The Ancient Art Blog

Few ancient monuments are more stunning than the Ishtar Gate of Babylon. Check out this article from The Ancient Near East Today for history and insights into this iconic structure.

The Ishtar Gate of Babylon: One Monument, Multiple Narratives Few ancient monuments are more iconic than the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, but its significance can differ from person to person. Helen Gries lays out some of the different narratives attached to this structure.

Ancient glass was of course not unbreakable, but thankfully it was valued highly enough to make it into tombs, preserving it for us to admire and study. This blog post by the Getty provides a behind-the-scenes look into their collection and its display.

Is Ancient Glass Unbreakable? | Getty News No. But here’s how vessels have survived for thousands of years

Who doesn't love a good temple?

31 ancient temples from around the world, from Göbekli Tepe to the Parthenon Throughout the ages, humans have built temples dedicated to deities. Here are 31 of the most famous monumental temples from around the world.

The Meaning and Symbolism of Swimming-Girl Spoons from Egypt Elegantly crafted out of fine materials, the swimming-girl spoons from Egypt retain an appeal across time and space. But what do these iconic objects represent?

Gold and agate ornament probably representing Serkhet, or Isis-Serkhet, or perhaps even just Isis. The gold ornament takes the shape of a scorpion with body in agate; it has a human head with a divine crown in the shape of sun disk, cow's horns (the so-called Hathor crown, which is often used for other female deities as well, especially Isis).

Serket was one of many protector goddesses and is depicted as either human with a scorpion crown or as a scorpion. She protected not only against venom, but also coffins and canopic chests and against dangerous deities such as the snake-demon Apep, who threatened the king and gods in their journey through the underworld. In her capacity as a protector, she is eventually identified with Isis, sharing iconography (also, the scorpion, like many fierce and dangerous animals, is associated with motherhood - another reason for the uncertainty in the identification).

Found in the tomb of Queen Karomama, wife of King Takelothis II and mother of King Osorkon III, found in Tell el-Muqdâm (ancient Leontopolis). Dynasty 22 (10th century BCE). So the object could possibly also be intended to represent the queen in the guise of Isis/Serket/Isis-Serket.

H/T The Egyptian Museum الصفحة الرسمية للمتحف المصري
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Cylinder Seal with the name of Ishma-ilum, ruler of Kisik, ca. 2450 BC. A naked hero fights lions and other animals. Made of lapis lazuli, + modern imprint in clay. Ht. 3 cm. From ancient Mesopotamia, now in the Louvre (AO 22299).

Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Christian Larrieu

I'll take a pair of those sandals.

Archaeologists Broke Open King Tut’s Inner Tomb Exactly 100 Years Ago. Here Are 5 of the Most Opulent Artifacts They Found | Artnet News We rounded up six of the most opulent artifacts discovered in Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb on the centennial of its discovery.

Fun video teasing the Ashmolean's upcoming exhibition on Knossos and Minoan Crete:

Labyrinth: Knossos, Myth & Reality – exhibition opens 10 Feb 2023 in Oxford According to legend, an elaborate labyrinth was built at Knossos on the island of Crete to hold a ferocious Minotaur. The Ashmolean Museum will unveil the dr...

The house of the Vettii with its fabulous murals has been reopened to the public after restoration!

See the Lavish Pompeii Home Owned by Two Men Freed From Slavery After two decades, the newly restored House of the Vettii is officially open to visitors

Gold and soapstone rings recently discovered by archaeologists in the burial of a young woman in the Amarna North Desert Cemetery, dated to 18th Dynasty (ca 1550 - 1292 BC). The ring on the left has an engraving in hieroglyphic which translates to "Daughter of the Lady of the Two Lands", indicating the owner was of nobility ("two lands" was one of several ways the ancient Egyptians referred to their own country). The ring on the right features an image of Bes, a dwarf-god who had a protective function, particularly for women and children.

Photograph courtesy of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

The Parthenon reimagined

From Athens with love: the NGV’s dizzying recreation of the Parthenon Temple of Boom sees the ancient monument reconstructed and covered with art in the gallery’s garden, inviting the public to reflect on its beauty – and complicated history

Amazing discovery in Tuscany: 20 bronze statues plus other objects, dated to 2nd century BCE - 1st century CE.

New find from Syria!

Roman-era Mosaic with Mythological Scenes Revealed in al-Rastan, Syria Syrian archaeologists with the support of the Nabu Museum in Lebanon have uncovered part of a large floor mosaic depicting mythological scenes dated to the period of the Roman Empire in the city of al-Rastan, near Homs. They describe the mosaic the important discovery since before the civil war. The...

Mask with the face of Humbaba, monster and foe of Gilgamesh, fresh from the dirt at the University of Pennsylvania Excavations at ancient Ur, in Iraq

Paul Zimmerman 🏴 💣 on Twitter “Careful scraping today revealed the other half of the Humbaba mask that we found yesterday. , does that make you twice as jealous or completely jealous? ”

John Oliver talks museums and stolen antiquities

Museums: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) John Oliver discusses some of the world’s most prestigious museums, why they contain so many stolen goods, the market that continues to illegally trade antiq...

200 years ago today, Champollion reported on his preliminary findings in his quest to crack the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system. Decipherment of hieroglyphic had huge ramifications on our understanding and interpretation of images from ancient Egypt.

Today marks 200 years since an exciting breakthrough in the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs 🖋

On 27 September 1822, French scholar Jean-François Champollion read his ‘Lettre à M. Dacier’ before the ‘Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres’ in Paris.

In the letter, Champollion outlined his findings on the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs and the reasoning behind them, showing that hieroglyphs didn’t just represent ideas, they also represented the sounds of a spoken language. With his conclusions in hand, scholars could finally translate the records of a civilisation that had endured for thousands of years.

The letter will be on display in our , opening on 13 October.

Book your exhibition tickets today to see this ground-breaking research for yourself, and follow the results of the 1822 discovery, which expanded our understanding of human history by some 3,000 years: http://ow.ly/KNOa50KUlQv

🔎 Copy of the Lettre à M. Dacier.

Sappho is ready for her close-up!

This head came from a colossal statue of a goddess (the pictured fragment measures 90cm in height), found in the Roman levels of ancient Smyrna (modern Izmir), in Turkey. This head type - tilted head, upward looking eyes, distinctive headband - was popular throughout the Roman Empire, about a dozen copies are known from various locations.

The type is referred to by many scholars as "Sappho"; Sappho was a Greek poetess from the island of Le**os, located off the west coast of Turkey (ancient Anatolia). She was widely acclaimed in antiquity (as today), and even referred to as the "tenth muse" by Plato, hence her later celebration and deification. However, other scholars prefer to identify this type as Aphrodite, based on comparison with other known Aphrodite types. In truth, we can't know for sure which goddess was represented here.

The head is currently on display in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, which identifies her as "Sappho", which is no surprise, given Sappho's origins in western Anatolia.

Griffin living his best life on the walls of the throne room in the palace of Knossos, Crete. ca. 15th century BCE.

Anyone who has spent time in Pompeii or the Roman section of an archaeology museum will have noticed that many ancient people had a strong belief in the symbolic power of images of phalluses. These often appear as amulets or charms, or small carvings on walls/doorways. Well, in El Higuerón, Spain, archaeologists have found the largest such image so far discovered - ~45cm/18in long - carved into rock

Archaeologists In Spain Just Found What's Believed To Be The Biggest Ancient Roman Ph***ic Carving Ever The archaeologists said they are digging through records, but they’re fairly certain this is the biggest stone phallus ever found.

The Earliest Known Images of Two Badass Biblical Heroines, Deborah and Jael, Are Uncovered by Archaeologists in Israel.

Deborah helped lead Israelite forces to victory over a Canaanite army, while Jael stabbed an enemy commander with a tent pole.

news.artnet.com

Great overview on the challenges of dating cave art, and why art may be older than we think (like, Neanderthal old).

When did humans start making art and were Neanderthals artists too? On a visit to see ancient cave art in Spain, Michael Marshall explores why it's so hard to calculate the age of early human artworks and whether other hominins might also have created art.

Rare Byzantine coin may show a 'forbidden' supernova explosion from A.D. 1054 The supernova shone in the sky for years, but Byzantine scholars never wrote about it.

Exciting new find from Jerusalem: ~1500 fragments of carved ivories used to decorate furniture, dated to the 8th-7th centuries BCE (first temple period and time when the Levant was under the control of the Assyrian Empire). The ivory was tested and found to have come from elephants.

Previously, archaeologists had uncovered ivories at sites like Nimrud (ancient Assyria), or Samaria (capital of the northern kingdom of Israel). This is the first new find in quite a while. Interestingly (but not surprising, since this is Judea) the artists avoided figural images (i.e. animals, humans) in the decorative motifs, in contrast to similar style ivories found elsewhere such as in Assyria. This is a good example of the adoption of global or international artistic trends for local cultural taste and consumption.

First-Temple Period Decorated Ivories Found in City of David The ivories will be on display next Tuesday, September 13, at the 23rd Conference of the City of David Studies of Ancient Jerusalem.

Silver figure of a mountain goat from ancient Elam (Iran), dated to 3500 - 2700 BCE. The face is gold-plated. Interestingly, the right back hoof isn't sculpted, but rather incised on the bottom of the figure (see second picture).

Length: 7 cm. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts 59.14. Images courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts.

Beautiful gold wreaths from the Hellenistic Period (3rd - 1st centuries BCE).

Foliate wreaths made from various trees and plants (often myrtle, laurel or olive, but also other plants such as celery or pine) were common in antiquity. They were worn by priests in religious ceremonies as well as awarded in athletic competitions, musical and poetic contests, and as an honour following military success. They denoted status and could be gifted to the gods as an act of piety.

In the Hellenistic period, gold versions of these wreaths became popular. The leaves were pounded out on thin gold sheets, individually cut, and then woven onto a gold frame with gold wire. They resemble the more natural versions, but of course were more valuable, rare, and delicate.

Thanks to Anna Kouremenos for the image!

I know I haven't posted in a long time, but what better way to get back into it than through one of my favourite works of ancient art, in honour of international dog day: the (deservedly) famous mosaic from Alexandria, Egypt, depicting a dog sitting next to a knocked over water pitcher. This mosaic made of very, very small pieces of stone and glass ("tesserae"), using a technique known as "opus vermiculatum" ("wormy work"), in reference to the arrangement of tesserae to achieve painting-like effects of depth and shading. It would have been the center piece of a large floor mosaic. I can only imagine that the owner of the house found dogs and their antics to be as charming as we do today.

Discovered in 1993 on the site of the new Library of Alexandria, in Egypt. Currently in the Greco-Roman Museum, Alexandria, no. 32044. Diameter: 69 cm. Date: ca. 200 - 150 BCE.

Early encounters with Egyptian mummies set off a major trend in European decorative arts; but it also led to a much more bizarre (and destructive) victorian cultural practice: mummy unwrapping parties and consumption of the remains.

Why did people start eating Egyptian mummies? The weird and wild ways mummy fever swept through Europe Why did people think cannibalism was good for their health? The answer offers a glimpse into the zaniest crannies of European history, at a time when Europeans were obsessed with Egyptian mummies.

A woman found an ancient marble bust of a Roman statesman in a Goodwill in Austin, which she bought for 36 dollars. Turns out it had been looted from Germany in WWII by an American soldier. The head has been dated to the late 1st century BC or early 1st century CE. It will be on display in the San Antonio Museum of Art before being returned to Germany.

This Ancient Roman Bust – Which May Have Been Looted By An American Soldier In Germany – Will Return Home After Selling For $35 At A Texas Goodwill The bust will be displayed in San Antonio for a year before being repatriated to Germany.

New pottery workshop uncovered west of Alexandria, dated to the Ptolemaic, Roman, and Byzantine eras, potentially providing all sorts of useful data for understanding how the ceramics industry worked, including the lives of the craftspeople.

Graeco-Roman pottery workshop, storage facility unearthed in Alexandria - Greco-Roman - Antiquities During archaeological excavations carried out at Tabet Al-Motaweh area, west of Alexandria, an Egyptian archaeological mission uncovered a Graeco-Roman pottery workshop and a storage building.

The erotic art of Pompeii gets the exhibition it deserves! "Art and Sensuality in the Houses of Pompeii" is running from 21 April to 15 January in one of the ancient houses at the site.

Can't make it to Pompeii in person? Euronews has a short video exploring the exhibit (embedded in the attached article).

'Rumpy Pompeii': S*x lives of the wild & ancient erupt in new exhibit If you visit the site Pompeii, you will notice that there is erotic art everywhere you look. A new exhibition titled 'Art and Sensuality in the Houses of Pompeii', aims to look at why the people of Pompeii were so fascinated with eroticism.