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).