This is my favourite relief from the great monument built for the satrap Mausolos by his Greek-steeped, grief-stricken sister-wife Artemisia on his death at Halikarnassos (Bodrum for you modern hedonists). The monument was gigantic and a sensation, making most ancient ‘Seven Wonders of the World’ list, roughly rectangular in shape, with an imposing podium with
This painted portrait is somewhat difficult to place in time and space, is it not? There are hints of the glorious Macedonian wall paintings as well as the knowing glances of Roman mummy portraits from the Fayoum. It is a marble stele from Thebes, the Greek city that found itself continuously trounced by skirmishing armies
The delightfully animated winged woman on this cup fragment at Emory is likely Iris, the sprightly messenger of the gods. It’s a wonderful representation in every respect, with outstretched wings overlapping the tondo’s border, strongly articulated flight feathers, and an almost downy quality elsewhere rendered with dilute glaze. Her face is typical of the Brygos
This fragmentary lady was unearthed near the citadel of Mycenae in the late 19th century (not by Schliemann, poor guy) and, although she is widely represented in art history textbooks, remains something of an an enigma, sometimes colloquially referred to as the ‘Woman in the Window’. Her fame is rightly deserved, with that stepped, wig-like
Vase painting sometimes had a sculptural quality, and from an early period Herakles’ tidy coiffure and beard was a recipient of an attractive additive technique, with Euphronios being an early and great master of it. This fragment of a krater in Milan has all the highlights… Here the hero is in unrelenting profile, with that
The sheer bounty of material from ancient Olympia can be a little overwhelming – after all, for over five centuries it was arguably the most important sanctuary in the Greek world and this the site of its most conspicuous and competitive dedications. So it would be easy to overlook this terracotta group. And that would
If this tondo alone were to appear on the art market today, it would instantly be dismissed as a forgery: it’s an absolute outlier within Late Archaic vase painting, even jarringly different from the exterior scenes on the same cup. Happily, it was unearthed in Vulci during the early 19th century and we can dig
Cradled against the brawny chest of Euphorbos, little Oedipus’ downy flaxen head is tucked beneath the shepherd’s chin, his palm resting against that stalwart pectoral. It is unusual to see men carrying babies or children in Greek art, and even more unusual to encounter such a tender illustration (tender despite the child’s somewhat unsettling adult
With deftly modelled fingertips and slightly dimpled flesh, these nearly clasping female hands in Taranto exude an undeniable sensuality. These are not the chapped and nicked hands of a washerwoman (or former toiling archaeologist…sigh), but rather those of the moneyed leisured class, which the pair of gilt coiled-snake bracelets make abundantly clear. But they are
The rapacious god has transformed himself into an enormous eagle to abduct the beautiful Trojan youth Ganymede (his love interest du jour) and transport him to Olympus where he would serve as cup bearer of the gods – a plum position that apparently bestowed some perks of immortality upon the disoriented boy. Miniature as a
A decade after the Met’s acquisition of the famous Euphronios krater for a cool 1.2 million dollars (and presumably in part as a reaction to the soaring prices of Attic pottery) a most intriguing, ingenious, and inflammatory (depending on who you ask) theory was floated…. In a series of studies, Michael Vickers (and later jointly
While sharing many characteristics with his archaic kin, the so-called ‘Rampin rider’ is on the whole far more lively with a beguiling dip and tilt to the head, extraordinary plaits and trimmed beard, amused doe-eyed expression, and small asymmetries throughout. The head was found on the Akropolis in 1877 and was later donated to the
Is there any way to overestimate the immense impact of the Persian Wars on Athenian (even panHellenic) consciousness and self-determination? Shown here in relief (not such a big one, just over 50 cm tall), the city’s patron goddess is helmeted and standing in repose, one hand on her hip, and the other grasping the butt
As far as fragments go, this one has a lot to say! It is from near the shoulder of a big white-ground lekythos, produced in Athens around 480 B.C. and attributed to the master painter Douris. Unlike many white ground lekythoi, this one did not have funerary imagery. Rather it shows a beautiful youth, his
This miniature, full-length rendition of Demosthenes – that great Athenian statesman and orator – is a frequently overlooked masterpiece. His chiton reveals sloped shoulders and the distinctly unathletic body that famously prevented him from gymnastic pursuits as a child and pushed him into a career as an orator. As part of that precocious training, he
It could be argued that the very pose and activity of this delightfully carved Nike was chosen just to highlight the skills of an extremely talented sculptor. Because that carving is nothing less than the work of a true virtuoso. Originally part of the balustrade partially surrounding the tiny Temple of Athena Nike on the
This is a shocking cup in many ways. It is massive, if quite fragmentary, and provides the most heartbreaking rendering of the sack of Troy (the Iliupersis) in all of Greek art. Shown is the interior – the circular tondo in the centre, and the the upper part of a more fragmentary frieze encircling it.
While sharing many characteristics with his archaic kin, the so-called ‘Rampin rider’ is on the whole far more lively with a beguiling dip and tilt to the head, extraordinary plaits and trimmed beard, amused doe-eyed expression, and small asymmetries throughout. The head was found on the Akropolis in 1877 and was later donated to the
This is an unusual and very clever south Italian vase fragment now in the Allard Pierson Museum. Not only has the artist rendered an ingenious cutaway, perspectival view of a temple, he has also shown the god Apollo surveying it and his own cult statue in a rather ambivalent manner… The fragment belonged to a
There is a lot to love about the Greeks in Sicily: they were horse-crazy, temple-mad, fiercely competitive in all arenas, and produced some of my favorite tyrants and (not incidentally) my favorite coins. And this type is arguably the very finest of them all, showing the nereid (water nymph) Arethusa in delightful profile, surrounded by
On his ten year long (poor Penelope…) nautical journey home from Troy, the wily hero Odysseus encountered epic obstacles, one of the most memorable being the Sirens – mythical creatures (half-women, half-bird) who lured seafarers to their deaths with their irresistibly sweet voices. In the Odyssey, the hero’s temporary lover (poor Penelope…) Circe described the
Hailing from Tiberius’ famous grotto in Sperlonga (south of Rome) this is Diomedes (that gorgeous hand!) absconding with the palladion of Troy (its protectress and cult statue of Athena carved from wood) as that city was pillaged. There is a lot to be said about Sperlonga and the Trojan palladion. But not here! What I
Orpheus is not my favourite personality in Greek mythology (bit of a wimp actually, not adequately rescuing Eurydice from Hades, disrespecting Dionysos, etc), but this fragmentary white-ground cup is an absolute stunner, and who doesn’t love a homicidal maenad. White-ground is a technique usually reserved for Athenian lekythoi – those cylindrical vessels generally associated with
On this big bulging pelike, Herakles strikes again! The action man, his lion’s skin and club are this time in Egypt. It’s a heroic vignette known almost exclusively from Athenian red-figure vase painting and goes something like this: our Greek hero finds himself in Egypt, shackled and about to be sacrificed by Busiris (a shadowy
She is not necessarily my favourite of the Athenian Akropolis korai (I tend to prefer her jollier sisters), and sometimes referred to as “sullen”, but her more solemn beauty is important in so many ways. While her format (standing, draped maiden) is familiar from the decades long tradition of glorious sculpted maidens erected on the
Mykonos might readily bring to mind Super Paradise Beach and a debauched party scene, but the island’s real treasure is this enormous vase, extraordinary by every metric, most immediately visible being size at nearly 1.5 meters tall. Dating to the 8th century B.C. the pithos is decorated entirely in relief, and what is shown is
These are three of the seven masks found during Heinrich Schliemann’s famous late 19th century excavations of Mycenae. They were found over the faces of men (and a boy child) in shaft graves within the grave circles in that wondrously fortified citadel, and clearly marked out the individuals buried with them as men of significant
I begin to sing of Demeter, the holy goddess with the beautiful hair […] she of the golden double-axe, she who glories in the harvest.’ So begins Hesiod in his Hymn to Demeter, and I cannot seem to put it out of my mind when faced with this spectacle: a life-sized (30 cm tall, in
The lekythos in Classical Athens was a most unusual vase shape, and this white-ground example is really quite special. Unlike so many other vase types, lekythoi were wholly unrelated to the symposium and wine-consuming, and instead were made specially with a carinated inner lip for precision-pouring during libations. Their cylindrical bodies and near vertical walls
Owl skyphoi – those rough and ready cups produced in great quantities in 5th century Athens and imitated widely in Southern Italy – are always pretty great. Normally Athena’s companion animal, the owl, is shown between two olive springs, turning to peer at the viewer. That format is fun, and a easily recognizable visual synecdoche
Extreme in all his appetites, Herakles is shown on this superb white ground lekythos at the Met, a vase so clever in its ambiguity. On this small lekythos the hero has climbed upon a tenuous platform upon which an altar sits. He crouches over, his lion skin hood bristling above him, and brandishes two spits
For much of its ancient Greece was a ‘Thalassocracy’ – its settlements clustered close to the coast and inhabitants living and dying by the sea’s bounty and inherent dangers. It is difficult to fully comprehend how the Mediterranean determined daily habits and religion, drove innovation and warfare, and facilitated migration and trade. The behaviors and
Genius both in technical mastery and narrative flair, this big skyphos at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts is a stunner and shows Makron, the best of the fifth century Athenian cup painters, at the top of his game. The choice of vase shape is unusual for the Makron (normally he went for the elegant, shallow
With sinuous, scaly neck, ears on high alert, raptor-beak, and that glorious tongue, you can practically imagine this griffin screaming… This bronze (now in the British Museum) is in the shape of an especially fierce griffin, the forepart of a mythical beast with Eastern origins. But while this is an especially fine example (and BIG
Ever wonder why the nose-pieces of Greek helmets are sometimes snapped off or bent out of shape? Nose guards on Corinthian helmets don’t bend easily…they tend to be thicker than the rest of the helmet, to protect that delicate cartilaginous protrusion beneath, and when they are bent and missing it’s no accident and nothing to
The weather is warming up, and this delightful (and really quite unusual) amphora at the Villa Giulia seems somehow appropriate. Anyone for a little skinny-dipping? At the centre of the scene is a squared-off man-made structure, evidently some sort of fountain environment, further evidenced by two animal-head shaped spouts at the extreme right and left.
Whether they are shown as stiff little adults or more realistically, children in ancient art (especially in funerary art) are a tricky thing for us modern viewers. Somehow there is an immediate, visceral awareness that they have long since passed away – obvious, but not always such a gut-punch when looking at their grown-up counterparts.
Deep in the Peloponnesian wilderness, high on a mountainous crag at Bassai, is a wild and wonky temple. Iktinos, who had played a major role in the design of the Parthenon some decades before, gave himself free reign here, combining Doric and Ionic architectural traditions and introducing (perhaps) the first Corinthian capital. The construction took
Women in Classical Athens had a notoriously sheltered life, likely rarely leaving the home unaccompanied. An important exception was the extensive (but not terribly well understood) calendar of all-female festivals. Our understanding of these festivals are problematic, hampered by the surviving evidence: literary and artistic descriptions made by men, who would have had little first-hand
I have a special fondness for satyrs, those horny, irrepressible drunkards unbound by mortal conventions. But maenads, the female followers of Dionysos, also abound in Greek art and are no less fascinating… This cup is one of the great masterpieces attributed to the Brygos Painter (made in Athens, found in Vulci, now in Munich), with
All hail, Hera, the queen of the Olympian gods, long-suffering (and occasionally vengeful) wife of Zeus, revered throughout the Greek world. Found in Olympia by the German excavation team in the late 19th century at the Temple of Hera there, this is a colossal (52 cm tall – double life sized) early Archaic head, dating
This is special little bronze (H. 7.1 cm): a very early and spatially sophisticated representation of a seated man. It hails from the Geometric period in Greece (mid-8th century B.C.), likely from a Peloponnesian workshop, and has been with the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore since the 1920’s. Although at first glance it is simple
To me, this is perhaps the most poignant scene in all of Greek vase painting – and there are thousands of incredible representations to choose from. It is the interior of a large drinking cup, executed in the red-figure technique by one of the greats: the Brygos Painter (attributed) and now at the Getty. Lying
The psychedelic arrangement of those whirling colored crescents might first attract the eye, but the miniature scenes above them really hold the gaze. It might just be the perfect vase, and so small it can fit comfortably in the palm of your hand. Aryballoi such as this one were specially designed for holding oil and
What exuberance! This pelike in Boston (attributed to master painter Euphronios or a young and equally innovative Euthymides) is a gem. One side shows two nude youths jumping to the accompaniment of an aulos player. They are in near perfect unison, bodies frontal, heads tuned towards the musician, impressively far off the ground, with legs
The colossal kouros of Samos is remarkable in many ways – it’s sheer size (nearly 5.3 meters tall), relatively recent date of discovery (body in 1980 and head in 1984), the benign ‘archaic smile’ on his lips, and the soft quality of his flesh – a counterpoint to the almost architecturally structured kouroi of mainland
Mimesis on my mind, and gravitating towards bronze today. If the artistic reproduction of reality was the goal, bronze was king, and it had been since atleast the Early Classical period. Life sized bronzes do not survive in great quantities (when they do they are spectacular), but literary evidence indicates that the most acclaimed of
This black-figure cup at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore shows combat between two warriors has a very special shape: it is a mastoid skyphos, taking its name from the Greek word ‘mastos’ (breast). It was a shape popular only for a few decades in the second half of the 6th century B.C. Almost impossibly
With all the beautiful bodies to ogle, it is easy to overlook the extraordinary representations of animals from Classical Athens (and beyond). It is absolutely clear that ancient Greeks had far more intimate appreciation of animals than most of us do today. I’m showing this old stalwart, the over life-sized head of a spirited horse
Captured in the interior of this large drinking cup is the very moment when Achilles and Penthesilea (the Amazon queen) meet on the battlefield at Troy. They fall in love, tragically, just as Achilles fatally stabs her. This representation is special on all sorts of levels, but primarily because of the way the painter has