Antiquities Exhibits

In her book, Animals in Roman Life and Art, the late professor Jocelyn Toynbee explains that the appearance of animals in Greco-Roman art, especially funeral art, are not allusions to a particular occupation or favorite food item but symbolize the existence of idyllic peace and plenty in paradise, either existing within the home or in the anticipated afterlife.  The Greek word for paradise derived from the eastern term "paradeisos" was first used by Xenophon to describe the extensive parks of the Persian kings that were planted with luxuriant flora and stocked with a variety of wild creatures. This symbolism extends back as the Chalcolithic period.  Scholars have noted a marked preference for askoi of zoomorphic forms on Cyprus suggesting that, at least there, askoi had a cultic and ritual use.  They point to the vessel's ancient name reflecting an object made of animal leather as proof of further assocation with animals, enough so that the term is now primarily used to s...

An askos was a vessel used to dispense small quantitites of liquids such as oil. They were used most commonly for refilling oil lamps. The original meaning of askos was wineskin. This example, thought to have been made in Chiusi, Italy has a base of irregular outline that has been cut away inside so as to leave only a narrow support, has a glazed black, and is decorated with a wavy pattern. The motif of the lion drawing back and snarling was popular in the art of both Etruria and southern Italy in the second half of the 4th century BC. It is frequently found on Greek vases and is also common in Etruscan funerary sculpture, particularly in Tuscania and Vulci, and most notably on the frieze of the Tomba François itself where this askos was probably found. All the examples pre-suppose an opponent: one is rarely shown. Buranelli suggests that the opponent may originally have been Herakles, and that the lion is the Nemean lion, shown at the moment before the hero seizes it. In support of ...