Antiquities Exhibits

The sarcophagus of Etruscan priest Laris Partunus found in the Tarquinian necropolis was produced in the late Classical Period.  This exquisite sarcophagus crafted of Parian marble is painted with scenes of the Amazonomachy.  The Greeks are shown in hoplite armor while the Amazons are wearing chitons. Surprisingly, the Amazons are depicted winning most of the paired battles instead of an equal number of victories as depicted on the Amazon sarcophagus also from Tarquinia. The Partunus sarcophagus also depicts blue-skinned demons, but unlike the fearsome blue demons seen in the Tomb of the Blue Demons, also in Tarquinia, these figures appear to be gently guiding an aristocratic lady to her family like Greek psychopomps,  creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife.  The painting on the long side of the sarcophagus depicts the execution of Trojan prisoners. They too are accom...

Herodotus (4.110–117) tells us some Amazons were captured in battle by Greeks in Pontus (northern Turkey) near the river Thermodon, and the captives were loaded into three boats. They overcame their captors while at sea, but were not able sailors. The boats were blown north to the Maeotian Lake (the Sea of Azov) onto the shore of Scythia near the cliff region (today's southeastern Crimea). After encountering the Scythians and learning the Scythian language, the Amazons agreed to marry Scythian men, but only on the condition that they move away from Scythia and not be required to follow the customs of Scythian women. Hippocrates described these warlike women. "Their women, so long as they are virgins, ride, shoot, throw the javelin while mounted, and fight with their enemies. They do not lay aside their virginity until they have killed three of their enemies, and they do not marry before they have performed the traditional sacred rites. A woman who takes to herself a husband no...

I ran across these images of this fascinating chariot while researching the Roman cavalry relief in the Capitoline Museum.  I've photographed the beautiful Monteleone Etruscan chariot at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York dated to 530 BCE but have never seen this one before. Over 300 ancient chariots are known to still exist but only six are reasonably complete. Surprisingly, the chariot was actually invented to provide a moving platform from which soldiers could shoot at enemies with arrows or javelins before mounted cavalry was introduced into ancient warfare.  Scholars think the horses were initially weaker and unable to support a man.  They were eventually bred to be stronger until they could be mounted and rode about a millennium and a half after the chariot was invented. The first reference to chariots was found in Syria and dated to about 1800 BCE.  Scholars claim on suitable terrain the chariot was an effective weapon and the number of chariots compar...

Lorica squamata, was  a type of scale armor used during the Roman Republic and in subsequent periods. It was made up of small metal scales sewn together to form the armor. It is commonly seen in illustrations of banner bearers , musicians, centurions , cavalry troops, and even auxiliary infantry images, although it could have also been worn by regular legionaries. This type of armor was the same length as lorica hamata, with the same doubled shoulder straps. The individual scales were made of iron or bronze , and sometimes both metals were alternated in the same armor.  Some scholars have also suggested the use of hardened leather as well.  The scales were tied with wires in horizontal rows, these being in turn sewn or tied to the inner lining.  A complete example of lorica squamata has never been found.  Loose scales, on the other hand, have been found in numerous excavations including those in a non-military context. While looking through my images from the Ca...

Then said Achilles, "Son of Atreus, king of men Agamemnon, see to these matters at some other season, when there is breathing time and when I am calmer. Would you have men eat while the bodies of those whom Hector son of Priam slew are still lying mangled upon the plain? Let the sons of the Achaeans, say I, fight fasting and without food, till we have avenged them; afterwards at the going down of the sun let them eat their fill. As for me, Patroclus is lying dead in my tent, all hacked and hewn, with his feet to the door, and his comrades are mourning round him. Therefore I can think of nothing but slaughter and blood and the rattle in the throat of the dying." - Iliad 19.226 As some of you know, I am the spouse of a veteran who has suffered from PTSD since service in Vietnam back in 1967-68. Although the psychological trauma suffered by those who have experienced a traumatic event now has a very modern-sounding diagnosis, it is not a recent phenomenon but has been a plague u...

There are illustrations of dogs on the walls of caves and tombs dating back to the Bronze Age, as well as statues, children's toys, and ceramics depicting dogs.  The Ancient Greeks and Romans, contrary to the Semitic cultures, favored dogs as pets, valuing them for their faithfulness and courage.  Homer's Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus, who raised a dog called Argos, and who was the only one that recognized him when he returned home after his travels, disguised to concealed his appearance. This theme has been often depicted in ancient Greek vases, and in Roman reliefs and sculptures.  Dogs were given as gifts among lovers and kept as pets, guardians, and for hunting.  The ancient Romans kept three types of dogs: hunting dogs, especially sighthounds, Molossian dogs like the Neapolitan Mastiff, often depicted in reliefs and mosaics with the words "Cave Canem", and small companion dogs like the Maltese, used as women's lap dogs. Greyhounds were often represented...

 The origin of the chariot is not definitively documented but it is thought to have been a technology developed in the Eurasian steppe by cultures such as the Sintashta, a Middle Bronze Age civilization dating to the period 2200-1800 BCE.  The earliest remains of chariots have been found in Sintashta burials. Russian archaeological analysis indicates the preceding Abashevo culture was already marked by endemic intertribal warfare. Intensified by ecological stress and competition for resources in the Sintashta period, this drove the construction of fortifications on an unprecedented scale and innovations in military technique such as the invention of the war chariot.   Many Sintashta graves are furnished with weapons, although the composite bow associated later with chariotry does not appear. The Sintashta economy included the production of copper from ore in nearby mines  and arsenical bronze, that uses arsenic rather than tin, which was smelted on an industrial...

The site of Hasanlu was extensively excavated from 1957–77 as part of a general investigation into the archaeology of the Ushnu-Solduz Valley in northwestern Iran, a joint venture of the Penn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, and the Archaeological Service of Iran. The site has deposits dating back some 8,000 years to Neolithic times, however, the Iron Age levels, beginning around 1250 BCE, are the best understood. The settlement portion of Hasanlu was dramatically destroyed (ca. 800 BCE) leaving a burned and body-strewn destruction level. The conflagration is thought to have happened in late summer based on plant remains. The people who remained in the buildings on the High Mound, including women and children, were completely wiped out by violence and fire. Most seem to have been left where they were killed in the streets and in buildings, which then collapsed on their bodies because of the fire. The people who remained at Hasanlu did have weapons and horses at ...