Shapes of Antiquity

But it occurred to me to read recently the novel by Madeline Miller The Song of Achilles and I simpy loved it: the beautiful narrative style, the very nice descriptions of every place (the court of Phtia and the battlefield of Troy in primis) and the feelings of the protagonists...

Each line was a work of art and every figure was good portraited with his/her own particular feature. Of course Miller invented many features (we can't forge that the work is still a novel), she imagined what they could look like: think only of Deidamia, the girl who is pregnant with Achilles. But every figure is unique and that's what makes this work a good novel.

It was unearthed by the Italian archaeologist Mario Napoli in 1968 and since then the tomb has been subject of debates all along academia.

Recently, a scholar pointed out that the image of the diver, who is pictured alone could represent an ascent, the moment of transition between life and death.

And that's what exactly this picture transmits when one looks at it: a sense of detachment from reality and a sense of quiet suspension.

Portrait of a Woman, Roman, 2nd century, Saint Louis Art Museum: Ancient Art

They are facial portrait of dead people from that Egyptian area carved on wood and then put on the dead body. The body was mummified, in order that it could be preserved for the eternity.

Many wood portraits of women, babies, children and young men overcame time, climate and wars and we can still gaze at them in museums.

This woman was perhaps a tourist, since she is taking a photo of the beautiful Parthenon. She should have used a box camera, a type of camera that was suitable for subjects that move little during the exposure. And, of course, a tripod.

They were women-shaped sculptures used as columns or pillars.

The best-known Caryatids are the ones in the porch of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis of Athens.

These type of sculpture knew later a reprise, both in Antiquity under the Romans (from Augustus on) and in modern times. Some examples of this reprise could be found in Vienna in Palais Pallavicini or at one side of the Parliament, in the lbright–Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo (USA) and in Edinburgh...on a department store!

Caryatids are engraved also on African stools, were they represented the ancestresses.

This photo represent one Erechtheion's Caryatid in a different way from the one we all know, where all the columns are shown.

Because sometimes it's better to see things from a different perspective! What do you think?

They captured things and aspects of ancient temples and Greek and Roman arts that unfotunately time and climate stole us. The flair of imperfection was still there and that's made this captured moments beautiful.

Hades: Come here, you can have my jacket

Zeus: I’m cold too

And today, I can teach you an interesting word: Φιλόγελως. It means”lover of the laughter, laughter-lover”.

FIRMAMENT

[noun]

the vault of heaven; the sky.

Etymology: from Late Latin firmāmentum, “sky” (considered as fixed above the earth), from Latin for “prop, support”, from firmāre, “to make firm”.

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Its iconography is a hommage to the Urbs aeterna, Rome: there is a scene who depicts Rome’s founder, Romulus, with his brother Remus. Furthermore, the central arcade depicts a Roman invention, the calender along with the depictions of the work of the months.

I wish you everybody a joyful summer!

About 250 tombs, some with fancy layouts and hieroglyphics, have been discovered cut into a hill at Al-Hamidiyah cemetery to the east of Sohag, in Egypt’s Eastern Desert, about 240 miles (386 kilometers) southeast of Cairo, Egypt’s antiquities ministry said.

𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘮 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦- 𝘑𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘢 

𝘐’𝘮 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 

This painting depicts Jason and Medea, two main figures from the work of the Greek poet Apollonios of Rhodes (3rd century BC), Argonautica.

Kouros of Tenea with his archaic smile, marmor, 550-560 BC, Munich

Have a safe and good Christmas time with your beloved ones! And, of course, stay healthy!

Anna Steen, “Samdok: Tools to Make the World Visible” (via museological) -

The modern word “museum” comes from the greek word Μουσεῖον (Mouseion), which means “shrine of the Muses”.

This was a building founded in Alexandria of Egypt by the son of the Diadoch Ptolemy I Soter, companion and one of the late successors of Alexander the Great. His son was Ptolemy II Philadelphos.

Map of Ancient Alexandria. The Museum is the building in green.

The Museum was a place where intellectuals met: philosophers, scientists and philologists housed and taught there, thanks to the generosity of the Pharao.

Many buildings were annexed to the Museum: a botanical garden, the famous and big Library that contained more than 400.000 books and an astronomical observatory.

The Library of Alexandria

At the head of the Museum was the ἐπιστάτης (epistates), a sort of superintendent that administered the activity of this imponent institution.