The Art of Ancient History

Read descriptions for more info :) I am an historical archeologist based in the Eastern United States. I have a passion for art history, especially ancient and non-western art. I started this blog as an undergrad student to help me study for my nonwestern art history course. But now I post more than just what I studied in class. My blog is a mixture of posts I reblog, and my own analysis of objects and places that interest me. If you have any requests to see art from a certain time period, artist, country, culture, ect. just let me know and I'll be sure to post what you want to see! None of these images are mine unless specifically stated.

[ancienthistoryart]

[centuriespast]

AMMANATI, Bartolomeo Interior view 1551-55 Photo Villa Giulia, Rome

[archaeologicalnews]

450-Year-Old Book Reveals What to Name a Baby Samurai

What should you name a baby samurai? What food should a samurai bring to a battle? What is a samurai’s most treasured possession? A newly translated 450-year-old book supposedly written by a renowned samurai provides answers to these and many other questions about the Japanese swordsmen.

Called “The Hundred Rules of War,” the book is a series of songs that could be sung by samurai, who had never gone into battle. It was supposedly written in Japanese in 1571 by a famous samurai named Tsukahara Bokuden, who lived from 1489 to 1571, during a war-ridden time in Japan. Stories told about Bokuden claim that he fought in over 100 battles and slew hundreds of swordsmen.

The book was recently translated into English by Eric Shahan, who specializes in translating Japanese martial-arts texts. The book was first printed in Japanese in 1840, and has been republished in Japanese several times since then, Shahan told Live Science. Read more.

[ancientarthistory]

Cool!

[theancientwayoflife]

~Amulet of a Ba. Place: Egypt Period: Ptolemaic Period Date: 332-30 B.C.

[ancientarthistory]

Amulet of a Ba - Egyptian/Ptolemaic

ca. 332 - 30 BCE

Amulets in ancient Egypt were thought to be magical. They would be worn, carried or offered to a deity in hopes of magically gaining a specific power or form of protection. This amulet depicts a Ba, or a human headed falcon. Egyptians believed the Ba symbolized the immortal soul that came back after death and attached itself to the corpse. This specific one does not have the human head. The amulet is gold and inlaid with lapis lazuli, turquoise and steatite. 

Source: The Met

[theancientwayoflife]

~Vaisravana - Pisha Meng, Guardian of the North. Place: China, Tangut State of Xi -Xia, Khara-Khoto Date: 13th - 14th century

[ancientarthistory]

Vaisravana - Pisha Meng, Guardian of the North - Chinese/Tangut

ca. 1200 - 1300 CE

Vaisravana is the name of the chief of the four heavenly kings of Buddhism. He is usually portrayed with a yellow face, an umbrella and occasionally a mongoose or with jewels coming from his own mouth. This piece  -- I have not been able to find any information regarding this specific piece, or much information regarding the deity depicted here. 

Source: Wikipedia 

Artwork located at the State Hermitage Museum

[museum-of-artifacts]

Viking burial mounds in Denmark

Lindholm Høje Museet

[ancientarthistory]

Lindholm Høje - Germanic and Viking

Denmark

ca. 400 - 1050 CE

Lindholm Høje is comprised of approximately 700 graves from both the Germanic Iron age and the Viking age. Many of these graves are marked by an outcropping of vertical stones. The shapes of these outlined graves distinguish the men from the women. Women were buried with an oval outline while men’s graves are marked with a triangular shape of stones. After being used by the Vikings, the site was covered with drifting sand, and in turn was preserved very well. The site also boasts a nice view on a hilltop; it was customary in burials of this time to provide ancestors with something beautiful to enjoy from their eternal graves. Starting at the top of the hill with the oldest burials from the Iron Age, these graves are arranged chronologically with the youngest graves from the Vikings closer to the bottom. 

Sources: Viking Denmark, Wikipedia and Visit Aalborg

[arjuna-vallabha]

Mukteswara temple, Bhubaneswar, Odisha

[ancientarthistory]

Mukteswar Temple - Indian/Hindu

Bhubaneswar, Odisha (Orissa), India

ca. 950 BCE

Known as “The Gem of Orissan Architecture”, this Hindu temple is dedicated primarily to Lord Shiva. It serves as a site of Indian heritage and sees many devotees and visitors throughout the year. Made of sandstone, the temple boasts extremely detailed depictions of meditation poses and various gods such as Ganesha and Saraswati. Points of interest regarding architecture include countless sculptural works, a jagamohana (porch) with diamond shaped lattice windows and a beautifully sculpted torana (arched doorway). Another interesting point regarding the architecture is that this temple represents the initial and later phases of the Kalinga School of Temple Architecture. Many elements of the old style were combined with the new style, in turn this blended architecture makes the temple a “harbinger of the new culture”. 

Source: Cultural India

[theancientwayoflife]

~Head of Macuilxochitl (God of Pleasure, Games and Music). Date: A.D. 1440–1500 Medium: Ceramic Culture: Mexico,Gulf Coast, Aztec Period: Late Postclassic

[ancientarthistory]

Head of Macuilxochitl (God of Pleasure, Games and Music) - Mesoamerican (Aztec Post Classic)

ca. 1440 - 1500 CE

This highly naturalistic ceramic head, with almond-shaped eyes and a slightly open mouth, once belonged to a full-figure sculpture; the figure would have been represented either in a seated or standing position. The center of the headdress, originally consisting of five vertical stalks (only three remain), is thought to symbolize the crest of a feathered eagle, marking this as the head of Xochipilli-Macuilxochitl, deity of music, flowers, song, and games

Source: Yale University Art Gallery

[mumbz]

Sculptural Element from a Reliquary Ensemble: Head

Gabon

Credit: Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950

Showing at the MET as part of the “African Art, New York, and the Avant-Garde

[ancientarthistory]

Sculptural Element from a Reliquary Ensemble: Head - African (Gabonese/Fang Culture)

ca. early 1900′s

The carved head pictured above has been separated from it’s body. This head and the complete figures are characteristic of the Fang clan. Named after the Byeri, a familial cult of the Fang, byeri heads and figures served as a kind of guardian for the living and dead. These reliquary figures protected ancestral remains from intruders and supernatural forces while also protecting vulnerable humans from  dangerous ancestors. The Fang, residing in Africa, used to migrate quite often and had to adapt to their new surroundings quickly. Because of this nomadic lifestyle, wood was a common choice when it came to sculpting material. Although this piece in particular does not show much ornamentation, the Fang tended to reflect important symbols as well as jewelry and dress in their sculptures. 

Sources: Forafricanart.com, The Met

[mumbz]

Maiden Mask

Nigeria [Igbo]

Early 20th Century

Currently at the MET as part of the “African Art, New York and the Avant-Garde”

[ancientarthistory]

Maiden Mask - Southeastern Nigeria (Igbo)

ca. 1800′s - early 1900′s 

This mask, carved of wood and colored with pigment, represents an adolescent female with Igbo ideals of beauty. Elaborate hairstyles and elongated slender facial features are only two of these ideals. Maiden masks would have traditionally been worn by men dressed in vibrantly colored outfits during festivals honoring patron deities. 

Source: The Met

[de-salva]

ROCK ART IN AFRICA - Dabous Giraffe (Niger)

[ancientarthistory]

Dabous Giraffe Petroglyph - Prehistoric African (Kiffian or Tenerian)

Dabous, Ténéré Desert, Africa

ca. 8,000 - 6,000 BCE

Given the title of “World’s Largest Rock Art Petroglyph”, this giraffe is one of two life-sized rock art carvings located in Dabous in the Ténéré Desert. Scholars have determined the petroglyphs to be around 10,000 to 8,000 years old. During this time in Africa, only two groups of people could have created these carvings; the Kiffian or Tenerian people. The artists were not yet in the Bronze age and therefore probably used flint to carve images into the softer sandstone. 

Source: Bradshaw Foundation

[didoofcarthage]

“The Calf-Bearer and the Kritios Boy Shortly After Exhumation on the Acropolis”

c. 1865

albumen silver print from glass negative

Gilman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art

[ancientarthistory]

The statue depicted here is known as the Moschophoros, or Calf-bearer. It dates to the high archaic period in Greek history, and more specifically has a date range of 570 - 560 BC.

 -- Really cool to see a picture from when it was first found!

[ancientpeoples]

Terracotta aryballos (oil flask) in the form of three cockleshells (6.2 cm/2 ½ in high)

Inscribed on the lip, “the boy is fair.”  Such small bottles held the olive oil used by athletes to cleanse themselves after exercise.

Attic Greek, Archaic period, late 6th century B.C.

Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[ancientarthistory]

Terracotta Aryballos in the form of Three Cockleshells - Archaic Greek/Attic Greek

ca. 500 - 600 BCE/BC

[mini-girlz]

Vahara, Boar Incarnation of Vishnu

700-800s

Central India, Medieval Period, 8th-9th century

Sandstone

h:82.00 w:68.50 d:33.50 cm (h:32 ¼ w:26 15/16 d:13 3/16 inches)

> clevelandart.org

[ancientarthistory]

Sahara, Boar Incarnation of Vishnu - Central Indian/Hindu

ca. 700 - 800 CE

[ancientpeoples]

Metal plague of a stag 

7.6 cm high, 9.5 cm wide (3 x 3 ¾ inch.)

Kazakhstan, 6th - 5th century BC. 

Source: Metropolitan Museum

[ancientarthistory]

Garment Plaque in the Shape of a Stag - Kazakhstan

ca. 400 - 600 BC

[mini-girlz]

Lorestan bronze, fibula showing a woman giving birth between 2 antelopes, ornamented with flowers, Iranian iron age (1500 to 700 BCE) at the Louvre museum, Paris, France, March 2010.

The name “canonical bronze of Lorestan” refers to a set of objects testifying of the original culture of a nomadic civilization who lived at the beginning of the iron age on the territory of the actual Iranian province of Lorestan (North West of the Zagros mountains). Its pastoral and nomadic way of life explain the lack of architectural remnants left, the few artefacts found being almost funeral objects found after graves were looted or excavated by archaeologists. These objects were made in one time almost in bronze using the lost-wax casting. It consist in axes, horse bytes, maces, fibulas, or swords whom style and ornaments are typical, testifying of the originality of such civilization and great savoir-faire of its craftsmen.

via > dynamosquito/flickr

[ancientarthistory]

Disk pin with woman giving birth, flanked by two antelopes (Luristan/Lorestan Bronze) - Early Iron Age

[vincevangoghing-blog]

Antefix of a Gorgon’s Head, Greece (6th century BCE)