ANCIENT ART

Exploring the art of the ancient world. Updated daily. Run by an over-enthusiastic anthropology and ancient history student from New Zealand focusing on archaeology.

[ancientart]

“O ye gods of the West, O ye gods of the East, O ye gods of the South, O ye gods of the North, ye four groups who embrace the holy lands, devote ye yourselves to Osiris when he appeareth in heaven. 

He shall sail into the Sky, with his son Horus by his fingers. He shall announce him, he shall make him rise up like the Great God in the Sky. They shall cry out concerning Unas: Behold Horus, the son of Osiris! Behold Unas, the firstborn son of Hathor! Behold the seed of Keb! Osiris hath commanded that Unas shall rise as a second Horus, and these Four Spirit-souls in Anu have written an edict to the two great gods in the Sky.”

-Section from the pyramid texts of Egyptian king Unas, dated to the 24th century BC. Budge translation, via Project Gutenberg.

Shown is a painting of Osiris at the Tomb of Sennedjem Deir el-Medina, TT1. Photo taken by kairoinfo4u (cropped).

[thegetty]

I (masculine) am parched with thirst and am dying; but grant me to drink from the ever-flowing spring. On the right is a white cypress. ‘Who are you? Where are you from?’ I am a son of Earth and starry sky. But my race is heavenly.

Translation of a Greek inscription from the second half of the 4th century B.C.

[thegetty]

A terracotta statuette from 500–475 B.C. depicting a woman feeding a hen and chicks.

In the early 400s B.C. in Boiotia (a region to the north of Athens) artists working in terracotta were interested in scenes from everyday life—women kneading dough, watching the oven, musicians playing instruments, carpenters, barbers, etc. 

The precise function of these statuettes is unknown—where they meant to serve the deceased in the afterlife or are they only simple children’s toys?

[ancientart]

Two eagles devour human hearts, depicted below two jaguars. Carvings from the Toltec archaeological site of Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico.

Photo taken by HJPD.

[ancientart]

Paintings from the Ajanta Caves, India, dating from about the 2nd century BC to the 6th century AD. The works these caves contain are considered to be masterpieces of Buddhist religious art.

Photos courtesy of Tushar Dayal.

[thegetty]

Put a Ring on It

Who wouldn’t want to wear a gold ring featuring the slaying of a Chimaera, a mythological beast with the head and body of a lion, a goat’s head on its back, and a snakes head as a tail. 

Oh, and it breathes fire. (And was made between 340 - 320 B.C.)

[thegetty]

It’s only 3 inches tall and over 2,700 years old. Meant to hold perfumed oil, this vase molded as a person would have had black paint decorations to accentuate the hair detail and eyes.

Zoom in here.

[thegetty]

The Ruins of Palmyra, Captured in Vintage Photographs

An album of 47 photographs offers a glimpse at how Palmyra, Syria, looked 150 years ago. It includes views of Palmyra’s 3,000-foot-long colonnade, the tombs bordering the city, and the Temple of Bel and the Temple Baal Shamin, both of which have been reportedly destroyed during the Syrian war.

The negatives were made by Louis Vignes, a French naval officer who was trained by famed photographer Charles Nègre, and the prints by Nègre himself.

The album recently joined the collections of the Getty Research Institute.

[ancientart]

Model of a ball court. From Nayarit, Mexico, and dated to 200 BCE - 500 CE.

Courtesy of the LACMA, via their online collections: M.86.296.34.

[ancientart]

Examples of Roman Samian ware (Terra Sigillata).

‘Samian ware’ is a type of mould-made pottery, and was the standard fine table ware of the Roman world during the early empire.

The 2nd image is a close up of the 1st bowl shown. Depicting hunting scenes, this piece of pottery was found in Kingsmead Quarry (Horton, England), and dates to about 120-145 CE. The mounded decoration in the 3rd image comes from a bowl found during excavations at the former County Hospital, Dorchester, Dorset (England). Next is a 1st century bowl found nearby at Greyhound Yard, and can now be viewed at the Dorset County Museum.

A Samian pottery stamp can be seen in the last image. It reads C.ATVLLVS with the ‘s’ reversed. As Wessex Archaeology note: “this is thought to relate to Catullus VI, a potter working in Trier, Western Germany during the second and third centuries AD. This is the inscription from one of two identical pieces of Samian ware discovered by the crew of the Arco Beck.”

All artefacts courtesy of Wessex Archaeology, via their Flickr page: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.

[ancientart]

Raised and painted relief from the ceiling of the Hathor Temple at Dendera. Egypt, Graeco-Roman period, 2nd/1st century BCE - 2nd century CE.

Photos courtesy of & taken by Laura H. Knight (first, second). 

[ancientart]

A few pieces from prehistoric Japan.

Japan is “a world apart – a cultural Galápagos where a unique civilisation blossomed”, to quote the Lonely Planet. The early history of this unique country is significant for so many reasons. It has a particularly rich, and long, historical record, and the value of its cultural achievements continues to endure. 

It is clear that modern humans have inhabited this archipelago for 30,000 years (in the very least), during what is termed the ‘Late Palaeolithic’. The subsequent ‘Jōmon period’ constitutes Japan’s Neolithic period (about 10,000 BC - 400 BCE). The period is named after the characteristic patterns made with twisted cords on the period’s pottery (Jōmon meaning ‘cord pattern’, refer to photo 2). Given the huge temporal expanse and regional variability of this period, generalisations are obviously difficult. Despite this, the Jōmon culture is perhaps best conceived of as “a large loosely integrated cultural complex” (as noted by Richard Pearson). The onset of this period was gradual. People seem to have hunted wild animals, eaten seafood, and had a developing awareness of agriculture. By around 5,000 BCE, people appeared to have generally settled in stable communities, living mostly in pit dwellings with roofs of thatch or earth and wood. 

Shown in this post are a few examples of archaeological objects from this famous period of Japan’s history. The heads of clay figures shown in photos 1 and 4 date to the Late Jōmon period (ca. 1500–1000 BCE). The vessel shown in the 2nd image is the oldest artefact here, dating to the Middle Jōmon period (ca. 3500–2500 BCE), while the 3rd image, showing a Dogū figurine, is the youngest (Final Jōmon period, ca. 1000–300 BCE).

Shown artefacts are courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Via their online collections: 1975.268.189, 1975.268.183, 1975.268.191 & 1975.268.190.

[thegetty]

The colorful characters on ancient pottery.

Bearded Man, about 490 B.C.

Dancing Satyr, about 550-540 B.C.

Kneeling Athlete, 430-420 B.C.

Traveling Youth, about 510 B.C.

[thegetty]

In the Hellenistic period, artists were interested in more than just standard ideal figures. Bronze—surpassing marble with its tensile strength, reflective effects, and ability to hold fine detail—was employed for dynamic compositions, dazzling displays of the nude body, and graphic expressions of age and character.

This image is of an athlete, fresh from competition, with a realistic disheveled head of hair. The finely chiseled strands are swept up and around in different directions creating this dynamic hairstyle. 

Now on view in Power and Pathos at the Getty Center through November 1. 

Statue of an Athlete (Apoxyomenos), A.D. 1-90. Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Antikensammlung. Image courtesy of and © KHM-Museumsverband. Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities / Ephesos Museum

[ancientart]

A handled jar with boots. 

Black burnished ware, northern Iran, ca. 1350-800 BC.

Courtesy of & can be viewed at the LACMA, via their online collections: M.76.174.179.

[ancientart]

An item from the cult of Sabazius

Hand of Sabazius, Roman, 3rd century, made of bronze.

Many religions were syncretistic, meaning that as they grew and came into contact with other religions, they adopted new beliefs and modified their practices to reflect their changing environment. Both Greek and Roman religious beliefs were deeply influenced by the so-called mystery religions of the East, including the Egyptian cult of Isis, which revealed beliefs and practices to the initiated that remained unexplained, or mysterious, to the uninitiated. Most popular Roman cults had associations with these mystery religions and included the prospect of an afterlife. 

Sabazius was an eastern god of fertility and vegetation, who in Roman times was worshiped in association with other deities, particularly Dionysus (or Bacchus, as he was generally known to the Romans). His cult inspired a series of votive images of hands, the fingers of which form the gesture of benediction still familiar in Christian practice. Missing from this example is the small figure of Sabazius himself, who was typically seated in the palm of the hand above the ram's head. Around him are his major cult symbols, including a snake, a lizard, and the heads of a lion, a ram, and a bull. On the tip of the thumb is the pinecone of Dionysus. The opening in the wrist, shaped like a temple, had a hinged door that revealed an unknown, lost object, perhaps a reclining mother and child, as seen in other examples. (walters)

Courtesy of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, USA. Via their online collections: 54.2453.

[thegetty]

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming…