Antiquities Exhibits

When the so-called "Griffin Warrior" was discovered near the Palace of Nestor in Pylos, the young man who died around 1500 BCE was buried with some 2,000 objects, including silver cups, beads made of precious stones, ivory combs, a sword and four intricately decorated solid gold rings. Archaeologists Shari Stocker and Jack Davis from the University of Cincinnati that excavated the warrior's burial think these grave goods provided evidence that Mycenaean culture recognized and appreciated Minoan culture more than previously believed, especially the gold rings. Made of multiple sheets of gold, the rings depict detailed scenes including bull leaping and iconography such as sun symbols and mythological genii creatures from Minoan mythology.   Originally the rings were thought to have probably been crafted on Crete where they were used to seal documents or indicate ownership of goods or other objects and pillaged in warfare. But, after extensive study, Stocker and Davis have e...

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...

“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.