Off to Crete

I've got a feeling that this is a good time to leave Athens for a while - and a good time to visit Crete. In short, I'll be away for a week from now on and the blog will be updated automatically (unless I, by a miracle, find a connection).


This is (interpreted as) a Mycenaean krater (vessel for the mixing of wine and water). LH IIIB period, i.e. the 13th century BC.

Stele of Ευφήρος (Eupheros)

This piece from ca 420 BC is interesting by several different reasons. We can, first of all, notice that it once contained traces of colour - the background was blue, the normal choice during the classical period and the hair was red. It is, however, even more exciting to notice that the man holds a strigil in his left hand since one was found in the tomb under the stele. Was that the man depicted here? Strigils are unfortunately common finds in tombs so we cannot tell for sure, but it's a far better guess than most other identifications you run into when studying ancient art.

A sunny day at Kerameikos

It's a beautiful day here in Athens, the sun is shining and the sites are open. Here's some shots from Kerameikos this morning.


This is the view of the street of the Tombs - I must admit that I find the mixing of modern and ancient in this view very attractive.


A close of shot on the Dexileos stele (a modern copy, the original can be seen in this shot) in it's original position.

Perseus and the Minotaur

The strike is over (for now) and the museums open again - I celebrated by going to the Classical and Hellenistic exhibition.


This is the Roman copy of a early Classical group by Myron that once stood on the acropolis, showing Theseus slaying the Minotaur (the later seen here). I must admit that I've wanted to post this piece for quite some time, but it has not been possible as I lacked dating and provenance.


Detail of a fourth century bronze piece, probably Perseus or Paris. The statue has been presented here earlier on.

Kerameikos and a major strike

Well I was supposed to go to Kerameikos today, but you may have read about the strike that is going on here right now - long story short, I stayed at the library. Oh well, I've been there before and I've got some pretty interesting (and fresh) shots from the site.


This is kouros (early 6th century BC) by the Dipylos master and the latest major find from Kerameikos. Compare to the one in this post.


Detail of a grave stele from ca 600-550 BC, it was originally painted and had a stucco finish.

Some finds from Cyprus

There was some interest in the comments for the finds from Cyprus a few days ago and I though that I might follow up on that, especially as I'm joining an excavation there in 2 months. So, enjoy, another set of finds from Cyprus (older posts including finds from the island can be found here and here).



This courious vessel is a Trefoil (the spout is trefoiled) Oinochoe from the Cypro-Geometric III - Cypro Archaic I period (900-600 BC). You'll notice how different in style this vessel to the geometric finds in Greeece if you compare it one or more of those vessels: A common (Greek) geometric pyxis, a rare granary pyxis and a funerary vessel(ignore the different shape for now).


Another Trefoil Oinochoe, this time a little later (Cypro-Archaic I-II period i.e. 750-480 BC) with a bichorme decorative pattern.

The Agora Museum - Again

I think that I've visited most of the major museums now and I'm therefore visiting them a second time, just to make sure that I remember them. here's some finds from the Agora Museum.


An Athenian Tetradrachm (should, by all logic, equal four drachma) from the 2nd century BC:


Perfume bottle in the shape of a kneeling athlete, depicted as he is binging a victory symbol, a ribbon, around his head. Ca 540 BC.



This is, despite its shape, an official weight from ca 500 BC. The figure (in this case a turtle) is to ensure that everyone, not only those who could read, would know its worth - the turtle represent 1/6th stater, i.e. 127.5 grams.

An ancient rattle and some other finds

Sundays are complicated. It's the only day when I can enjoy a museum on my own (as I'm normally trying to finish the assignments during the Saturdays), yet, it's the one day when they have free entrance, which means a lot of people.


A woman dressed in chiton and himation, 4th century AD (probably Attica). It really looks a lot like the standard Roman toga statues.


A pig rattle from Cyprus, the Cypro-Archaic II period, ca 600-480 BC. (here's a very similar one)


A plank-figurine in chalk with traces of incised decoration (Early Cypriot III - Middle Cypriot I period, i.e. 1900-1800 BC). Notice the resemblance to the cycladic figurines concerning the way to produce stylized figures (a non-extreme example and a close up).

Some goats

The weekends are normally quite slow here in Athens, something that I need to take care of tomorrow. Till then, enjoy this herd, grazing at the National museum in Athens.

Athens

Another day in Athens, every thing going great. I'm actually off to see the new film Agora in a few hours, better be good. Anywaym here's some shots from earlier today.


The odeon of Herodes Atticus, previously presented here.


The Propylaea, dated to the 430's BC, (gate) leading in to the Athenian acropolis. It was actually more famous than the Parthenon itself during antiquity.


A shot from the inside of the Propylaea.


The Athenian Agora, you can see several buildings in this view that have been presented earlier on, such as the temple of Hephaestus (2 versions here and here), some tombs, the small Byzantine church, a bust of Hadrianus, several statues, the odeon of Agrippa, the great drains and a capital from the odeon. I feel, seeing these pictures, that getting a new camera was a good idea.

Some finds from Nemea and Isthmia

It's been a long day, I've been climbing Acrocorinth (which is nothing like climbing the acropolis in Athens), seen Nemea, had a quick look at the Diolkos (ship road over the Isthmus) and visited the ancient Poseidon sanctuary at Isthmia.


Continuing my fish theme from yesterday, this is a truly unique find from the museum at Isthmia, made out of glass (and stone?). Here we see an fish swimming in the sea. The piece is dated to the Roman period (which is very long in Greek archaeology), but I'm quite sure that it's as earliest from the 2nd century AD, probably 4th.


Another scene from the same piece, here an octopus.


There are also some scenes not directly related to the sea, here a villa (?) with a colonnade.


And at last, the temple of Zeus at Nemea (where Heracles slew a lion). You can see that it's rather late (being doric) on the tall, rather thin, columns.

Corinth

Well, I've been on a two day tour to Corinth (it was amazing), which I would like to use as and excuse for not updating yesterday. Anyway, here's some shots from the first day.


The Chorinth channel, built in the 19th century, but both planned and begun several times in antiquity.


This is a late 1st or early 2nd century AD fresco from the Fountain of Peirene in the Corinthian Agora. Compare it to this fresco and mosaic in Rome.


Fish from the same location as the picture above, the fountain is absolutely amazing.


A Roman man in armour, ca 125-150 AD.


The temple of Apollo at the Corinthian Agora.

Athens by night

I thought that it was about time that I posted some pictures taken here at night and some neo-classical ones seems fitting.


The parliament, once home to the king (who was imported from Germany).


The National Academy at Athens.


A statue next to the old parliament.

The national kite holiday

Life never seize to surprise me, I knew that today was some sort of holiday here in Greece, but I would never imagine seeing hundreds of kites floating over the city!


A boy trying to get his kite in the air.


The new Acropolis museum.

A votive column

Here's another impressive find from Delphi, a votive column, once 13 meters high (and perhaps with the Omphalos placed on top of it).


Shaft.


Base.

Two more finds from Delphi

I'm still tired after Delphi last night and this will thus be a short post. Even so, it's two great pieces!


This white base kylix (drinking vessel) depicts Apollo seated with his lyre. The vessel is of exceptional quality.


Nike, the goddess of victory, here in painted terracotta.

The identification of a scene

It is unusual that I write posts longer than a few lines. This is as I want to make it possible to read it without spending very much time here every day and to let the pictures be in focus. However, a very good question came up yesterday and I feel that I might just as well use a full post to answer it in detail. The daily post will be presented below this one.

The question was on how the warriors in this fries could be identified:


Now, this is a perfectly legitimate inquiry, one of the most important traits of anyone who want to study any subject is to question “known facts” – and it seems as if I were wrong in trusting my own source without questioning. My argument on the scene can be read in detail below, but the main point was that I identified the warrior with the gorgon head shield as Achilles (based on a reliable source, even as my memory might not serve me correctly at this point). In the end I went back to the sources to investigate the matter further.

There is one important thing to do whenever you want to identify a scene - you need to begin the most general features and work yourself inwards to the details.

Here we see a frieze depicting a dead warrior surrounded by four others fighting over him, and horses being led away at each side. Out of the four warriors, three have crested helmets and one a shield decorated with a gorgon. The scene also (not seen here) depict several gods in two groups facing each other.

There's also a context to take consider: a pediment depicts the Delphic competition and the other two preserved friezes a gigantomachy and (most likely) the judgment of Paris.

The setting is therefore, as should be expected, from myths and legends. The reasoning should thus be something like this:

The two groups of gods staring at each other are probably representing two factions of some kind. On one side we see Ares, Apollo, Aphrodite and two other gods while we have Athena, Hera (?) and another god at the other side. The two groups are unfortunately broken off by a lost section. We can thus be sure that this part of the frieze depicts the gods during the Trojan war (The former group helped Troy, the later the Greeks).

I would argue that the front frieze should be considered one unit and the depicted battle would in that case be one of the many fights for the body and armor of a fallen hero. But who?

There is only one thing that can help us in the identification (remember, I am very much not an expert on the Iliad) and that is the gorgon shield. This figure is normally identified as Achilles, as everyone want him to be represented in any frieze, but (and this is what brought up the question to begin with) Achilles shield is described in detail in book 18, lines 478-608 of the Iliad and there is not a word about any gorgon. Rather the opposite, the shield is described as depicting the whole world.

My first thought was that this then was the shield he used to have before the death of Patroclus, but that can't be correct as the warriors are supposed to fight over Antilochus body - and he is killed after Patroclus (not even in the Iliad itself)

So it's not Achilles. Who then? I only remember one warrior who owns a shield decorated with a gorgons head and that is Agamemnon himself. This is unfortunately as far as I can come right now as I can't remember all the fights that Agamemnon took part in during the epic, I'll be back on that later on.

In the end, my interpretation of the scene is still one of the Trojan war, but the only identified warrior is Agamemnon, not Achilles. Then again, there might very well be evidence that I am unaware of (such as inscriptions, literary accounts or written names).

Delphi

I could, in theory, upload a few hundred pictures after today - Delphi is an amazing site. Anyway, I won't bore you with that kind of mass posting so here's 4 selected shots (and the Charioteer will not be one of them, as I find it rather useless to only post shots of the absolutely most famous pieces).


The temple of Apollon is however impossible to skip when talking about Delphi.


The Athenian treasure house at Delphi, notice that the walls used to be incised with inscriptions covering a great deal of subjects (there is actually one paian, hymn, remaining with notes!).


Heracles (the man with the lions pelt) and Dionysus (the man who is dressed in a panthers skin and who is standing on a chariot drawn by a lion) in a Gigantomachy (fight between gods and giants). From the treasury of the Siphnians at Delphi.


[Edit 022010: please read this post on the subject, not the one below]
A battle under the walls of Troy. Here we see the dead warrior Antilochus, who's body the heroes fight about. On the Greek side we find Achilles (the man with the gorgon shield on the right side) and another Greek - the Trojans are probably represented by Hector and some other warrior, but I'm not quite sure on who and we do have good evidence for the identification. From the same building as the frieze above.

Brauron and two absolutely unique finds

Another day, another trip to the country side - the Artemis sanctuary at Brauron this time, a site famous in antiquity for it's cult, which involved girls acting like bears.


One of the very many child statues found in the sanctuary.


The site itself in all of it's glory. The colonnade belonged to the Stoas, not the temple itself.


A wooden image of girl in peplos, a truly amazing find.


And as if the site wasn't yielding enough high class artefacts - a wooden herm!
Two of a more common shape can be found here and here.

Eleusis

Eleusis had one of the most important sanctuaries during antiquity and I had the pleasure to visit the site today.

By the way, to quote Helena here: Word of the day - mystic piglet.
(A (mystic?) piglet from the area around Herculaneum, probably Villa dei Papyri. These animals were used in certain sacrifices.)


A Proto-Attica vessel from the 7th century BC, found at Eleusis (west cemetery).

"We drove the sharp end of the beam into the monster's [Polyphemus] eye, and bearing upon it with all my weight I kept turning it round and round as though I were boring a hole in a ship's plank with an auger, which two men with a wheel and strap can keep on turning as long as they choose. Even thus did we bore the red hot beam into his eye, till the boiling blood bubbled all over it as we worked it round and round, so that the steam from the burning eyeball scalded his eyelids and eyebrows, and the roots of the eye sputtered in the fire."

The Odyssey IX translated by Samuel Butler


A flower growing in the Plutonic shrine at Eleusis - this was the flower that grew on the Elysian fields where heroes and exceptional humans ended up after death.


Asklepios, copy of an original from ca 320 Bc.


This is the dedication from the statue above:
ΕΠΙΚΡΑΤΗΣ
ΠΑΜΦΙΛΟΥ
ΛΕΥΚΟΝΟΙΕΥΣ
ΑΣΚΛΗΠΙΩΙ

[To?] Asklepios, dedicated by Epikrates, son of Pamphilos from [the deme of] Leukonoe [in Attica].