[theancientwayoflife]

~ Bracelet with bust of Dionysus.

Culture:Greece

Period: Hellenistic period

Date: 2nd-1st century B.C.

Medium: Silver

Provenience: Christie’s Fine Art Auction House, London; Private collection, England

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Miniature Shell (Cypraea Moneta).

Date: A.D. 1st-3rd centuries

Place of origin: Eastern Turkestan, Khotan

[greek-museums]

Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki:

Fountain statue

A drunken Silenus has fallen asleep, using as a pillow a large vase through which a water-pipe was routed. Fountain statues were found in wealthy residences, villas, groves, shrines dedicated to the nymphs, bathhouses and theaters.

Late Hellenistic period (1st century B.C)

[stunningpicture]

This stunning ancient Greek floor mosaic was just excavated in southern Turkey, near the Syrian border.

[fishstickmonkey]

Fikellura Amphora

East Greek, ca. 525 B.C.

Ceramic 

Princeton University Art Museum

[bydonnatartt]

Restoration of an Emma Gaggiotti Portrait § Baumgartner Restoration (source)

[allisonscola]

The ancient Greek community of Selinunte was founded as a sub-colony of Megara Iblea in 651-650 BCE. One of the first sacred sites in the western Sicilian city, which is considered one of the world’s largest archaeological zones, is the Santuario della Malophoros or the Sanctuary of the Fruit Bearer. “Malophoros” implies pomegranates or apples because among the ruins found in the temple grounds (specifically at the foundation of what archeologists deem was an altar), were dozens of small sacred feminine statues carrying a pomegranate. Some of these statuettes can be seen today in the Regional Archaeological Museum Antonino Salinas in Palermo (pictured). From this evidence, researchers conclude that this site was dedicated to the mother goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone. (To be continued… ) #experiencesicily #sicily #selinunte #demeter #persephone #statuettes #palermo #salinas #malophoros #divinefeminine #archaeology #archeologia #ancient #ancientgreece #magnagrecia #ancientgreek #sicilia #siciliabedda #italy #italia #sicilians_world #ig_sicily #igerssicilia #instasicilia #sicily_tricolors #ig_visitsicily #Sicilia_PhotoGroup #whatsicilyis #viverlasicilia (at Palermo, Italy) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKS70Yzlfzc/?igshid=pdrnq6mc49jn

[lionofchaeronea]

Etruscan terracotta alabastron (perfume vase). In the upper register, Heracles and centaurs; in the lower register, a flutist leading a procession of women. Artist unknown; 6th cent. BCE. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[archaeologicals-deactivated2016]

it’s fascinating how much art tells us about the perception of death through the ages

[archaeologicals-deactivated2016]

take medieval Byzantium for example. one of the most persistent images from the ninth to the fifteenth century were elaborate tombs featuring illustrations of death and portraits of the deceased. they had this idea, right, that the soul would gradually separate from the ‘earthly’ body after dying, led forth by the archangel Michael. this separation of the soul happened over three days, and concluded ultimately, at the end of time, in the Last Judgment, a belief held commonly by medieval Christians in both East and West. At the Last Judgment, the individual soul was either eternally condemned to hell or placed among the saved in the gardens of Paradise.

[archaeologicals-deactivated2016]

death in the Middle Ages is super interesting too! in keeping with Roman and Jewish practice born of sanitary concerns, the first Christians were buried outside the city, often in subterranean catacombs, into the walls of which gold glass disks were set as memorial markers. as in other cultures, medieval Christians were often interred with jewelry and emblems attesting to their rank and their faith. the well-to-do sought burial inside the church, usually under the floor or in a crypt, preferably as close to the altar as possible, since the bodies of saints or some of their relics were enshrined at or in the altars of churches, and the faithful wished to be buried in proximity to them.

the thing is, Christian tombs are essentially prospective, their occupants awaiting the last day. the sculptural decoration of tombs reflects the status of the deceased. carved effigies showed kings with crown and scepter, churchmen accompanied by angels, knights in full armor, architects with measuring instruments, family members accompanied by their patron saint, or even kneeling beside the Virgin as she holds her crucified son on her lap.

The Day of Judgment, described in the Apocalypse, or Book of Revelation, inspired commentary and vivid, panoramic imagery, while scenes of the Last Judgment appeared frequently in objects of all sizes—from church doorways to devotional objects small enough to hold in the hand. the blessed are received into heaven, while the damned are doomed to the eternal horrors of hell.

[via-appia]

Mosaic of the Three Graces dancing, from the Roman villa in Patras, Greece, c. 3rd century

[ancientpeoples]

Nephrite jade and gold comb

China, Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 AD); 5 x 7.5 cm (2 x 3in)

Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[coolancientstuff]

Fragment of an ancient Greek Attic white ground kylix showing a Thracian woman with tattooed arms. Pistoxenos Painter, 470-460 BC.

[sirgawin]

“The medieval taste for bright colors is well known. It was a ‘barbarous’ taste, which favored big jewels inserted into the boards of book-bindings, glowing gold objects, brightly painted sculpture, paintings covering the walls of churches and of the houses of the powerful, and the colored magic of stained glass. The almost colorless middle ages which we admire today are the work of the destruction wrought by time and of the anachronistic taste of our contemporaries. However, behind this colored phantasmagoria lay the fear of darkness and the quest for light which was salvation.”

— Jacques Le Goff, Medieval Civilization (‘64)

[batarde]

“Women also were thought to be the more carnal sex in the Middle Ages. Debilitated by sexual urges, women’s limited moral judgment and rational capabilities were easily overwhelmed by desire. The suggested derivations for another Latin word for woman, femina, underscore this point. According to the same text quoted above, “We get the word femina… from those parts of the thighs (femorum) by which this sex is distinguished from the man" Others think that femina derives by Greek etymology, from the phrase ‘fiery force,’ because a woman lusts fiercely; for females are most lustful than males, among women as animals. Given these associations between women and the sin of lust, it is hardly surprising that later the Malleus maleficarum would derive femina from a compound of fe (faith) and minus (lesser), “since she is ever weaker to hold and preserve the faith.” Although this particular etymology does not appear until the fifteenth century, the sentiment it expresses about female weakness and lack of moral sense is fully in accord with the content of the late medieval tradition.”

— Nancy Caciola, Discerning Spirits: Divine and Demonic Possession in the Middle Ages.

[lionofchaeronea]

Ancient Egyptian ostrakon bearing a sketch of the 20th Dynasty pharaoh Ramesses IV.  Artist unknown; ca. 1153-1147 BCE.  Found in front of Ramesses’ tomb in the Valley of the Kings; now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Apollo Sauroktonos (“Lisard-killer”).

Date: Roman copy after a bronze original ca. 350 B.C. by Praxiteles

Provenance: Rome, Vatican Museums, Pius-Clementine Museum, Gallery of statues, 62 (Musei Vaticani, Museo Pio-Clementino, Galleria delle statue)

[lionofchaeronea]

Two archers (perhaps Amazons) with their dog on a hunt. Terracotta alabastron (perfume vase), related to the Group of the Paidikos Alabastra; ca. 510-500 BCE.  Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.