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Head of a child, Marble, Greek, Hellenistic period, 3rd - 2nd Century B.C, 183 mm x 150 mm x 170 mm (without stand)
Freestanding stone statues of children were made in the Hellenistic period as votive offerings dedicated to the gods in their sanctuaries to secure divine protection for the child depicted.
Hellenistic portraiture was one of the most innovative features of Hellenistic art. Spurred on by an increased interest in realism, Hellenistic sculptors sought to produce true-to-life portraits defined by the individualism of their subjects. Emergent at this time is a focus on a range of states of mind such as inebriation and concentration, as well as physical characteristics like senescence and anatomical abnormality – in great contrast with the idealised forms of the Classical period
The Hellenistic Period is a part of the Ancient Period for the European and Near Asian space. The use of this period is justified by the extent of the Hellenic culture in most of these areas, due to the Greek political presence especially in Asia after Alexander’s conquests, but also to a new wave of Greek colonization. In consequence, the Hellenistic Period is usually accepted to begin in 323 BCE with Alexander’s death and ends in 31 BCE with the conquest of the last Hellenistic kingdom by Rome, the Lagid kingdom of Egypt. For the Asian part, we could lengthen it to 10 BCE, when the last Indo-Greek kingdom was conquered by Indo-Sakas.
Politically, the Hellenistic Period is characterized by a division and a split from Alexander’s former empire, with endless wars between the Diadochi and their successors. Thus the Hellenistic kingdoms weakened themselves and thus gradually created space for competing kingdoms, such as Pontus or Bactria. At the same time, Roman power was in exponential expansion, annihilating other political presence in Italy, and then the Carthaginian dominance of the Mediterranean in the three Punic Wars. At the end of the Hellenistic Period the young Roman empire had almost reached its maximum expansion, from Lusitania (modern Portugal) to Syria and from South-Britain to Egypt.
In general, some things characterized this period in opposition of the previous one: The model of the city-state which dominated before was replaced by the different kinds of kingdoms, with more centralized power. Moreso, it is the basic idea of administration which changed: It was no longer a matter of managing the civic affairs in the name of the community, but by delegation in the name of one personal authority. At the same time, mercenaries were more frequently used in Hellenistic armies, in order to face the military and technical evolution which greatly increased the cost for equip a civic army. The best example is the fame and the use of the Galatians by the Hellenistic kingdoms.
Culturally, this period is not an intermediary era between the prosperous Classic and Imperial ones, as it was described in the past. Aristotle the father of modern sciences, Menander the great comedies’ author, Epicure the moralist, Eratosthenes, but also Euclid, Archimedes, and Polybius lived and worked during the Hellenistic Period. This period showed progress in architecture, a lot of great euergetism (altruistic donations to the community), a multiplication of feast days and celebrations (shown by the great number of created theatres), the development of art and the creation of libraries, with the most famous being in Alexandria.
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Portrait head of a bearded man, fragment of a sarcophagus, Marble, Roman, Mid-Second Century A.D, 250 mm x 150 mm x 140 mm
Private portrait sculpture was most closely associated with funerary contexts. Funerary altars and tomb structures were adorned with portrait reliefs of the deceased along with short inscriptions noting their family or patrons, and portrait busts accompanied cinerary urns that were deposited in the niches of large, communal tombs known as columbaria. This funerary context for portrait sculpture was rooted in the longstanding tradition of the display of wax portrait masks, called imagenes, in funeral processions of the upper classes to commemorate their distinguished ancestry.
It is in portraiture that Rome makes its most characteristic contribution to the tradition founded by the Greeks, a contribution that matured much earlier than in other types of sculpture and which caused the development of sculpture in Rome to be divided into two fields, with different patterns of evolution, portraiture and the other types. From the time of the Republic, portraiture was highly valued and over time it oscillated cyclically between an idealising classicist tendency and one of great realism, derived in part from the expressiveness typical of Hellenistic art.
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From the Neues Museum in Berlin. The circles are a complex lunar calendar that can predict eclipses.
If you thought the Newman Wine Vaults soaked in history are fascinating enough, think again! This rather nondescript glass counter top glass case shows artifacts from the 1800s excavated at the site. There were no labels though, but these appear to be remnants of a pipe (a smoking pipe, not the kegs which were also called pipes back then) and probably the axe heads. The axes were probably used to cut wood to make, or crack open pipes (kegs) of port. Notes about the Newman Wine Vaults appear in previous and subsequent captions in this album. (St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, June 2015)
Found at the Bronze Age site of Mycenae, Grave Circle A, Grave V, dates from the mid-1600s B.C.
The mask depicts the imposing face of a bearded man. It is made of a gold sheet with repousse details. Two holes near the ears indicate that the mask was held in place over the deceased’s face with twine.
National Archaeological Museum
IMG_3890
Sheet applique with portrait of Alexander the Great as young Heracles, repoussé technique, Gold, Greek, Hellenistic, 3rd - 1st Century B.C, 24 mm diameter, 1,4 gr
Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. A member of the Argead dynasty, he was born in Pella—a city in Ancient Greece—in 356 BC. He succeeded his father King Philip II to the throne at the age of 20, and spent most of his ruling years conducting a lengthy military campaign throughout Western Asia and Northeastern Africa. By the age of thirty, he had created one of the largest empires in history, stretching from Greece to northwestern India. He was undefeated in battle and is widely considered to be one of history's greatest and most successful military commanders.
Alexander on a mosaic from Pompeii, an alleged reproduction of a Philoxenus of Eretria or Apelles' painting, 4th century BC. During his youth, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16. His father Philip was assassinated in 336 BC at the wedding of Cleopatra of Macedon, Alexander's sister, and Alexander assumed the throne of the Kingdom of Macedon. In 335 BC he campaigned in the Balkans, reasserting control over Thrace and Illyria before sacking the Greek city of Thebes.
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artifact by ruby acorn
ceramic keyhole link - Kylie Parry
lampwork discs - Pinocean
Czech glass, recycled African glass beads, Vintaj bead caps, copper (plated) key, Vintaj chain, chocolate linen cord, Vintaj hook clasp
Hellenistic bronze statue discovered off the island of Antikythira in 1900. Approximately 7' tall.
National Archaeological Museum
IMG_3956
Bronze Cupid, the God of love, son of Venus and identified with the Greek Eros, plays a musical instrument. Thick green patina.
800-300 BC (5")
Bronze; from a shipwreck off Cape Artemision - about 140 B.C.
National Archaeological Museum
IMG_3934
These were at an exhibit at Þjöðmenningarhúsið, the Culture House, about the sagas and their origins. Lots of original manuscripts on display.
Limestone stamp seal in the shape of a scarab: a lion hunting a deer incised onto the back. Hole for wearability. 1000 BC (1” x ½”)
Head of Dioscuri, Marble, Roman, 2nd - 3rd Century A.D, 70 mm x 45 mm
Dioscuri, also called (in French) Castor and Polydeuces and (in Latin) Castor and Pollux, (Dioscuri from Greek Dioskouroi, “Sons of Zeus”), in Greek and Roman mythology, twin deities who succoured shipwrecked sailors and received sacrifices for favourable winds. They were the children of Leda and either Zeus, the king of the gods, or Tyndareus, Leda’s mortal husband and the king of Lacedaemon. According to the usual version, Castor was the son of Tyndareus and thus was mortal, while Pollux was the son of Zeus (who famously had approached Leda in the form of a swan).
Both brothers were fine horsemen, and Pollux was an unrivaled boxer. They took part in the hunting of the Calydonian boar (see Meleager) and in the voyage of the Argo (see Argonaut). When their sister Helen was abducted by Theseus, they invaded Attica and recovered her. They carried off the daughters of Leucippus, Phoebe and Hileira, and were confronted by Leucippus’s nephews, Idas and Lynceus. Castor was murdered by Idas, but Pollux killed Lynceus; in retribution Zeus killed Idas with a thunderbolt. Zeus then gave Pollux the choice between spending all his time on Olympus or giving half of his immortality to his mortal brother, so that they could alternate realms together.
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Statue of Cybele, Marble, Roman, 2nd - 3rd Century A.D, 200 mm x 155 mm x 68 mm
Great Mother of the Gods, also called Cybele, Cybebe, or Agdistis, ancient Oriental and Greco-Roman deity, known by a variety of local names; the name Cybele or Cybebe predominates in Greek and Roman literature from about the 5th century BC onward. Her full official Roman name was Mater Deum Magna Idaea (Great Idaean Mother of the Gods).
Legends agree in locating the rise of the worship of the Great Mother in the general area of Phrygia in Asia Minor (now in west-central Turkey), and during classical times her cult centre was at Pessinus, located on the slopes of Mount Dindymus, or Agdistis (hence her names Dindymene and Agdistis). The existence, however, of many similar non-Phrygian deities indicates that she was merely the Phrygian form of the nature deity of all Asia Minor. From Asia Minor her cult spread first to Greek territory. The Greeks always saw in the Great Mother a resemblance to their own goddess Rhea and finally identified the two completely.
During Hannibal’s invasion of Italy in 204 BC, the Romans followed a Sibylline prophecy that the enemy could be expelled and conquered if the “Idaean Mother” were brought to Rome, together with her sacred symbol, a small stone reputed to have fallen from the heavens.
#ancient #ancientart #ancienthistory #antiquity #artefact #artifact #ancientartifacts #antiquities #art #artobject #ancientrome #ancientworld #history #classical #archaeology #roman #marble #lion #lions #cybele #statue #statuette #throne
These were at an exhibit at Þjöðmenningarhúsið, the Culture House, about the sagas and their origins. Lots of original manuscripts on display.
Detail; bronze, from a shipwreck off Cape Artemision - about 140 B.C.
National Archaeological Museum
IMG_3926