Artefacts Virtual Tour.

Recovered in 1928 from a Roman shipwreck near Cape Artemision, this Classical bronze sculpture depicting Zeus or Poseidon was probably a work of the Athenian sculptor Kalamis (active 5th Century BC). Lord of the sky and thunder, Zeus was the son of the god Kronos (“time”) and the ruler of the Olympian gods. Many different and conflicting local myths developed about this deity, including his role in the foundation of the polis (city-state) of Corinth, while his love-life was a common theme of Greek poetry. Temples venerating the king of the gods were erected around the Hellenic world including Olympia and Athens (the Olympieion).

A source of nourishment, a central element in mortuary rituals and sacrifices, and a critical topic of philosophical discourse, food influenced almost every facet of life in ancient Greek society. Archaeological and textual remains provide a complex picture of Hellenic diets, as diverse types of food were consumed with variations observable at inter- and intra-site level, at different time periods, and across political and socio-economic divides.
Statue of a goddess holding grapes 323 — 31 BC (replica):
On the one hand, fruits and nuts were eaten as dessert foods by city-dwellers. On the other hand, nuts such as acorn, lupins and other foraged foods were major sources of nourishment for those of lower socio-economic standing.
Statue of a goddess with quiver and arrow 323 — 31 BC (replica): Animals most commonly sacrificed were goats, sheep, and pigs. Offal and sausages could be purchased from markets on the days following sacrifices.

Minoan Amphora Type 1 (replica)
Minoan Amphora with fine detailed painting depicting an archer hunting animals on the exterior, with double handles and everted rim.

Minoan Amphora Type 2 1500 — 1450 BC (replica)
In many areas of the Bronze Age Aegean, artists were able to choose between figurative and geometric patterns to decorate pottery. Certain geometric motifs were favoured over others in different locations, allowing archaeologists to narrow down sites where vessels were manufactured.

Achilles & Ajax Amphora (replica)
Traditional amphora depicting imagery of Ajax and Achilles participating in a board game.

Geometric Pithos ca. 1500 BC (replica)
The octopus motif enjoyed a long history in the Minoan artistic repertoire. It may have been associated with the afterlife, as indicated by its increased presence on funerary larnakes in the 13th Century BC, but it may have functioned simply as a decorative motif.

Double Handled Amphora
This attic black-figure amphora is decorated on one side with a scene in which Nike, the goddess of victory, takes centre-stage. Sailors prior to setting off from port would dedicate votive offerings to the cult sanctuaries of Nike, rather than Poseidon, in order to secure a safe journey home.

Bust of Serapis Late 4th Century BC — 2nd Century AD (replica)
Born out of the interaction between Greek settlers and the priests of the cult of Apis-Osiris in Memphis (Egypt) in the 7th Century BC, the hybrid god Serapis was the patron deity of the Ptolemaic royal family. His cult, and that of his consort Isis, continued to be practised throughout the ancient world centuries after the death of the last ruler of the Ptolemies – Cleopatra VII (ca.69-30 BC).

Bust of Alexander the Great Late 4th — 1st Century BC (replica)
By the time he died at the age of 33 in Babylon (modern Iraq), Alexander the Great had conquered a territory that extended from Northern Greece to the Hindu Kush mountains (Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan). His name would go on to be revered by Roman emperors and be echoed a millennium later in Abolqasem Ferdowsi’s epic history of the Persians (Shahnameh, 9th Century AD).

Phaistos Disk 2 Millennium BC (replica)
The pictographic script on this fired-clay disk shares a close relationship with the undeciphered Linear A script of the Minoan civilisation. Scholars have suggested it functioned as a lunisolar calendar or a gameboard, but, until its script can be read, its true purpose remains a mystery.

Figurine of Cycladic Goddess ca.3200/3000 — 2000 BC (replica)
Little is known about the civilisation that produced and traded these figurines. Most idols were carved out of the hard-crystalline white marble endemic to the Cycladic islands using stone tools made of emery – an impure form of corundum.

Found without her arms by a farmer on the island of Melos, then excavated by a Greco-French team of archaeologists in 1820, the “Venus de Milo” is one of the most celebrated sculptures of Greek antiquity. She is the work of the Hellenistic sculptor Alexandros of Antioch (active 2nd-1st Century BC).
The modelling of her skin and hair recalled the aesthetics of Classical sculptors such as Praxiteles (ca.395-330 BC) while the curve of her spine, twisting torso and shape of her nude body reflected Hellenistic innovations and tastes. Representing the Greek ideal of the female form, she is thought to depict either Aphrodite, the goddess of love and desire, or the sea goddess Amphitrite, who was venerated on Melos.

Panathenaic Games Plate Handmade by NINA
On the night before the grand procession, four runners from each of the ten tribes of Athens took part in a relay race. The task of the racers was to carry a burning torch from the altar of Eros outside the Dipylon Gate to the temple of Athena on the Akropolis. The first torch, or the only one left alight, to reach the temple would be used to light the fire to burn the sacrificial oxen.

Head of Hygeia ca. 360 BC
Daughter of the medicine-god Asklepios and a major figure in his cult, Hygeia was the goddess of hygiene, health and healer of maladies. She was one of the most popular deities in the Greco-Roman world. Sanctuaries honouring Hygeia were situated next to Asklepia – temples dedicated to Asklepios. She is often depicted holding a snake, a symbol of knowledge and health.

Minoan Libation Jug ca. 1400 BC (replica)
During the Minoan period, libation and animal sacrifice seem to have been two entirely separate rituals that were never executed on the same occasion until, at least, the 14th Century BC. In Greek cultic ritual, however, libation almost always accompanied animal sacrifices.

Stamnos Depicting Dionysos 420 — 410 BC (replica)
In the Classical period, Greek wine was regularly watered down (one part wine to four parts water) before consumption. This was in stark contrast to the Scythians of the Eurasian Steppes, who drank their wine undiluted.

Athenian Helmet 5th — 4th Century BC (replica)
Unlike the Spartans, who were renowned for the unsurpassed skill of their land armies, the Athenians excelled in naval warfare. Many scholars attribute the development of the Athenian fleet and its hegemony over the Aegean in the 5th Century to the naval building program of Themistocles (ca.524-460 BC) during the first Persian invasion of Greece (492-490 BC).

Delphian Helmet 7th — 5th Century BC (replica)
This pair of helmets from Delphi was made in the Corinthian style, which prevailed throughout Greece from the 7th to 5th Century BC. The defensive impetus of this type of armour is evident in its coverage of the whole head, thin slits for the eyes and prominent cheek guards. These helmets also functioned as votive offerings, as indicated by their finds in the sanctuaries of Delphi.

This marble statue depicts Hermes, the messenger of the Olympian gods, holding Dionysos, the god of wine and entertainment, in his left arm. According to myth, Dionysos was the lovechild of Zeus and Semele, a mortal woman. Worried that his wife Hera would exact her wrath if she found out about the child, Zeus hid Dionysos in his thigh and later left him in the care of Hermes.
Scholars consider it to be a work of the Athenian master sculptor Praxiteles (ca.395-330 BC) based on a comment from the writings of the Greek geographer Pausanias (ca.110-180 AD). This sculpture was discovered in a niche at the temple of Hera (Olympia) by German archaeologists in 1877.

In Greek mythology the Nereids were a type of sea nymph, semi-divine beings that inhabited the waters of the Mediterranean, with the largest number occupying the Aegean. Numbering 50 in total, they were the daughters of the sea god Nereus, otherwise known as “the old man of the sea”, and attendants of Poseidon.
Nereids were benevolent creatures, often helping lost sailors and fishermen find their way back to port. (This was in stark contrast to the dreaded Sirens, featured in Homer’s Odyssey, who with their sweet, hypnotic voices lured seamen to their watery graves.) The most famous of the Nereids was Thetis. She was the mother of Achilles, the greatest warrior among the Achaeans who fought during the legendary Trojan War. Nereids were often depicted in artworks alongside various types of sea creatures including mythical fish-tailed horse hybrids known as hippocamps (Greek: ἱππόκαμποι, hippokampoi).

Bronze (90% copper and 10% tin) had been worked by craftsmen in the Aegean since the 3rd Millennium BC. It was not until the Archaic period, however, that the first simple large-scale Greek sculptures of this material were created using the sphyrelaton technique (lit. “hammer driven”). Bronze sculptures were considered by the Greeks in antiquity to be the epitome of creative expression and a reflection of a sculptor’s mastery of his craft. Marble, however, also held a prominent position in ancient art, as statues made of this stone possessed an even longer history than bronze within the Greek repertoire.
Charioteer of Delphi 478 BC, Delphi
The Charioteer of Delphi was probably dedicated as a votive offering to the temple of Apollo by the tyrant of Gela (Sicily) – Polyzalos – after his victory in a chariot race at the Pythian Games in 478 BC.

Statue of Athena Parthenos (“Varvakeion Athena) 200 — 250 AD copy of original from 438 BC (replica)
This marble statue is a 3rd Century AD copy of a no longer extant ivory and gold statue which once stood inside the Parthenon (Athens), by the sculptor Pheidias (ca.480-430 BC) – the Athena Parthenos (completed ca.438 BC).

The Youth of Marathon 340 — 330 BC (replica)
The proportions and rendering of this figure’s body suggest that he may have been the work of a sculptor from the Praxitelean school between 340 and 330 BC. Scholars have claimed several identities for the youth such as an athlete, a contest-winner, a servant and the god Hermes.

Winged Sphinx Statue ca. 570 — 550 BC (replica)
Sphinxes derived from the winged (Near Eastern) and wingless (Egyptian) traditions were popular throughout Archaic Greece. This Spartan sphinx’s profile body and front-facing head clearly alluded to reliefs of the winged bull sculptures of Mesopotamia.

Kore Statue ca. 490 BC (replica)
The bodies of early korai and New Kingdom Egyptian sculptures were confined to the shape of the stone block from which they were carved, resulting in static and rectangular figures.

Kore Statue with Peplos ca. 530 BC (replica)
During the 6th Century, the peplos (long dress), which previously had been the normal dress for Attic korai, was replaced by the chiton – a short tunic originating from Ionia (western Anatolia).

Cavalry regiments were not ubiquitous among Greek city-states. Sparta, for instance, did not possess a dedicated cavalry unit until 424 BC – more than half a century after the Athenians. Prior to the introduction of the pad saddle to the Mediterranean by the Scythians in 2nd Century BC, Greek cavalrymen rode bareback or on thick cloths.

Depictions of a Mesopotamian or Persian king slaying a wild lion symbolised the sovereign’s divinely ordained ability to defend his kingdom from foreign forces. In Macedon, numismatic remains from as early as the 5th Century BC and later Hellenistic mosaics and wall-paintings demonstrate that the hunting of wild fauna was a practice popular among wealthy aristocrats. Hunting was also seen as a rite of initiation into adulthood for young boys in Macedon and may have also been the case in city-states like Sparta and Corinth.
Alexander the Great and General Krateros on a lion hunt ca.320 BC (replica)
This mosaic floor from Pella depicts a historically attested lion hunt involving Alexander the Great and one of his generals. The story goes that Krateros (right), a general and friend of Alexander the Great (left), saved his king from an attacking lion near the Granicus River in Anatolia (Turkey).

A circular or horse-shoe shaped braid consisting of flowers, leaves or branches, the wreath is one of the most enduring symbols in Mediterranean cultures. In ancient Greece, wreaths signified the ideals of good-conduct and key philosophical concepts, including: sovereignty, status, dignity, victory, perfection and eternity. They had a wide range of applications, from serving as popular decorative motifs ornamenting the interiors and exteriors of buildings, to their use in wedding ceremonies, sports festivals and funerary rituals.
Wreaths were made from various types of plants, each one possessing a symbolic association with a particular deity or myth: oak to Zeus; laurel to Apollo; herbs to Demeter; ivy and grapevine to Dionysos; myrtle to Aphrodite; palm to Theseus; and poplar to Herakles. Linked to Apollo (god of light, poetry and prophecy), wreaths made from the fragrant bay leaves of the laurel tree were awarded to victors of the Pythian Games. Winners of poetry contests were also crowned with laurel wreaths and were bestowed the honorary title of “laureate”, a term which continues to be used to this day.

Although it is commonly associated with imperial Roman culture, the practice of bathing was central to the social life of the ancient Greeks, especially Classical Athenians. The Greeks bathed in both cold and warm water, as well as in medicinal steam pools known as laconia.
Statue of Pandora Hellenistic or Roman (replica)
According to the poet Hesiod (7th Century BC), Zeus had Hephaistos (smith of the gods) create the first mortal woman Pandora (“All-giver”) as an act of spite against Prometheus for having stolen fire from the gods and giving it to humanity.
Venus bathing Hellenistic or Roman (replica)
Men and women bathed in separate sections of public baths. This arrangement was continued by the Romans in their monumental imperial baths. Venus’ close relationship with water is exemplified best in artworks depicting her birth. She was said to have been born in the waters near the island of Kythera.