Antiquities Exhibits

Intaglios: Carved Gemstones of the Ancient World. The classical tradition of carving semi-precious gemstones was adopted from the ancient Near East although it was also used by the Indus Valley civilization as well. Flat ring types were developed from cylinder seals used to imprint documents in Mesopotamia, Assyria, and eventually the Minoan world including parts of Greece and Cyprus in the Bronze Age palace societies of Cret e and Mycenae. The design would be cut into the flat surface of a stone using a series of increasingly delicate abrasive powders from harder stones like emery (also known as corundite), a dark granular rock mined in ancient times on the Greek island of Naxos, in conjunction with a hand-drill, probably set in a lathe. Although magnifying lenses existed in the ancient world, scholars are in disagreement as to whether they were used for gem carving because of speculation about their quality and potential for distortion. Carved gems are often called "intaglio...

Artifacts from ancient Egypt, the Near East, Greece, Rome, the Americas, Asia and Africa.  Ongoing at the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.  Some 17,000 artifacts from ancient Egypt, the Near East, Greece, Rome, the Americas, Asia, and Africa, as well as works on paper from the Renaissance to the present day, provide visitors with a glimpse into the art and history of world cultures. Image: Clothing and posture identify this 1st to 2nd century CE figure from Alexandria, Egypt as Hermanubis, a Greco-Egyptian deity who combines the essences of the Greek god Hermes with the Egyptian Anubis. The syncretism of Hermes and Anubis arises from the function of both deities to guide souls to the Underworld. Distinctive in the clothing of Hermanubis is a garment that wraps around the waist with a roll of cloth, with one end falling over the left shoulder. In his left hand he may have held a palm branch, while in his right the caduceus (herald's staff...