Antiquities Exhibits

The earliest known scissors appeared in Mesopotamia 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. These were of the 'spring scissor' type comprising two bronze blades connected at the handles by a thin, flexible strip of curved bronze which served to hold the blades in alignment, to allow them to be squeezed together, and to pull them apart when released. Spring scissors continued to be used in Europe until the 16th century. However, pivoted scissors of bronze or iron, in which the blades were pivoted at a point between the tips and the handles, the direct ancestor of modern scissors, were invented by the Romans around 100 CE. They entered common use in not only ancient Rome, but also China, Japan, and Korea. A specialized weapon known as a scissor was also used by a class of gladiators called scissores. It consisted of a long, thin cylindrical-shaped pipe terminating in a crescent-shaped blade. A handle inside the tube allowed the gladiator to maintain control. The shape of the blade could produc...

 Linen Shroud of a Woman Wearing a Fringed Tunic, 170–200 CE, said to be from Fayum at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This round-faced Romano-Egyptian woman wears a fine tunic with narrow clavi (stripes) and a mantle draped over her arms.  She must have been extremely wealthy as she wears a great deal of jewelry including earrings, three necklaces, six twisted gold bracelets, and three rings.  Curators are surprised by what appears to be red socks on her feet as there has been no recovery of socks in the archaeological record from this period. She apparently still practices Egyptian religion as she is flanked on either side by Egyptian deities including Anubis.  The Met curators point out that she seems to step forward from a light gray rectangle. This form could be interpreted as a doorway, a late reminiscence of the so-called False Doors of pharaonic Egypt, elaborate niches through which the dead were believed to communicate with the living.  Imag...

Nahavand, located on the fertile Nisaean plain in the southernmost part of ancient Media (modern day Iran), has been inhabited since at least 5,000 BCE.  According to the ancient geographer and historian Strabo it was (re-)founded by Achaemenid King Xerxes the Great.  Nahavand lay about 96 kilometers from Ecbatana on the trunk road from Babylonia through Media to Bactria. In the Seleucid period, it became a Greek polis with magistrates and a Seleucid governor. According to the polymath Abu Hanifa Dinawari, in the Parthian period, Nahavand was the seat of the Parthian prince Artabanus, who later reigned as Artabanus I of Parthia from 127 to 124/3 BCE.  After Artabanus was killed in battle, he was succeeded by his son Mithridates II (known in antiquity as Mithridates The Great) who transformed the Parthian Empire into a superpower. Mithridates II was the first Parthian king to extend Parthian rule into Caucasus, where the kingdoms of Armenia, Iberia, and possibly Caucasian ...

Plaster Romano-Egyptian mummy masks of the 1st - 2nd century CE appear to be individualized, much like the famous mummy portraits of the Faiyum region. But, in fact, most were made in a mold.  Distinguishing details were added while the plaster was still moist with a spatula or knife. Ears were added separately and, sometimes, eyes were inlaid then the mask painted or gilded. "This woman's waved hairstyle is based on Roman court fashion, but three hanging corkscrew curls behind the ears and a short fringe of curls over the forehead and in front of the ears seem to reflect a local style. Toward the back of her head, above her ears, are traces of a smooth area that once represented a pillow. In general earlier Roman-period masks such as this one show the deceased as if reclining on a bier with the head on a pillow, while later masks have the head raised as if the deceased is rising from the bier. The underneath edge of this example is flat where it is meant to be attached to a b...

This small bronze Buddha is probably one of the earliest iconic representations of Shakyamuni from Gandhara. He sits in a yogic posture holding his right hand in abhaya mudra (a gesture of approachability). His unusual halo has serrations that indicate radiating light. His hairstyle, the form of his robes, and the treatment of the figure reflect stylistic contacts with the classical traditions of the West. This Buddha shows closer affinities to Roman sculpture than any other surviving Gandharan bronze. - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Buddhism developed as early as the 6th century BCE. But, before the late 1st to early 2nd century CE, the Buddha was represented by symbols and not in human form.  In this early human incarnation of the Buddha, he is shown with a mustache, considered a symbol of princely status.  This aspect, found only on very early depictions of the Buddha, was not included when representations of the Buddha in a variety of postures with varying ges...

During most of the Republican period, there is little evidence that the Roman army employed the wide-spread use of archers.  This changed after the defeat of the army of Crassus by the Parthians at the battle of Carrhae in 51 BCE. By the time Pompey's troops occupied the Middle East, the Romans had introduced units of auxiliary archers, primarily from Syria, armed with composite bows and arrows with trilobate heads.   Large  quantities of these types of arrowheads, dated between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE, have been found at Masada, Herodium, and Dura-Europos. The discovery of a grave of a late Roman sagittarius, thought to be of Germanic origin, near Augsburg included arrows with heads ranging from bolt-like bodkin heads to leaf-shaped heads to barbed heads. The more rare incendiary arrows, with basket-like heads to hold combustible materials like oil-soaked hemp fibers, have been found at Straubing, Germany and at the site of the Illyrian fortified settlement at ...

Yesterday I was looking through the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens to see if a relief sculpture I had photographed at "The Greeks" exhibit at The Field Museum in Chicago was already included in the images uploaded to Wikimedia Commons and saw images of a spectacular bronze known as the Antikythera Ephebe.  The sculpture was found in the same location as the famous Antikythera mechanism.  I've never had the opportunity to travel to Greece so have never seen this sculpture before but it looked so familiar.  I quickly realized that its face with the pouty lips as well as its artfully posed fingers looked very similar to the Victorious Youth, a Greek bronze sculpture I have photographed many times at the Getty Villa. The two sculptures are dated to about the same time period so, thinking about how the remarkable Riace Warriors were found as a pair, I wondered if the Antikythera Ephebe and the Victorious Youth may have come from the same vicinity. ...

A cavesson, also known as a Psálion, was a Roman or Thracian cavalryman's emergency brake.  "Its lower curved bar was connected to a lead rope attached to the saddle or wrapped around the rider's arm. The cavesson presses on the horse's nose, a very sensitive area, and is used for reprimanding a spirited horse, or simply keeping some control of it, when the rider has to let the reins go for fighting. It was also used for leading a horse on foot. On this example, the long angled shanks have a leverage effect increasing the strength of the rider's action on the nose (like today's hackamores)." - Metropolitan Museum of Art Developed as early as the 5th century BCE, it is described in the equestrian treaty of Xenophon (ca. 430-355 BCE).  Examples have been found throughout western Europe and in Britain as far as Hadrian's wall. Scholars think this distribution was the result of eastern cavalrymen, particularly Thracians, serving in the Roman army. Romulus ...

Security of possessions has been a primary concern since humans began accumulating anything of value. Locks were invented to address this issue about 6,000 years ago as evidenced by examples discovered in the ruins of Nineveh, the capital of ancient Assyria.  Locks evolved in ancient Egypt to a wooden pin lock consisting of a  bolt, door fixture or attachment, and key. When the key was inserted, pins within the fixture were lifted out of drilled holes within the bolt, allowing it to move. When the key was removed, the pins fell part-way into the bolt, preventing movement.  This design evolved further into a warded lock, a type of lock that uses a set of obstructions, or wards, to prevent the lock from opening unless the correct key is inserted. The correct key has notches or slots corresponding to the obstructions in the lock, allowing it to rotate freely inside the lock. Warded locks were used in both Rome and ancient China. The Romans were the first to introduce steel w...

Hecate or Hekate is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches or a key. In later periods she is often depicted in triple form. She is variously associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, night, light, magic, witchcraft, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, ghosts, necromancy, and sorcery. Her earliest appearance in literature was in Hesiod's Theogony in the late 8th century BCE as a goddess of great honor with domains in sky, earth, and sea. Her place of origin is debated by scholars, but she had popular followings amongst the witches of Thessaly and an important sanctuary among the Carians of Asia Minor in Lagina.  Hecate was one of several deities worshiped in ancient Athens as a protector of the oikos (household), alongside Zeus, Hestia, Hermes, and Apollo.  Some scholars have suggested Hecate was originally considered an aspect of Artemis prior to the latter's adoption into the Olympian pantheon. Artemis would have, a...

Competition among the elites of Rome in both the political and military spheres is well known. It was also used by one of Rome's most fiercesome opponents as well.  In Carthage, command was sometimes shared between two or even three generals and sometimes commanders were expected to seek approval from the council of 104 and the two suffetes (roughly equivalent to Rome's consuls) for  important decisions such as declaring a truce, to sue for peace, or withdraw from a conflict altogether. Furthermore, punishment of command officers was draconian (in every sense of that word!). It ranged from large fines to crucifixion of the offending general.  Even the families of those committing suicide were not spared humiliation.  Ancient sources record that the council crucified the corpse of one commander named Mago (out of the many men named Mago in the history of Carthage) in 344 BCE.  Scholars think these severe punishments rather than simply a  loss of command may ...

In her paper, "Fish and Fishing in the Roman World," Annalisa Marzano of the University of Reading observes: "On the whole, fishermen in antiquity had a low social status and although fishing could be the topic of literary works, of mosaics in elite dwellings, and a recreational activity, the ordinary men who engaged in large-scale fishing and supplied the many fish-salting establishments of the Roman world remain almost invisible. It seems very likely that the same individuals engaged both in fishing and salting the fish, but to date we do not have definite evidence. There are only few surviving attestations of groups of fishermen from the Roman Mediterranean. Some clearly refer to proper collegia, which seemed to have worked in collaboration with the fishmongers, who sold only fresh fish. Others were business partnerships (societates) formed in order to operate large-scale fishing, and, possibly, also fish-salting operations." Sought after fish that could command ...

The Mesopotamians introduced the world to clay sewer pipes around 4000 BCE, with the earliest examples found in the Temple of Bel at Nippur and at Eshnunna.  They were utilized to remove wastewater from sites, and capture rainwater in cisterns. The city of Uruk also contains one of the first examples of brick constructed latrines, dated from about 3200 BCE. Clay piped plumbing has also been found in the Hittite city of Hattusa, founded in the 6th millennium and abandoned about 1200 BCE. The Indus Valley Civilization also developed public water supplies with a number of advanced features.  In the Indus city of Lothal (c. 2350 BCE), archaeologists discovered houses with their own private toilets connected to a covered sewer network constructed of brickwork held together with a gypsum-based mortar.  Many of the buildings at Mohenjo-daro collected water from roofs and upper story bathrooms that was channeled through terracotta pipes to street drains. There were also public an...

 A gorytos is a type of leather case for a short composite bow and arrows used by the Scythians in classical antiquity. They are a combination of bow case and quiver in one, and are worn on the archer's left hip with the opening tilted rearward. Many gorytos were highly decorated and sometimes gilded. At least one surviving specimen was determined by scanning electron microscope to be made of human skin. Some have been found in Macedonian tombs, such as the tomb of Philip II in Macedon in Vergina of the 2nd half of the 4th century BCE. It is thought to have belonged to his sixth wife, the Thracian princess Meda of of Odessos, who hurled herself on his funeral pyre.  Her remains were found in the antechamber of Philip's tomb.  They were also used by the Persians. Indo-Greeks adopted the composite bow and the gorytos as part of their mounted archery equipment from around 100 BCE, as can be seen on their coins. In his 1913 book, Scythians and Greeks: A Survey of Ancient Hist...

The Roman emperor Galerius commissioned the triple Arch of Galerius, built in 298-299 CE and dedicated in 303 CE,  as an element of the imperial precinct linked to his palace in Thessaloniki, Greece. Galerius served as Caesar during the tetrarchy of Diocletian and married Diocletian's daughter.  Entrusted with the care of the Illyrian provinces, he campaigned against Sarmatians and Goths along the Danube then was  dispatched to Egypt to fight the rebellious cities Busiris and Coptos. From there, Galerius was sent to command the eastern forces between Carrhae and Callinicum in Syria. Then, in about 295 CE, Narseh, son of the king Shapur I and the seventh emperor of the Sassanid Persian Empire, declared war on Rome and invaded western Armenia. Narseh then moved south into Roman Mesopotamia, where he inflicted a severe defeat on Galerius. Diocletian may or may not have been present at the battle, but presented himself soon afterwards at Antioch, where the official version of...

Epic by name and epic by nature, this exhibition will cover an ambitious 5,000 years of Iranian history through 350 objects. Starting in 3,200BCE, the show will first explore the varied landscape of Iran before moving on to early Persian civilisations, the Persian Empire, and later Sassanid rule and Zoroastrianism. Split into ten, fairly chronological sections, it will have an “immersive design” that apparently sets it in a city, complete with a gatehouse, gardens, a palace and a library. The show will include works borrowed from collections in the US, Russia, France, Belgium and the UK. Image: An incense-burner in the shape of a lion (1000-1100 CE) is on show in the "Literary Excellence" section, demonstrating how texts decorated objects Photo: © Musee du Louvre Read more about it: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/epic-iran-preview

 In Republican Rome, truly exceptional military achievement merited the highest possible honors, which connected the vir triumphalis ("man of triumph", later known as a triumphator) to Rome's mythical and semi-mythical past. Triumphs were tied to no particular day, season, or religious festival of the Roman calendar. Most seem to have been celebrated at the earliest practical opportunity, probably on days that were deemed auspicious for the occasion. Tradition required that, for the duration of a triumph, every temple was open. The ceremony was thus, in some sense, shared by the whole community of Roman gods, but overlaps were inevitable with specific festivals and anniversaries.  The dates selected for some triumphs may have been coincidental with other official festivals while others were maneuvered to coincide. For example, March 1, the festival and dies natalis of the war god Mars, was the traditional anniversary of the first triumph by Publius Valerius Publicola (504...