Antiquities Exhibits

The Esquiline Treasure is an ancient Roman silver treasure that was found in 1793 on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. The hoard is considered an important example of late antique silver work from the 4th century CE, probably about 380 for the major pieces. Since 1866, 57 objects, representing the great majority of the treasure, have been in the British Museum. Two of the most important objects in the treasure are the ornate silver-gilt engraved boxes known as the Projecta Casket and the Muse Casket. The treasure was part of the belongings of a wealthy Roman household of high social status. The collection includes 8 plates (4 circular and 4 rectangular), a fluted dish, a ewer inscribed for "Pelegrina", a flask with embossed scenes, an amphora, 6 sets of horse trappings, with furniture fittings including 4 Tyche figures representing the 4 main cities of the Roman Empire: Rome, Constantinople, Antioch and Alexandria, two hands clenching bannisters, and an assortment of jewelry. The ...

The three-day festival of the Anthesteria was celebrated around the time of the full moon in January or February.  It celebrated the beginning of spring, particularly the maturing of the wine stored at the previous vintage, whose pithoi were now ceremoniously opened. During the feast, small gifts were exchanged and social order was interrupted or inverted, much like Roman Saturnalia, with the household slaves allowed to participate. The Anthesteria also had aspects of a festival of the dead.  Both the Keres, female spirits who bewailed violent death on the battlefield, or the Carians were ritually entertained and thought to roam the city until they were expelled at the conclusion of the festival.  A Greek proverb, said of those who pestered for continued favors,  "Out of doors, Keres! It is no longer Anthesteria!" On day one of the festival, known as Pithoigia, the jars of wine from the previous year were opened, libations offered to Dionysus, and the entire househol...

The lebes gamikos, or "nuptial lebes," (plural - lebetes gamikoi) is a form of ancient Greek pottery used in marriage ceremonies (literally, it means marriage vase). It was probably used in the ritual sprinkling of the bride with water before the wedding. In form, it has a large bowl-like body and a stand that can be long or short. A typical lebes gamikos shows wedding scenes (including mythic weddings such as the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, but the iconography can also be related to scenes such as mimes. One of the earliest lebetes gamikoi was painted by, apparently, a follower of Sophilos (c. 580 - 570 BCE). The lebes gamikos had the typical wedding procession, accompanied by the unique addition of chariots bearing Helen and Menelaos and the bride's brothers. Sophilos (active about 590 – 570 BCE) was an Attic potter and vase painter in the black-figure style. Sophilos is the oldest Attic vase painter so far to be known by his true name. Fragments of two wine basins (...

Producing cloth for garments and other fabrics needed in a household was a significant task for women. It required special equipment such as a loom and loomweights as well as this utensil, known as an onos or epinetron. It is a generally semicircular tile that is closed at one end. It was placed over the lower thigh and knee. Although its exact function is not clear, the roughened upper surface suggests that it served to prepare wool for spinning. - Metropolitan Museum of Art  Epinetra were often decorated, sometimes depicting black figure Amazon women, as in the case of an epinetron painted by Sappho between 500-490 BCE. A female head was often placed on the closed end where the knee was covered. Because of the strong association between wool-working and the ideal woman and wife, as in the case of Penelope weaving in the Odyssey, it was associated with weddings so decorated epinetra were placed on the graves of unmarried girls, or dedicated at temples of female deities. Black-figu...

Sculpture of a nuptial banquet, Greek, 3rd-2nd century BCE at the Metropolitan Museum of Art "A nuptial banquet takes place on a lavishly decorated and furnished couch (kline). The man reclining at the far right raises a wine jug, while the female, seated at the front edge of the couch, once played a lyre. Two child Erotes join the young couple and all participants are crowned with ivy leaves and wreaths. Exceptional for its three-dimensionality, ornate style and preservation of polychromy, this group visualizes the semantic overlap in Greek thought and art between the bridal and the death kline and the role of lyre music as expression of marital love."  - The Metropolitan Museum of Art The couch, or kline, was a form used in Greece as early as the late seventh century B.C.E.  Three types are distinguished by G.M.A. Richter – those with animal legs, those with “turned” legs, and those with “rectangular” legs,  two of which could be longer than the other, providing su...