protection in battle. The helmets are made in symmetrical pieces and tapered at the base to protect the warrior's neck. The inscription states that Synenitos, the son of Euklotas, took this object. The mitrai were suspended from belts to protect the lower abdomen. One, with a depiction of the foreparts of horses, is inscribed "Synenitos, the son of Euklotas, [took] this." Th...

The Olmecs were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that the Olmecs derived in part from the neighboring Mokaya or Mixe–Zoque cultures. The Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies. The antiquity of the Olmec civilization of ancient Mexico only became apparent with the advent of radiocarbon dating in the middle of the twentieth century. Olmec artists mastered an array of media and produced representations that range from refined miniatures in precious jadeite or wood, to monumental works in basalt. Now considered the first great sculptural tradition in the ancient Americas, these images remind us that naturalism is not necessarily the result of an evolution: Olmec sculptures often demonstrate a striking...